What to do with green (unripe) hops

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robanna

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I ran across some wild hops while on a bike ride and decided to collect some. After some research I have found out that they a still green or unripe. They have a grassy or vegetal smell but have a bright yellow lupulin and are very bitter when I chew on them. I made a small tea and the aroma was not something that I want to have in my beer but the bitterness was there. The flavor was, meh, ok I guess, not detestable. So, my question is; can I use these as a bittering addition (60 minutes)? Will that boil off the aroma and flavor and just add to the bitterness?
 
The bittering amount would be a crap shoot, but maybe do a quick 1 gallon extract brew to get an idea of what they do for you. Write down your weights and times so you can go back and get more if you like it.
 
Make sure you dry em properly if u gonna use em. Green/wet/undried hops and 60 min boil = grass beer.
 
Just to clarify; these are not 'wet hops' just green in the sense of in-mature and shouldn't have been picked yet. I have fully dried them but still have a grassy smell to them. I don't think they have an aroma that I want in a beer.

Will a long boil remove the aroma and just leave the bitter?

I have about 4 oz dried and in the freezer. I'll go back for more in a week or two but didn't know if these are worth the freezer space :D

My plan was to do an extract kit IPA (most likely) and add these to the recipe for some extra bitter.
 
My experience with fresh hops, is that what they smell like is going into ur beer. I could be wrong completely, however i think if they smell grassy the beer will taste grassy. Gotta remember the "bittering" hops still add a flavor to your beer beyong the straight up aa content.
 
I have no qualification for stating this, but i say brew a beer with some other hop for bittering and throw these in at the last 15 minutes for flavor/aroma and see what happens. If you are kegging, worst case scenario you dry hop for some additional flavor and aroma.
 
Robanna, unfortunately i can't help with your question, but just posted about a hops update around denver (front range) and then caught your post. no need to give exact location but where abouts did you grab your hops? i have a few wild vines i am eyeing up in the front range (but can't head up every week to check how they look, going to try and get up on thur.) and was asking about how the cones are looking and how the harvest season is looking. just over a year brewing, so this is my first chance to hit the hill for some hops (not on my scope last year). any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated. the vines i am eyeing are at about 8200'

thanks,
b

edit: here is the link over there so i don't hijack your thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/colorado-hop-growers-update-needed-347748/
 
Will a long boil remove the aroma and just leave the bitter?
yes.

Gotta remember the "bittering" hops still add a flavor to your beer beyong the straight up aa content.
not in my experience. hops thrown in at 60 mins will not contribute flavor or aroma. the oils will have been boiled away. only bitterness will be left.
 
"wet" only refers to the fact that they are fresh.... not actually wet with liquid. Also not all hops are meant for brewing which is probably why they taste like a**, if they don't taste right I say leave them be.
*edit disregard my post I obviously am incapable of reading properly, didn't notice you said you dried them.
 
not in my experience. hops thrown in at 60 mins will not contribute flavor or aroma. the oils will have been boiled away. only bitterness will be left.

This cant be true. otherwise every recipe would be the same. By your statement you could make an ale with say 20 aa of centennial in the 60 min boil only, then make an identical ale only using 20 aa of sorachi ace for the 60 min boil and they would taste identical.
 
This cant be true. otherwise every recipe would be the same. By your statement you could make an ale with say 20 aa of centennial in the 60 min boil only, then make an identical ale only using 20 aa of sorachi ace for the 60 min boil and they would taste identical.
that is correct. what will make those two brews different are the 20, 15, 10, 5, 1 and 0 minute additions.

next time you re-brew a recipe, try swapping out the 60 min additions for a different variety but same number of AAUs. you won't taste a difference.
 
next time you re-brew a recipe, try swapping out the 60 min additions for a different variety but same number of AAUs. you won't taste a difference.

Have you done this? I have notice a difference with the few recipies i have done with single hops additions. Besides if the no difference were true why would there be as many varieties of bittering(60 min boil only) hops, with flavor profiles attached.
 
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