using home grown hops

[far9410]

Hi' having succesfully grown a crop of northdown hops, I need to use them to the best i can. I dried them and then stored in freezer in 100 gm lots. There are several unknowns here, how does weight compare with bought hops, as i dont know the moisture content. What sort of bitterness can i expect, I would think they should have a bit more than bought ones. should I just try and see? thanks

[JammyBStard]

I would just take the average value asociated with the strain and use that. In general the actual IBU of the hop your using is likly to be a point or two away from what-evers written on the packet anyway so I wouldn't get bogged down in it.

[far9410]

Hi yeah its just that if I user far too much, say, then i wont know if the hops taste good or not. its a long time to wait for a new batch

[JammyBStard]

Well there's no AA test without using (I think it's) spectography and we have no way of knowing how dry your hops are compared to bought hops either; So you'd have to either do some experiments like measuring the weight of a known volume of bought dry hops and comparing it with the same volume of your hops; and then take the average value asociated with the strain. shoot for a middle IBU lke 35; and use plenty of hops in the middle and late hops to get the falvour and aroma. I dont think you can go too far wrong I've never used Northdown but it's not ment to be an overpowering Aroma Hop.