timrox1212
Well-Known Member
Are these hops? They are growing in my neighbors backyard and what looks like a vine running between his fence and his bushes. Each cone is about 1-1 1/2 inches big. Sorry if the picture sucks.
I found some hops... I think
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HerbieHowells
Well-Known Member
Yep. Pick one of the cones, rub it between your hands, and give your hands a good whiff. Hoppy goodness.
Those look like pretty nice hop cones to me... I would talk to your neighbor if he isn't a brewer and tell him you will take care of clearing them and in the Winter you will pull the crown so that it doesn't take over his yard. Then you can re-plant it in your yard. Unless you want to have them verified by a lab, I think I would only use them for late additions, mainly because you won't know what the Alpha Acid percentage is.
I agree with the spirit of this comment, however as one who has harvested wild hops my idea varies a bit. Do a control batch to see what you have. A scaled back one gallon batch of a straight pale ale. using your hops in place of a medium alpha hop will tell you a lot about what you have found. If it's super hoppy you'll know it's higher alpa if it's bland without much hop character you'll know it's low, but you'll also get a feeling for it's flavor profile and how you may want to use it in a bigger batch. Part of the fun of home brewing is experimentation.
my neighbor said these are wild hops.
OP
OP
timrox1212
Well-Known Member
So given the time of year are these ready to be picked? What do I do with them once picked? Never used fresh hops only pellets.
+HopSpunge+
Well-Known Member
Nice neighbor.
Pull one. If the petals are papery feeling, most likely they are ready. Break it open top to bottom and look for the yellow lupulin and take a good smell. If you have a good food dehydrator that you can adjust the temp to about 125-130F, you can dry them in there, low temps and lots of air around them. A dry room with a box fan with them on a window screen will also work. You want to get them dried to about 5% moisture and then vacuum seal them and toss them in the freezer. If you can get them dried like that without roasting them they should keep for at least a year, if not longer.
LOL sorry buddy but those in the background of your pic are not HOPS!! Wild they may be, but I'd set them aside and not waste them on beer...
Different plant in the background. The leafs in the forground are on the hop bines.
He wasn't asking about the plants in the background. He was asking about the big hop-shaped cone in the center of the picture. You do realize that it's possible for two species of plants to grow next to each other, right?
i think he was talking about the other picture, the one with the pot on the background. But most likely you're right
it was actually a plastic plant in Hobby Lobby. tag on it said "Japanese Maple".
Japanese Maple... Okay I'm game
serious as a heart attack. I haven't touched the stuff in 18 years. good & great beer is much more my speed.
SPR-GRN
Well-Known Member
so did you harvest them?
Personally I use a box fan and sandwich the hops between two furnace filters and run it until I feel they are properly dry, then weigh and vacuum seal and freeze.
Personally I use a box fan and sandwich the hops between two furnace filters and run it until I feel they are properly dry, then weigh and vacuum seal and freeze.
DaNewf
Well-Known Member
I found some hops growing wild alongside a pretty well used walking trail a couple minutes drive from my house. Near as I can figure they are cluster hops. Regardless I picked some and dried them out (yield about 5 oz).
In my fermenter I have a batch of Wild Cluster Blonde Ale brewing away. Basically I ripped off BierMuncher's Centennial recipe and replaced all the hop additions with my mystery hops. Not the best way to experiment with an unknown ingredient but if the result doesn't make me sick I'll experiment a little more. It I decide the hop is usable I'll transplant a root to my backyard next spring.
In my fermenter I have a batch of Wild Cluster Blonde Ale brewing away. Basically I ripped off BierMuncher's Centennial recipe and replaced all the hop additions with my mystery hops. Not the best way to experiment with an unknown ingredient but if the result doesn't make me sick I'll experiment a little more. It I decide the hop is usable I'll transplant a root to my backyard next spring.
a few years back, my wife & I found a bunch of wild hops up by Sheridan Lake in the Black Hills of South Dakota. be we live too far away & visit the wrong time of the year for any kind of harvest.
