Hop Harvesting and Storage

[1234Alchemy]

I am pretty new to the homebrewing scene (2 all grain, 4 total brews under the belt). It has recently come to my attention that my mother's neighbor grows hops for aesthetic value. At the end of the season, they chop down the vines and throw it all out. All those precious hops wasted!! I have the opportunity to harvest their hops, so of course I pounced. I will be harvesting them this weekend... but I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing. Couple questions:

1. How much of them should be saved? Just the flowers themselves okay, or more?
2. I know to dry them, and Charlie Papazian's book says to "air dry" them. How would one go about this, without special equipment if possible?
3. How long will they stay good for if I keep them in my freezer after drying?
4. Is there any way to determine the alpha acid content or even TYPE? They have no idea.

Thanks so much! I'll let you all know how the harvest goes.

Edit: If it's any help, I live in south-central Wisconsin. I don't know if that affects what varieties are more likely to be found here or what...

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Lucky bastard! Try asking what type they planted, though they probably don't know. Without an idea of the type, you won't know the bittering power without trial batches. You might want to do a tea and compare with a known type of hops and see how close the bitterness is. You can always just use it for aroma & dry hopping! In the freezer, they should be good all year, right?

 

[wwest]

Wow! What a find. I've been thinking about this stuff too, since I'll be harvesting my first hop batch this fall:

For brewing, save only the flowers. The bines can be used for wreaths and other decoration. I've heard you can eat the shoots as well.

To dry them you can use a food dehydrator on the lowest setting (available at any dept store) or fabricate a hop dryer box.

If you vacuum seal them, you can freeze them indefinitely.

I remember hearing about someone sending some off to be alpha tested (but I have no idea who does this)... easier to just make some small batches of wort or beer with different amounts and get a feel for how much bitterness they impart. Dry hop or make hop tea to get an idea of the flavors and aromas.

I think the cones and leaves differ (albeit slightly) from cultivar to cultivar, so maybe sending some pictures to some hop experts or botanists might get you a more specific answer.

 

[cheezydemon]

I would definitely just brew one test batch with nothing but those hops. They are fresh, how bad could they be? I have been researching growing hops lately. Good find.

 

[david_42]

You can also dry them just by spreading them on window screens.

I'll be making a batch of Drainage Ditch Lite in a few weeks. One of my neighbors grew hops about 50 years ago and has some still growing along the edge of his field.

 

[1234Alchemy]

Awesome, thanks for the quick responses! I'll look into a food dehydrator, and I think I know someone with a vacuum sealer. I'll take pictures of the hops (vines and flowers) when I harvest them, if anyone's interested. This should be just about the right time of year to harvest I believe, right?

I'm pretty sure they have no idea what type of hops they are. Mom says that they were there before they moved in, probably planted by the previous owners.

Oh, one more thing... Any rough guesses of about how much I can expect to harvest? I suspect I'm going to have more hops than I know what to do with. I'll probably end up giving a bunch away.

 

[adx]

I would think that the Alton Brown drying method would work well. Place them on some HVAC filters and strap 3 or 4 of them to a box fan. Let the fan run for a day or two and they should be dried out.

Just make sure the filters aren't fiberglass.

 

[1234Alchemy]

Haha! I've actually seen that episode of Good Eats... where he makes beef jerky without a commercial dehydrator. That's what I'll do then. Seems simplest and cheapest.

For storing these hops after drying--freezer, right? Or will the fridge be sufficient? And what sort of bags am I looking for that are not oxygen permeable? I assume ziplock baggies won't cut it.

 

[fifelee]

Not sure if this will be much help.
Here are a few pages with pictures of different hop varieties. Save some of the leaves I have been told that they can be used to help identify the varity.

http://www.brewrats.org/
http://www.hopunion.com/pics.shtml