Someone offered me free male hops

Some guy offered me free male hops from his vineyard. Are these good? I mean do these work?

I feel like this is a cheap way for him to get people to clear out his bad hops.

Any info?

Pretty sure they are useless for brewing, unless you want to undertake a DIY hop breeding program

I would like them depending on the breed.

Nugget

Where are you located?

yep they are useless (in brewing terms).... you could use them as ornamental decorations. If you just wanted to cover a fence, wall, arbor, etc.

Male hops won't have any cones.

Male plants will also pollinate your female plants cones, making the cone have seed and also tending to shatter during harvest

I thought I read somewhere that cultivation of male hops was controlled. Is that a state thing, an USDA thing, or just a fallacy?

BradleyBrew said:

yep they are useless (in brewing terms).... you could use them as ornamental decorations. If you just wanted to cover a fence, wall, arbor, etc.

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That's what I thought. I think I heard that at some seminar I was at. I guess that guy is too lazy to clear them out himself.

It's in Maryland. FYI

I would take them, and try and cross it with every other hop variety you have.

ThreeDogsNE said:

I thought I read somewhere that cultivation of male hops was controlled. Is that a state thing, an USDA thing, or just a fallacy?

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it is controlled in the sense that farmers try t control it... but not having any.

as others have mentioned, only females make cones. so not only do males not produce anything useful for brewing, they fertilize the females and hinder their cone production.

so unless you want fertilized females - so you can try breeding a new variety of hop - i'd skip the males (i say this assuming that you're interested in hops for brewing, and that you have females around. if you're only into the esthetics of hops, go for it!)

odinsgift said:

I would take them, and try and cross it with every other hop variety you have.

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hop breeding can takes years, and you have no guarantee that you'll come up with anything interesting. certainly could be fun - on the other hand, you could put that same time and energy into growing known plants that produce good results.

But, to stumble upon the new Zythos, Sorachi Ace, Nelson Sauvin, etc would be something. Hopefully there could be one proprietary hop that hop union has nothing to do with.

odinsgift said:

But, to stumble upon the new Zythos, Sorachi Ace, Nelson Sauvin, etc would be something. Hopefully there could be one proprietary hop that hop union has nothing to do with.

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that could indeed happen. unfortunately chances are much higher that you will produce a lot of hops that are very similar to their parents. notable strains like citra, zythos, etc likely took hundreds of plants bred under different conditions to find one that was worth keeping.

not to discourage you from trying, but i would temper my expectations. you don't appear to know much about the males (what are their traits?), and you don't know much about hop breeding. chances of hitting a home-run aren't great is all i'm sayin'

sweetcell said:

that could indeed happen. unfortunately chances are much higher that you will produce a lot of hops that are very similar to their parents. notable strains like citra, zythos, etc likely took hundreds of plants bred under different conditions to find one that was worth keeping.

not to discourage you from trying, but i would temper my expectations. you don't appear to know much about the males (what are their traits?), and you don't know much about hop breeding. chances of hitting a home-run aren't great is all i'm sayin'

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Exactly. There was a recent Zymurgy article on this, its something like a 1 in 10,000 selection rate going from the intial experimental crosses to a final commercial hop. Which is why, while I understand brewers frustration with proprietary hops, it totally makes sense that the folks who put that much effort into finding that new hop want to actually make some money off their effort.

odinsgift said:

But, to stumble upon the new Zythos, Sorachi Ace, Nelson Sauvin, etc would be something. Hopefully there could be one proprietary hop that hop union has nothing to do with.

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Isn't Zythos a blend?

thatjonguy said:

Isn't Zythos a blend?

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Yup.

BrewKnurd said:

Yup.

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I thought so.

I had no idea Zythos was a blend, when I was at hopunion they hadn't mentioned that, I knew Falconers Flight was a blend, but not Zythos. I know hops have many genetic markers, and you will get 1000 different crosses from the same two plants, which makes Noble varieties seem to be easier to work with, but I still have an interest, I have acreage, and different places to keep isolated hops, and all of the time in the world to find one hop people will pay over two USD per oz for. It beats growing zucchini and bell peppers, and trying to compete with mexico who pays next to nothing for labor. It's a dream.