Generic Garden Store "Hops"

My Opa grew some hops in his garden last year, knowing my dad and I brew beer. He didn't get rhizomes from a hop grower or anything, he just went to a gardening shop and bought a packet that said "hops". He's anxious for us to use them in our brew, but we're hesitant to, since we have no idea what variety they might be or what their AA content might be. Is there a typical variety that is usually used for this sort of garden-store-generic-"hop", or a generalization about the likelihood of its alpha acid content?

The two most common ornamental hops are Humulus Japonica and Humulus lupulus 'Aureus'. It could also be a number of other varieties. It's really hard to identify the different strains. I would be hesitant to use them as well.

Those would be ornamental hops. Don't think they'd be much use for brewing.

Make a tea out of the cones and see what it tastes like. That should give you a good idea as to whether you want to use them.

Or just buy a rhizome of what you want, dig those up and replace them...in the middle of the night.

Your Opa is trying to be helpful - but no beer for him!

Actually, you could help him out by ordering some rhizomes and sticking them in his garden yourself.

ETA: lol Dan beat me to it!

We actually have four different rhizomes in our backyard, given us by a friend who owns a hop farm in the Willamette Valley. They're coming in nice this year and we are hoping to get some great results. So never fear. I was just wondering if we dare use the unidentified hops in a small batch and give it a go...

Yea why not, it'll make him happy and there's always a chance you'll come up with something good. Unless you're really pressed for cash I don't see any reason not to brew a batch, just don't use them for bittering

two easy answers on this one...

1. Smell em. If you dig it, use em. If you don't, don't

2. Ask the nursery where he got them. It's a good shot they buy the same stock year after year and if they don't know the answer, perhaps they have a referance to the supplyer that does.

Unless the leaves were yellow, it's a shot in the dark. I've seen high AA ornamentals and tea hops, which have almost no acids and everything in between.

So, make a batch of small beer, assume 5% AA.