[unclebrazzie]

Peepz,

I recently discovered a bunch of wild hops bines growing not 5' walking distance from my doorstep. I intend to capitalise on this discovery by brewing a green hops beer with it.

Specifics regarding malt bill aside, I intend to brew an easy APA (if not an even simpler SMaSH) to get a feel of this hops. I've absolutely no idea as to what cultivar it might be, nor about its brewing properties, so this is just to get an idea of its overall brewing potential.

The flowers smell very green when rubbed in the palms, with hardly any yellow lupulin to be seen. Green and pleasantly citrussy, but very very mild.

In 20l of 1.045 beer with a target of 20 IBU, I would add
100g at T-70'
75g at T-15'
75g at whirlpool

Dryhop unlikely to happen unless I find more green hops by the time primary fermentation ends. I'll freeze another 50g or so just in case.

My estimation is that the hops will be about 3% alpha (but with my luck, it may well be 18% and I'll be brewing a horrible mess in the end). I doubled all amounts I'd normally use if these were dried hops, knowing I'll still end up well below what my calculator says (I figure about 80% of the flowers is water anyway).

Any ideas or experiences to share?

[pete b]

I would make a tea with them to get a feel for bitterness, taste,and aroma. Your description sounds like the might be best as a flavor/aroma hops. If that's the case I would forgo using them in a full boil for bittering and use a purchased hop of known ibu for bittering. I would not want to boil that much green vegetable matter for 60 minutes. If that leaves you with extra hops you can dry those and dry hop with them. If you make a tea just use 2 or three cones, if you use too much you will think its more bitter than it is.

[klickitat jim]

I've brewed my home grown hops and my experience is to use four times the weight wet compared to dry. Also, if I did it again I would dry them first then use the normal weights. I think it gets rid of a lot of the grass trimmings odors and flavors.

[pete b]

I've brewed my home grown hops and my experience is to use four times the weight wet compared to dry. Also, if I did it again I would dry them first then use the normal weights. I think it gets rid of a lot of the grass trimmings odors and flavors.

I've only used undried hops at the end of the boil. Zero grassy/vegetal flavors so far but only did it twice.

[denny]

I would make a tea with them to get a feel for bitterness, taste,and aroma. Your description sounds like the might be best as a flavor/aroma hops. If that's the case I would forgo using them in a full boil for bittering and use a purchased hop of known ibu for bittering. I would not want to boil that much green vegetable matter for 60 minutes. If that leaves you with extra hops you can dry those and dry hop with them. If you make a tea just use 2 or three cones, if you use too much you will think its more bitter than it is.

Can you really tell anything from that?  I certainly can't!  For me, it's slightly useful for comparing one hop to another, but useless at assessing the character of a single hop.  If you can get any flavor pr aroma from doing it, I salute you.

[denny]

I've brewed my home grown hops and my experience is to use four times the weight wet compared to dry. Also, if I did it again I would dry them first then use the normal weights. I think it gets rid of a lot of the grass trimmings odors and flavors.

That's pretty close tp the general rule of thumb, which is 5:1.  Obviously it's gonna be inexact.

[troybinso]

I would save all of the green hops for the end of the boil and use something with a reliable alpha acid to get whatever bittering you want.

[pete b]

I would make a tea with them to get a feel for bitterness, taste,and aroma. Your description sounds like the might be best as a flavor/aroma hops. If that's the case I would forgo using them in a full boil for bittering and use a purchased hop of known ibu for bittering. I would not want to boil that much green vegetable matter for 60 minutes. If that leaves you with extra hops you can dry those and dry hop with them. If you make a tea just use 2 or three cones, if you use too much you will think its more bitter than it is.

Can you really tell anything from that?  I certainly can't!  For me, it's slightly useful for comparing one hop to another, but useless at assessing the character of a single hop.  If you can get any flavor pr aroma from doing it, I salute you.

Well, maybe not so much flavor but I get a good sense of the  aroma when adding them to hot water and after steeping, definitly a good idea of the intensity of bitterness. its important to only use a little because with too much any tea will be really bitter.

[unclebrazzie]

I hear y'all on the reliable-purchased-bittering-hops thing. Saaz maybe? EKG? I have some Centennial lying about the place too...