hops from health food store?

I went in to a local small health food store for some corn sugar and they had whole hops flowers and leaves in a plastic jar in the "build your own" herbal pill section. I asked what kind of hops they were and the lady only knew they were herbal.

My question is would these be good to add to my next batch, if so what step would these be good to add? Oh, how much would I use in a batch and any good extract recipes in particular these would go well in?

tia

Theres all kinds of these on ebay, but since you dont know the variety, AA, age or anything else really I wouldnt think they were good for anything other than maybe aroma hops. Even then they might be pretty weak.

Ask the owner of the shop if she can give you any information on where the hops come from and what variety they are. Do they seem fresh or are they dried?

My first instinct is that these hops are not very useful for brewing and you will get better results buying hops from a homebrew supply shop.

For optimal freshness, hops need to be kept cool (preferably frozen), out of the light, and ideally in a vacuum sealed container of some kind. So, if these hops have been sitting out in the open a long time, and it sounds like they have been, they probably are not very fresh and therefore not really all that useful for bittering. However, they may still be good for aroma or flavor. Rub some between your fingers and if you get a very strong hop scent and some sticky resin then they may be ok. Otherwise, leave em alone.

If you do decide to get some only get the flowers, or cones, not the leaves. Only the cones are useful for brewing.

good thing I passed on them then. These were dried for crushing to put in herbal pills so they are probably not good for me. The nearest lhbs for me is about a 3 hour drive so I always try to keep an eye open for anything that may come in handy. Thanks guys.

You don't want to use that stuff. Just buy the good hops online or a local HBS.

Bienvenidos!

Most hops sold in "health" "food" stores are low alpha, high beta hops specially bred to be worthless for brewing, but with extra flavornerds (or something like that). Hop tea is actually very relaxing and has some anti-bacterial properties. They are also favored by organic chicken farmers, replacing the antibiotics most chicken producers use.

That doesn't mean they can't be used for flavor or aroma hops, just you have no idea of what they are or if you'll get the same variety each time. I brewed a batch using drainage ditch hops, I suspect they were Fuggle, but no one around here remembers anything more than the farm used to raise hops.