Mystery Hops

[handlebarz]

So I had a co-worker recently hand me two somewhat large vacuum sealed bags of whole leaf hops he grew and I'm at a loss as to what to do with them. He said that he thought they were for dark beer and that maybe some of them were cascade.

Anyone have any ideas on what I can do with these?

 

[peterj]

I would smell them and see if you can tell generally what type they are. Like American, British, noble. Then maybe use them as flavor/aroma hops in the corresponding types of beer. I would be careful using them for bittering because you have no idea of the alpha acids. Then I would tell you friend to pay attention to what he's growing!

 

[mrduna01]

You could do a smash with them several different ways meaning early vs late additions to get an idea of what they may be good for and take it from there.

So many beers... so little time.

 

[JohnSand]

You might judge the bitterness by making hop tea with a known hop and the mystery hops, then compare the taste. I got some mystery hops, guessed them to be 5-10 AAU, then made an ale with them. I used extract to simplify my brewday. My idea was to target a balanced brew, aiming and guessing low allowed a range toward IPA. My experiment failed because I messed up the extract, caramelizing it in the pot, resulting in a sweet brew.
Of course, you could always use them as aroma hops after smelling them.

 

[aslander]

I'm flabbergasted that someone would grow and harvest hops without knowing anything about it.

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