Bacteria and homegrown hops?

[technicoloraudio]

Anyone out there have experience with using homegrown hops for bugged brews? I know that some cultures are very sensitive to AAU and I don't have a good basis for calculation with my bines of Columbus.

I am brewing a 15G batch Sunday and splitting it three ways to try some of the new yeast bay cultures. My plan was to split my harvest (maybe 80 1-1.5" cones with bright yellow sticky centers) between FWH and whirlpool with no additions in between I am pitching Farmhouse Sour to 5G, Funktown Pale to 5G, and Melange to whatever's left.

I have had this brew planned for a while, but did not expect my hops to be ready at the same time. I would like to get fresh utilization out of them, but if I end up picking and drying them it's not the end of the world, I am more concerned about the yeast health and fermentation than I am homegrown hop utilization.


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[youreanimpulse]

I would use a known quantity of hops for sour/bug beers, at least if lacto is involved. It's such a huge time commitment, I want to know my bugs have a chance. Columbus is high AA anyway, so not knowing the actual amount is playing with some fire .

 

[sweetcell]

I would use a known quantity of hops for sour/bug beers, at least if lacto is involved. It's such a huge time commitment, I want to know my bugs have a chance. Columbus is high AA anyway, so not knowing the actual amount is playing with some fire .

+1. you don't know what the AA's are. it would suck to find out in many months that your brew didn't sour because your hops were stronger than you thought. given that columbus is a relatively high AA hop, a small over-shoot and you're impeding the lacto.

i understand your desire to use your homegrown hops, but they won't be contributing much to the flavor of the beer at that quantity. it's not like drinkers will be able to appreciate the subtle difference that 10 IBUs of homegrown hops will make, 12+ months down the road.