I just brewed an all wild hop pale ale.

I went to my LHBS today, and he pulled a box full of wild hops he had picked from the countryside from behind the counter and gave them to me (no cost).. . I went home and measured that he had given me 6.5 oz. I tried to replicate a recipe that I had done earlier. . an IPA recipe.. . but substituted all wild hops . . .


It should be a good, one hop Pale Ale. . .I'll post results as they come up.

I was going to post pictures. . . but my camera was dead. . .anyway, wanted to share the excitement. . . .

Isn't it kind of a crap shoot as far as Alpha Acids go? If they're wild you probably wouldn't even be able to guess the content. Not unless it's a known domestic strain that went wild. How much did you use and what did you base it on?

Well, these smelled rather mild. . .smelled a LOT like Hallertau. I figured them at 5% AA or less. I used 2 oz at 60 minutes, 1.5 0z at 30 minutes, 1.5 oz 15 minutes, and 1.5 oz at 5 minutes. (that's for a 10 gallon batch)

I figured that using a single hop pale ale with an already proven recipe should give me a good study as what the characteristics of the these hops truly are.

I even have bottles of the original IPA that I can compare.

Yes, its a crap shoot, but I don't think I'll be disappointed.

Seems like a decent place to do some continuous hopping.

DFH's 90 minute IPA isn't my favorite, but their 60 minute I think is fantastic.

I've been thinking about continuously hopping a pale ale or IPA for my next brew.

problem is that I'm going to have to hit up my LHBS for more wild hops to dry hop with. I ran out during the brew.

:cross:

An IPA is a good beer to use wild/unknown hops on b/c too much hop flavor will never hurt.

Awesome! Who cares if you know what the IBU's. This is a cool experiment. Bet it turns out awesome.

The only problem is that my efficiency on this one suffered a bit for some reason. . . I have been having that problem on the last several batches. I think it may be related to crush, and maybe too much sparge water. I'm STILL trying to fine tune my system after 1.5 years of using it.

Oh well. The beer will still be good, nevertheless.

That sounds awesome! I'd love to stumble across some wild hops... a friend has this tree in his back yard that produces little cones that look a lot like hops but I have no idea what they are. Hops don't really come on trees, do they?

I might be doing this later in the month. My neighbor says there are some wild/very old hop plants along one of his ditches.

I have a feeling that these hops are going to be rather mild as far as AA goes. They smell great, but aren't terribly harsh in any one way. Its fermenting away right now. Should be interesting to see how they turn out.

Personally, I would have still used a bittering hop with a known AA% - like a Magnum or something - and limited the wild additions to the last 15-20 minutes of the boil. Nothing says you can do a six ounce late addition!

Might want to be careful dryhopping with those too. Is there any need to worry about infection with wild hops?

Nah, go for the whole 'wild hop' thing!:rockin: I did an 'all home grown hop' ale using mostly Cascade b/c that is what I had/have the most of. It turned out great! I plan to brew the same recipe again in the near future.

Brewing it helped me to fine tune where the estimated AA of my home grown Cascade hops should be. Figuring I'm no Mr. Greenjeans, I guessed them to be at the bottom of the scale. But after tasting the ale, I was able to compare them with brews I had made using 'known' Cascade hops from Freshops. I ended up scaling my home grown's up to ~6% AAU.

the_bird said:

Personally, I would have still used a bittering hop with a known AA% - like a Magnum or something - and limited the wild additions to the last 15-20 minutes of the boil. Nothing says you can do a six ounce late addition!

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I thought about that, but I figured that if I used the wilds all through the brew, at 60, 30, 15, and 5, then I would get a good feel for what bittering properties, aroma, taste, etc that they have. If I used a known bittering hop, I couldn't get that.

I smelled the airlock today--smelled pretty nice, actually. Should be good.

seefresh said:

Might want to be careful dryhopping with those too. Is there any need to worry about infection with wild hops?

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Nope. . .hops are hops, which are naturally antiseptic. shouldn't be a risk.

Biermann, you are the first person that I have ever heard of that purports to be able to smell the AA% of hops! Thats the type of superhuman ability that comic books heros are known for. Can you measure the OG of your wort by sticking your finger in the sample? Or, or can you telapathically determan the health of your yeast starters? Use laser vision to contol the temperature of your fermentations?!?! Chug a beer like a speeding bullet?

Here's a dancing bannana to all of our super brewing heros.

Hmm. . .

Well, my purported superhuman powers have located another source of wild hops. Picked these yesterday. They smelled citrusy, and many had long hop cones. I'm wondering if these aren't a cascades variant. Of course its anyone's guess at this time.

I've got these drying right now. My kids LOVED helping pull them off the vines. . .My son would take some in his hands, roll his hands together, and smell them. . .He looked like a little Sam Koch. It was hilarious. Anyway, probably will dry these out and use them to dry hop my pale ale I just made.

it just keeps getting better. . . .SWMBO went out and bought me a food dehydrator. . . I have no choice but start growing hops next year. . . . and if this wild hop beer turns out good, I'll keep them on the menu as well.

Well, here's a final update on the wild hop pale ale. . .

So far tastes great, but the hops were a bit shy on the AA content. I'm not sure what the IBU's are, but taste wise I'd put it at about 40 total. I dry hopped it about a week ago, and tasted it yesterday-- It has an earthy, spicy hop flavor, with a nice earthy (fuggle-like) hop aroma. Overall, its a very good beer.

I did some research for my area-- and it seems that there were hop fields widely grown in my area- some fields supposedly were even owned and operated by the Catholic Church!!

AS to the strain, I'll probably never quite figure it out. You guess is as good as mine.

Cheers.

Very cool experiment. Glad it worked out for ya.

Awesome! Free hops! I'd love to run across some hop vines in the wild.

Yeah but what happens when the beer turns out awesome and you cant get more of the hops?! Man i would LOVE to make a beer with wild hops...mmmmm............

sounds like it all turned out good to me. as long as you like the end result that's all that matters. Happy drinking

Indeed. The good thing is that I saved the location of the wild hops on my GPS. Now they are pinpointed for a surgical strike for next year. You gotta love modern technology.

I'd dig up some of the rizomes if I were you.
Plant those things in your yard and start your own crop.
I've got a couple in my yard that I really haven't tended very well, but with the price increases/shortages I'll probably start...