Name that mystery hop

[jceg316]

"The wife" works on a farm every Tuesday and they grow hops, she brought back a massive bag of them for me - about 800 grams worth - but she doesn't know what hop it is, nor does the farm which grew them.

They smell a bit spicy, perhaps a bit garlic-like with a bit of citrus. They were grown in London, UK, so I doubt they would be new world hops. The smell really reminds me of the smell from the Steam Whistle brewery in Toronto. I've been round a few breweries but it smells like that one, if that helps at all?

Anyone know what it is? Or does anyone know if there is a way to calculate the AA so I know at least whether it is a bittering or aroma hop?

They have just been picked, apparently I need to dry them, gonna look up what the process is.

 

[BlackGoat]

Lucky you, perhaps fuggles? They tend to be a bit earthy

 

[jceg316]

Lucky you, perhaps fuggles? They tend to be a bit earthy

Fuggles would be good. I have a recipe for a Westmalle clone which requires Fuggles, and I have for about 300 batches!

I think I'll make a single hop beer with them to see what sort of flavours I can get.

 

[Geirfuglinn]

I am a total newbie still, but having tried fresh hop beer in the US last night, I myself would love to do some wet hopping. I mean since you have so much of them, lucky you! Have fun with them anyway.

 

[BlackGoat]

Sounds great, maybe just make a really clean and simple bitter with them so you can get a proper evaluation of the profile. I'd probably make an AK with it if I had them

 

[jceg316]

Sounds great, maybe just make a really clean and simple bitter with them so you can get a proper evaluation of the profile. I'd probably make an AK with it if I had them

I think I will do a couple of SMASH brews, one with pale malt, another with pilsner and maybe look out for another base malt to use. I may even split the batches and dry hop one. Once I get a better idea of the hop I'll create something a bit more complex, use other malts and other hops.

 

[liamw]

I recently did a wet hopped ipa with unknown hops I found growing at my friend's place. It turned out fantastic. I used a known aa hop (warrior) for bittering so I would have some predictability, then added all of my fresh hops as late additions.

Check out the thread "unknown single hop ipa" in this forum for my process. Mine was an extract brew but t could easily be adapted for whatever your process is.

 

[liamw]

Also, if you're finding it tastes like steam whistle from Toronto, their specialty is the Czech style pilsner, so the hops may be saaz as well