Here's my available hops, what should I brew?

So I was gifted with some hops from a co-worker today that were just picked yesterday afternoon and I'm trying to look for suggestions on what I should brew. Here's what I have on hand:

1 oz. Centenial
5 oz. Magnum
8 oz. Newport.

Any ideas folks?

Cheers,

Duke

I'd go with an IPA. With those hops, you definately want to limit them to nothing but aroma/flavor. The last 10 minutes of the boil or as a dry hop should do the trick.

I had thought of that but I was hoping to do something a little different. I got a little inspired by Deschutes Brewing's twitters today. They just picked up 4200lbs of hops in Salem today and drove them back to Bend and should be going into a brew as we speak.

Any other ideas out there?

Cheers,

Duke

It looks like you've got all the bittering hops you need for about 60-65 gal of brew!

The one that intrigued me was the Newport. According to this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/newport-hops-6417/ , the brews seem to run the gamut. Have fun experimenting and tell this co-worker if he needs to unload anymore hops, you've got a "few" friends that like to brew!

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

I'd go with an IPA. With those hops, you definately want to limit them to nothing but aroma/flavor. The last 10 minutes of the boil or as a dry hop should do the trick.

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Are these not typically bittering hops? expecially with Magnum's high co-humulone percentage?

Grizzlybrew said:

Are these not typically bittering hops? expecially with Magnum's high co-humulone percentage?

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They are. But they are homegrown hops. With homegrown hops, there's really no way to find out what your AAU% is. Because of this, most people who grow hops limit their harvests to aroma/flavoring only. Hops that are typically used as flavoring hops can be put in as bittering in this case. Cascades, for example, make great all-around hops. That's why so many people grow them at home. Not to mention they produce hops like crazy.

The main thing is that since you don't know the % of the hops...you never know what kind of bittering you'll get. Why ruin a beer because it's unbearably bitter? I say stick with aroma because the three hops he has...they're all good hops for aroma/flavor in my opinion. Some bittering hops taste horrible when used as aroma/flavor...but not these.

Alas, I forgot they were homegrown... I've read (but never attempted with my own) that you can make a tea and compare bitterness to hops with known AA's (make a tea with them as well). In addition, I'm working my way through Designing Great Beers right now and Ray Daniels says humans cannot detect differences under 5 IBU. I wonder how close you could get.

I assume these are wet hops (not dried of all moisture)? If so, you need to take this into account when using them. 1 ounce of freshly harvested hops does not equal 1 ounce of dried hops. I have no idea what the conversion rate is, but I'd do some quick research to figure it out.

Then any that you aren't going to use soon ought to be dried so they don't mildew & get nasty.

My rule when using homegrown hops that are wet and freshly picked is...

6 times the amount of wet hops than normal hops. So if you would normally use an ounce...it needs to be six ounces of wet hops.

When dry, they are the same weight, so you don't need to make any adjustments. And if you don't plan on using them....as said above, you need to dry them immediately and package them for freezing. Keep them in complete darkness while they are drying. I put mine in paper bags and shake them every few days to get them dry. It takes about 4-7 days.