Found some wild hops

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joshesmusica

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Hey guys and gals, just wanted to come here first for suggestions. I found some wild hops here in Norway, although I'm sure they were cultivated at one time. We started late so we didn't even get to pick all we could see, but we still ended up with about 1.1kg worth. My only guess is that they were likely originally some kind of German landrace that got brought here and cultivated. But I've never smelled fresh hops before, so I couldn't say off the smell alone. Though they had a very pleasant, floral-like aroma (it was such a nice aroma, my wife wanted to make some kind of extract to make soap with).

I'm got them in the freezer until I figure out what to do with them. Which is where you all come in. I'm thinking that I should brew something that is not too heavy of a beer, so something that will really let something that was more than likely a cultivation of one of the noble hops to shine. I figured since there's not really a way of knowing how much AA there are, to get a set amount of IBUs from a different hop at 60 min, and then add these in the last 10 or so.

So what kind of recipe would you suggest?

Also, since I'm freezing them, is there really a point to drying them out?
 
If you think they are more "noble" than anything, how about an Oktoberfest bier? Or just a brown ale?
 
FWIW I honestly think I'd do some sort of SMaSH like brew, at least in terms of the single hop. Even if it is some sort of noble variety, you'll still likely get good flavour and mild bitterness out of it, but you know for sure you're getting the full taste of the new hop. Then you can move on from there with it fully knowing how it works.
Just my $0.02 CAD!
 
Don't freeze wet hops - you're going to cause the cell walls to lyse. If the cell walls lyse you're going to have a bad time.
 
I found some "wild" hops last fall. I'd like to know what difference it makes if I dried them or not before putting them in the freezer.

I just tossed them in the boiling wort when I used them. I'm pretty sure that should have caused the cell walls to break down. How/why should that have caused me to have a bad time brewing my SMaSH?
 
Yup, My Mileage Varied.

They weren't wet enough to cause that kind of problem.
 
i may just have to go with something like a blonde. mine weren't super wet, but i certainly didn't dry them out. i guess i'll see what they're like. i'm planning on doing something very small this week with some of them, just to bring out the character a bit. like a 5L extract batch or something.

as far as the freezing them goes. they've only been in the freezer since last night. so i decided to take them out and see how they looked. they didn't have the frozen lettuce look as was described in that link. i decided to take one bag today and try drying it out to see what happens. as i dumped that bag onto the tray, and started separating them it was a very crisp and flaky sound, not a wet mushy sound. so does it sound like i'm ok as far as the other three bags, or should i attempt to dry them out as well?
 
Drying the whole cones does lose a lot of water weight. But drying them before packaging & freezing preserves them better I think.
 
Don't freeze wet hops - you're going to cause the cell walls to lyse. If the cell walls lyse you're going to have a bad time.


Yep tried that once when I didn't have enough time or space to dry them.

You end up bags of slippery slimy plant material
 
Hops are pretty easy to dry. I put them on a section of expanding screen ( like the kind you use in older windows ) and it only takes a couple of days. If you vacuum pack in 1oz bags, they will last a long time in the freezer ( or even in the fridge in a pinch ). If you keep them too long, just add more as they loose their "flavor" the longer you keep them.
 
well, i dried out the first bag, and i think i overdid it! haha
before drying it weighed 195 grams, afterward 45 grams.

That sounds like they may not be completely dry- they normally lose more weight than that. I plan on my dried hops being about 1/6 the weight of the harvested hops.
 
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