Brewing with home-grown "mystery hops"

[Big_Belgian]

A neighbor has a huge hop plant in his yard and is giving me a large bag full of hops this week. I'm planning to brew this weekend using these hops and would appreciate any tips or suggestions. My plan is to make a very basic pale ale (extract), maybe with a bit higher OG in the 1065 range, and load as much of these hops as I can into the pot - probably an ounce or so at 60 min., an ounce at 30, and then as much more as I can get in the pot between 15 and flame-out.

I've only used hop pellets up to this point. I plan to use a muslin bag or grain bag in my boil to get these hops in and out.

I have some pictures of the hops - let me know if it would help if I posted them as I would like to identify them if possible.

thanks.

 

[theshoe82]

I would do a black IPA instead. A lighter beer would not hide any errors or off flavors, especially if you dont know what kind of hops you are dealing with.

 

[IffyG]

I'd probably bitter with Magnum (or something similar) with a known alpha acid content and then supplement that with the mystery hop for aroma and flavor. Nothing would suck more than brewing up a beer and end up with it not being bitter enough to balance out the malt.

 

[borden]

Nothing would suck more than brewing up a beer and end up with it not being bitter enough to balance out the malt.

This exact thing happened to me last year. I did a one gallon batch because I had a feeling the hops were no good, but yeah, sure enough, it was the most sickly sweet "beer" I've ever tasted. Pretty gross, but it was worth a shot.

Definitely use your hops for aroma or flavor, and not bittering. Otherwise you run the risk of a dud batch.

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

I'd probably bitter with Magnum (or something similar) with a known alpha acid content and then supplement that with the mystery hop for aroma and flavor. Nothing would suck more than brewing up a beer and end up with it not being bitter enough to balance out the malt.

exactly.. I have pounds of unknown hops and use em this way...works out great

 

[TopherM]

I would brew a medium OG APA instead of a higher OG IPA. With a home grown mystery hop, chances are it has alpha acid below 10% instead of above 10%, just by the law of averages. Assuming the hops are under 10% AA, you would a conservatively hopped beer around a conservative ABV starting with a 1.04-1.05 OG for a nice balance. 1.0 oz @ 60, 0.5 @ 15, 0.5 @ 5 min. That's about as conservative as you can get, and the best chance of making a really good beer out of "mystery hops," IMO.

If you want to experiment, go for it, I was just thinking about playing the averages to make the best beer possible.

 

[SilverZero]

That's the nice thing about hops: If you like the aroma of the flower, you'll probably like how it adds to the aroma of the beer regardless of what the acid profile is. Compared to trying to figure out if they'll bitter the way you want, it's much more of a preference decision on whether to use them for aroma. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

[Big_Belgian]

Thanks guys. I ran out to NB at lunch and picked up an oz of Magnum for bittering. Perhaps a mistake, but on the spur of the moment I also decided to use this opportunity to try (for the first time) NB's new Rye extract product. I basically ignored my prepared recipe and went rogue - got some caramunich and am using Wyeast 1450.

 

[david_42]

Are the hops dried? If not, you'll need to boost the additions by a factor of five or six.

 

[Big_Belgian]

They are still on the vine as of today. I was planning to dry them in the oven. Can I do that? Still hoping to brew on Saturday.

 

[Hernando]

Do they NEED to be dried? can't you do a wet hop addition? Is this not preferred?

 

[frazier]

NOOOoooooOOOooo not the oven! You'll bake the flavor and aroma right out of them.

There are lots of kinder, gentler ways of drying the hops Get thee to the Hops subforum and browse the stickies.

 

[Surly]

How long have you been brewing beer? Have you been brewing for awhile?

The reason I ask is that, especially if new to brewing, it may be best to follow a set procedure using known ingredients.

Becoming established in the hobby then allows us to make all sorts of creative decisions.

I would advise a new brewer to take his/her time. My concern would be that a new brewer not being reinforced by a satisfactory result will soon tire of the hobby and quit.

IE, IMHO

 

[Big_Belgian]

NOOOoooooOOOooo not the oven! You'll bake the flavor and aroma right out of them.

There are lots of kinder, gentler ways of drying the hops Get thee to the Hops subforum and browse the stickies.

Thanks frazier - Strangely, I had not thought to check that forum. I've read and learned alot over the past hour since reading your post and have decided that I won't be able to brew with these hops this weekend, as they are still on the vine as of this morning.

How long have you been brewing beer? Have you been brewing for awhile?

The reason I ask is that, especially if new to brewing, it may be best to follow a set procedure using known ingredients.

Becoming established in the hobby then allows us to make all sorts of creative decisions.

I would advise a new brewer to take his/her time. My concern would be that a new brewer not being reinforced by a satisfactory result will soon tire of the hobby and quit.

IE, IMHO

Thanks Surly. I have been brewing a little over a year and have done about 12 extract/partial batches. I am sometimes a bit over-eager to experiment and go off-recipe. I think my feeling is that, with the state of craft brewing in this country these days, I can go to my local grocery store and choose from a dozen or more excellent pale ales, IPA's and other "standard" beer styles from great breweries across the country. I don't honestly think I'll ever make a better pale ale than Bell's, Sierra or Oskar Blues. But, taking a note from Randy Mosher's book, one thing I can do that they can't is take chances on non-traditional ingredients.

In this case, I'm going to wait until I can dry the mystery hops properly and plan a recipe, even if it is somewhat of a frankenstein recipe. In some cases, my experiments have produced great results ("Earl Grey Kolsch", "Imperial Brown" and "Black Pepper Alt".) In other cases (cherry/oak/bourbon/chocolate stout), the results were not so good, but I learned a bit and still have a beer I can drink, if not one that I give out to friends.