Found some wild hops in the UK. Trying to identify them

[Mumathomebrew]

I was foraging for blackberries and sloes on a dog walk and whilst happily walking home with them, my eyes settled upon some interesting green vine like plants with bright green flakey buds. I suddenly realised they were hops, so I picked a few to bring back home and do some internet research.

With the help of school of google, I found out how to dry them. Did so overnight on the top of an aga, and have now made a tea to try to identify which sort they might be.

Rolling a fresh bud in my hands. They are very grassy, citrus, resinously green with almost a marjuana smell about them. It is quite a clean smell but in a citrussy sort of resinous olibanum way. Almost minty/citrus uplifting. The tea flavour was plain and green with a mild hint of bitterness but not harsh at all. Quite pleasantly refreshing.

The vines were sprawled sideways over a large patch of nettles so there are many more unreachable ones still there. They range from a bigger cone of about 5cm, most are about 3cm and some weeny ones of 1cm.

Any clues as to what this hop type could be? I shall make a virgin beer and try them out but will need to ask on the beginner forum about that.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Like most fruit trees etc, hops don't grow true from seed and so named varieties need to be propagated by cuttings etc. Random hops in a hedge will almost certainly have grown from seed and so won't be genetically identical to a named variety.

Also hops are notoriously variable in cone and leaf shape, so it's hard to identify random ones even if they are clones of named varieties. But the mature stems can give you some idea - the Goldings family tend to have green stems with red "pinstripes" or flecks, Fuggles have green stems with red leaf stalks. Hard to say, but it looks like you may have some pinstripe on yours?

It also depends on where you are in the country. There was a huge acreage grown in the Home Counties in the 1880s, but the industry collapsed soon after as pasteurisation meant fewer hops were needed for preservative purposes, so a lot of the genetic legacy of hops in these ex-hopgrowing areas is based on the big commercial varieties of the 19th century, which are not grown now for a good reason - things like Colgate, Grape and Tolhurst.

But as long as you pick them at the right time - you look like you've hit it just about right with the odd bit of brown on them, it seems to be an early year this year - then you should be able to make beer with them.

Ideally you don't want to dry them, use them fresh off the bine - but be aware that there's a very narrow window to use them at their best. Some of the Kent brewers won't use green hops more than 4 hours after picking, although outside Kent they'll go up to 12 hours. Otherwise dry them.

 

[Miraculix]

I was foraging for blackberries and sloes on a dog walk and whilst happily walking home with them, my eyes settled upon some interesting green vine like plants with bright green flakey buds. I suddenly realised they were hops, so I picked a few to bring back home and do some internet research.

With the help of school of google, I found out how to dry them. Did so overnight on the top of an aga, and have now made a tea to try to identify which sort they might be.

Rolling a fresh bud in my hands. They are very grassy, citrus, resinously green with almost a marjuana smell about them. It is quite a clean smell but in a citrussy sort of resinous olibanum way. Almost minty/citrus uplifting. The tea flavour was plain and green with a mild hint of bitterness but not harsh at all. Quite pleasantly refreshing.

The vines were sprawled sideways over a large patch of nettles so there are many more unreachable ones still there. They range from a bigger cone of about 5cm, most are about 3cm and some weeny ones of 1cm.

Any clues as to what this hop type could be? I shall make a virgin beer and try them out but will need to ask on the beginner forum about that.

View attachment 642802 View attachment 642803

Found them close to the railway, haven't you?

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I found this list of UK hop types.

Progress and Sussex say minty as do fuggle. My son says challenger is the nearest for his nose.

I shall go and examine the stems and the leaves later.

There used to be a railway near here but not for donkeys years. Oxfordshire.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Found them close to the railway, haven't you?

Just been talking to my husband and the area they are growing in used to be a goods yard for the old railway. Clever you.

 

[Miraculix]

Just been talking to my husband and the area they are growing in used to be a goods yard for the old railway. Clever you.

I recognised the fence type on the picture.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Took some more stem pics. Some have stripes and spots and some are plain green.

I shall wait for the malt to arrive then will don some extremely strong trousers, some long gloves holding a stout curved walking stick and a scythe. They seem to be many more but are liberally scattered in a nettle infested bramble field. The ones I can see on the fence are nearly reachable but there is a huge nettle filled ditch in front of the fence. I took all the ones that were easily reachable already. I left the smaller green ones to ripen further. Better take a companion because I wouldn't want to fall in those nettles and brambles much. This beer will be hard earned so it had better be darn good. I might take a small knife and a spade to pinch some rhizome to put in a more comfortable place like my own garden.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I found this list of UK hop types.

Progress and Sussex say minty as do fuggle. My son says challenger is the nearest for his nose.

That list doesn't help you much as it lists varieties in current commercial production - but only Fuggles and Goldings date back to before WWI (and many on that list have only be released in the last 10 years), by which time I would guess commercial production of hops in Oxon would be on its last legs if still going at all. So if the derive from local commercial production then they're not going to be things like Challenger or Progress, they weren't invented then.

And as I say since these are almost certainly wild seedlings they won't correspond to anything on that list, as they will be eg 3/8 Colgate, 3/8 Grape, 1/8 Fuggle and 1/8 random wild hop - or whatever, sex always makes things complicated...

However, the fact that it was a railway yard raises the possibility that the plants originated from hops spilt from wagons transporting hops from Worcestershire or Kent to Morland/Morrells etc which could mean a) the origin is more recent b)the origin is better quality varieties that were good enough to transport across the country c)they're more recent, so have had fewer generations to dilute the good DNA with other stuff.

Certainly those stems look like they could be one with a lot of Goldings parentage and one with some Fuggle parentage, which sounds promising, the red-striped one would definitely be worth grabbing rhizomes of.

 

[Miraculix]

Took some more stem pics. Some have stripes and spots and some are plain green.

View attachment 643026

I shall wait for the malt to arrive then will don some extremely strong trousers, some long gloves holding a stout curved walking stick and a scythe. They seem to be many more but are liberally scattered in a nettle infested bramble field. The ones I can see on the fence are nearly reachable but there is a huge nettle filled ditch in front of the fence. I took all the ones that were easily reachable already. I left the smaller green ones to ripen further. Better take a companion because I wouldn't want to fall in those nettles and brambles much. This beer will be hard earned so it had better be darn good. I might take a small knife and a spade to pinch some rhizome to put in a more comfortable place like my own garden.

View attachment 643030

It's not in the West Berkshire area, is it?

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I love the history part. The railway would have been the Wycombe Railway and in operation c1900 to about 1965. It became the Great Western Railway.

I'm now researching what they might have been moving. It was probably limestone, ochre and cut faggots. Timber another.

I shall go back and document what bine is where to see if it might make sense to have been transported. It did seem that they looked slightly different from each other but I'm no expert. What fun for some beer.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Only picked the hops from the red striped bines today. The actual hops had a slight red blush where they joined the stem. There were some on plain green stems. I took one end section with a small bump of red shoot so we'll see if it survives.

 

[Miraculix]

Only picked the hops from the red striped bines today. The actual hops had a slight red blush where they joined the stem. There were some on plain green stems. I took one end section with a small bump of red shoot so we'll see if it survives.

View attachment 643317 View attachment 643318 View attachment 643319 View attachment 643320 View attachment 643321 View attachment 643322 View attachment 643323

Good luck with your garden hops!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Only picked the hops from the red striped bines today. The actual hops had a slight red blush where they joined the stem. There were some on plain green stems. I took one end section with a small bump of red shoot so we'll see if it survives.

So those first two with your fingers are red bines, which in the UK generally means low quality but high yields - Tolhurst is a classic example, which became briefly popular when replanting hop gardens in Mid Kent that were grubbed up in WWI as it had double the yields of other varieties, but then growers found that no brewer would buy it.

The third one with the red pinstripe is a green bine, which may indicate Goldings parentage so should be much better quality.

 

[shetc]

Might as well throw some nettles in the brew as well.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

W'll go and fetch some of the green striped ones instead. Thank you.

(and save the nettles for when they're a bit younger next year perhaps.)

 

[Pennine]

This is a great thread. I've picked some wild hops I've found in the backyard, anyone have any idea what these are? They smell goldingish.
I'm going to brew with them over the weekend. If anyone is interested in helping identify I'll send a bottle or two out if they are in the UK.

Wondering if they are worth relocating to an easier to grow area.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

As above - they're almost certainly not a pure-bred variety, the blush of red on the leaf stalks hints at some Fuggle-family DNA, otherwise it looks like you have red pinstripes on the stem which hints at some Golding parentage.

But hey, free hops....

As above - if you want to use them as green hops then time is of the essence, ideally you want them in the wort within 4 hours of picking, certainly no more than 24h. Otherwise dry them.

The advantage of green hops is that they don't lose all the volatiles that are normally driven off in drying, so they're best used in the whirlpool and as dry hops, but if you have enough of them you can use them in the copper. But since you don't know what the alpha acid content is they are a bit of a lottery for bittering, at least until you've used them once for bittering.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

More school of google on the matter and here is a superb article on the fuggle history.

I'm going with a friend on a hop picking mission later and we're going to see if we can isolate each seemingly different variety that are in this field and try to see if we can tell any difference with a tea test. So far a potential of three kinds. All green, all red and striped.

Looking to this picture. A fuggle with very definite red stalks on a green stem. Now we sort of know what to look for from this thread. We have that a red stripe on green might indicate golding, and the red might indicate a poorer Tolhurst kind. It's a good start, and as you say... free hops anyway.

They'll all make beer, and seeing as my beer brewing talents are only mildly tested so far, then a great IPA first off is extremely unlikely. Making it drinkable at all will do and we'll go from there.

Found this too. (Credit to Brewgeeks)

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Just keep bearing in mind that since these are 99% certain to be from seed, they will at best be only 50% of a named variety (which are all female), they are all mongrels of some kind.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Its fun learning. Mongrel beer is a brilliant name for it.

We looked hard and were probably guessing, but we found what appeared to be three types aside from the previous all red. Who knows really? Now time to really make some beer. Scrubbing the containers.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The other thing to watch for is that near the tips all stems tend to look plain green, you can only really tell from the main stem lower down, which can be difficult if you've got different ones twining round each other.

 

[Pennine]

As above - they're almost certainly not a pure-bred variety, the blush of red on the leaf stalks hints at some Fuggle-family DNA, otherwise it looks like you have red pinstripes on the stem which hints at some Golding parentage.

But hey, free hops....

As above - if you want to use them as green hops then time is of the essence, ideally you want them in the wort within 4 hours of picking, certainly no more than 24h. Otherwise dry them.

The advantage of green hops is that they don't lose all the volatiles that are normally driven off in drying, so they're best used in the whirlpool and as dry hops, but if you have enough of them you can use them in the copper. But since you don't know what the alpha acid content is they are a bit of a lottery for bittering, at least until you've used them once for bittering.

Great I am not going to brew again till this weekend so I threw them into a bag and into the freezer. Ended up with about 120g of semi dry hops and may just use them as late additions and whirlpool and bitter with some magnum. I threw some in a pale ale a couple weeks ago which came out good from the fermentor but I am not sure how much is due to the mongrel hops. Maybe I should just brew entirely with them to find out, bitterness be damned. 120g of semi dry hops should be enough for a 10l batch.

 

[Pennine]

Its fun learning. Mongrel beer is a brilliant name for it.

We looked hard and were probably guessing, but we found what appeared to be three types aside from the previous all red. Who knows really? Now time to really make some beer. Scrubbing the containers.


View attachment 643778View attachment 643779View attachment 643780

curious to see how yours turn out!

 

[Pennine]

Its fun learning. Mongrel beer is a brilliant name for it.

We looked hard and were probably guessing, but we found what appeared to be three types aside from the previous all red. Who knows really? Now time to really make some beer. Scrubbing the containers.


View attachment 643778View attachment 643779View attachment 643780

by the way those are black currants next to the blackberries in your first picture? I saw some on the way to work and wondering if they are worth picking.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Sloes and some bullace, but they're not really ready till the first frost. Blackberries are huge this year and plentiful. I make tons of wines but I'm new to beer.

The made beers are on this thread.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

We went to fetch 4oz yesterday for a small brew and ended up coming back with four carrier bags bulging. Approx 4-5lbs from a bine that had reddish leaf stalks and another less reddish one on the fence with smaller hops. There were oodles all just about to get past it soon, so we nabbed 'em. I couldn't really tell a difference in the smell of each so we mixed them up and are drying them. Mongrel beers it is from now on.

Happy to share some for the cost of the postage or for a swap for another kind.

 

[Pennine]

We went to fetch 4oz yesterday for a small brew and ended up coming back with four carrier bags bulging. Approx 4-5lbs from a bine that had reddish leaf stalks and another less reddish one on the fence with smaller hops. There were oodles all just about to get past it soon, so we nabbed 'em. I couldn't really tell a difference in the smell of each so we mixed them up and are drying them. Mongrel beers it is from now on.

Happy to share some for the cost of the postage or for a swap for another kind.

View attachment 644052
View attachment 644051

I would be interested in swapping, I found another bine in front of a wickes oddly enough might try to pick that one next week and I will rebuild the supply. This one had some.massive hops growing off of it.

The batch I have is going into the kettle tomorrow, I'm tempted to do a 20l batch and split it into two 10l boils using EKG for one and the wild hops in the other then I will have a reference point. Anyway in case I don't have hops I'll swap some beer samples if you want. You got me inspired to use them.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

Fetched and shared some fresh ones recently so will be glad of a second opinion.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

That first 5lb lot made 12.4 oz when dried. Interesting how light they end up.

So 1oz fresh = 6.45 oz dried which is above the 5:1 ratio so perhaps these were dried a bit too long/effectively.

I've now bought some sealed Fuggles and East Kent Golding, so when I open them I'll be able to compare these, as I have zero knowledge of any other hop type aromas.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Commercial brewers in Kent reckon on 6-7x wet compared to dry, so you look on target.

 

[Pennine]

So a quick follow up after having a couple bottles of the backyard wild hop ale. It's not really bad , has quite the British taste not quite goldings but it seems the similar. It also has a bit of a fusel/alcohol taste I am positive is from the hop? I will try to give it an actual tasting in a week then it will have been in the bottle for a couple of weeks.

Was a cool experiment, not sure I would.do it again? There are so many commercial varieties I still haven't gotten around to yet.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I'm going to wait until the beginner beers I've made are tasted, and then decide whether these wildings are just useful as a bittering hop which I strongly suspect now, having cooked them up for a couple of boils. There's definitely a grassy, weedy compost smell as they boil. I'm going to be really fascinated with the smells when dealing with a proper hop variety.