Using First year hops

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Polboy

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Hi Guys
I got 4oz of magnum after drying from first year plant, i know its nearly impossible to determine IBUs in home grown hops so im gona use default numbers in beerSmith for that but is there something different about 1st year harvest (like use double amount or something?), do they have less ibus, aroma, flavor than older plants?
 
Last year, not having any idea how potent my home growns were, I simply dove right in and used my first year Chinook, Centennial and Cascade as if they were store-bought. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover they were close enough to hit the characters I would have been aiming to hit, and my boys thought the IPAs I did with those hops were some of my best.

That said, I suspect AA content (and pretty much everything else, too, for that matter) varies significantly enough with all the variables at play that it would be pretty tough to "know" how much to use without getting your hops tested. If you have enough for multiple batches (I did) the first one can be the trial balloon, with the batches to follow being adjusted where necessary.

I understand only having four ounces kinda limits you in that regard. I suppose if you had any bought Magnum you could brew up very small batches of hop tea (like a cup of each) and compare them...

Cheers!
 
im still waiting for my cascade harvest and then i will try to brew hopy pale ale using magnum for bittering and cascade for late additions, i will report back but it will be a while as i have few beers on my schedule already
 
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