Wild hops - questions

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Manngold
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Wild hops - questions

Post by Manngold » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:04 pm

Hi all, a couple of questions about some local wild hops I have found in the park.

Picking:
I understand I want the cones only. Do I only take the green cones, or can I use the cones that have started to brown?

Preparation:
Can I freeze them until the weekend when I plan to use them, does that do anything? As I can't dry them.
Do I need to rinse them prior to brew day?

Brew day:
As I have no clue what they are, can I add Magnum as a 60 min bittering and then use all the wild hops at 5 and 1 min respective?

Thanks all. Very, very excited!

TheSumOfAllBeers
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by TheSumOfAllBeers » Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:15 pm

If you make a hop tea with them you can get a sense of what they will do for the beer. You can then approximate the bittering qualities and adjust with the magnum

Rookie
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by Rookie » Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:19 pm

Manngold wrote:
Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:04 pm
As I can't dry them.
Why can't you dry them? You don't need any equipment to dry hops. Lay them out on a flat surface and let them air dry.
I'm just here for the beer.

Manngold
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by Manngold » Sun Sep 24, 2017 5:56 pm

Rookie wrote:
Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:19 pm
Manngold wrote:
Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:04 pm
As I can't dry them.
Why can't you dry them? You don't need any equipment to dry hops. Lay them out on a flat surface and let them air dry.
Did not know this. Thanks Rookie. Any idea how long it will take?

Any idea about the browning?

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Wonkydonkey
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by Wonkydonkey » Sun Sep 24, 2017 8:29 pm

long answer, I dry all my home grown hops, it suits my needs...but what a pain.. dying and making sure there dry the strig holds more moisture. then it redistributes thus making the hops more moist.
vac packing is good as it reduces the size of the packet.

but if its an unknown I would not do to much tillyou get a better idea of what it is. I found an unknown hop growing over an allotment shed this yr, it is most likely a known type but its unknown to me. so I got about half of them now its time to try brewing and see whats what. first a simple beer. mybe nutral bittering hop like magum and loads of these at flame out see how it smells. split the batch and dry hop 1/2

and while I think about it,,using green hops in brewing is well different to dry hops in brewing beer
To Busy To Add,

Fil
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by Fil » Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:10 pm

you want to harvest when they are 'papery' but only harvest some to sample, and return next year for a full harvest if worthwhile.
The propogation of hops with distinct male and female plants means that cloning is the only method a true variety can be replicated, all plants that come from seed will have unknown properties and be 'new' varieties and as such will be totally unkown, You May well find a prize, and if so it could become your fortune,, but????
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

Manngold
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by Manngold » Mon Sep 25, 2017 3:30 pm

Thanks guys. I have picked some. A lot actually. I will make a beer with them this Saturday. Any idea on how much crystal to add, or should I keep it simple with pale malt?

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scuppeteer
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Re: Wild hops - questions

Post by scuppeteer » Mon Sep 25, 2017 8:36 pm

Keep it simple, you get a much better idea of the flavour then. If you are air drying, then weigh them whilst wet, and again before you use them then you can gauge how dry they are, they should be around a fifth of the wet weight. If the strig breaks easily they are dry enough.
Dave Berry


Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!

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