Bag of mixed old hops

I went to the Redhook brewery in Portsmouth NH a few days ago. The tour guide gave me a bag of hops (probably at least a pound). He said they were skunk and were a mixed with different hop varieties. They would need to used for bittering and boiled for away to ensure any bacteria was killed.

Would you use them? I am hesitant but relatively new to brewing.

skunk does not sound good. ...how much would it cost you to buy these? ...how much effort do you put into making beer. Would you be willing to pay the cost of the hops to insure that your beer works without having to take the gamble?
Also, if you don't know what type of hops they are then you will not be able to repeat the brew.

Personally I would use them in bittering as I never brew the same beer twice. Also they are free.

Yours sincerely,
Devils Advocate.

Erm, does skunk mean the same thing over there as it does over here? I know there are a couple of books on that sort of thing, but of course I wouldn't know anything about it...

Sounds like it would work well for making a lambic, where you need aged hops

Bokonon said:

Sounds like it would work well for making a lambic, where you need aged hops

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I agree, lambic would probably be your best bet for these hops.

brew up a 5 gal batch of IIPA and put all of the hops in there. I say screw it. The hops are probably crap and you might get a cheese bomb. Or you might have some hop monster. No way to calculate IBU's so who knows. Just go huge on malt and try to balance it. I say 16 oz equals 1/2 oz of hops every 3 minutes for 90 minutes. 1 oz to dry hop.

Smell those hops . . . just stick your whole darned face in there and snort away. One of three things will happen:
1) They'll smell wonderful & you should use them as you would any other hops with the note that they are of unknown strain. Make a mystery IPA.
2) They'll have little smell to them but the scent that is there smells fine, then treat them like old hops & use them for a lambic.
3) They'll smell "funky" or slightly moldy/skunky & you should toss them before you've ruined a hard earned batch of beer on them.

Trust your nose! If they smell fine, they are fine.