Dry Hopping Experiment

My buddy and I had a brew bash day today, not a huge one, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Anyways, we brewed up a ten gallon batch of pretty basic stout (crystal 120, black patent, Willamette hops, etc) and split it up so we would each have five gallons.

Halfway though, his good friend comes by with a shopping bag full of fresh picked hops that he had been growing on his back fence. What kind, no idea. However, we were pretty excited anyways.

So, my question is this: I would like to dry hop my half of the beer and is this a good idea or not? Why am I even thinking of this? One: I love hoppy beers, any kind of hoppy beers, and two: I would like to see how it compares to the "control" of the normal stout. I think it would be a pretty fun experiment.

So, what do people think? Am I ruining a perfectly good batch of beer, or have people tried this before and come out happy?

My understanding is that when you pick hops, if you use them right away ("wet"), you must use them within about 24 hours. Otherwise, they should be dried and used as regular leaf hops.

I'm not a fan of hops aroma and flavor in my stouts, but if you are, why not try it?

Experimenting is usually a good thing. Having the other half of the batch as a control is very useful too. It might be a shame to waste the opportunity if you are in search of hoppiness.

I think I will give it a whirl, I mean, the worst that can happen is a alter a bunch of beer for the negative. So, that leads to my next question. I got a bag of whole, undried, uncrushed hops. Anything I need to do to them to dry hop? Do I throw them in whole in a cheesecloth bag? Or do I need to chop them up, or dry them?

Any ideas?

Thanks