Viable Hops?

[cactusgarrett]

So a german neighbor gave me a baggie of dried Tettnang - probably no more than 2oz. They're in a ziplock, but the air hasn't been evacuated from the bag, nor have they been in freezer storage. They don't smell like the hoppy-goodness you'd expect, but they don't smell bad, either - really no smell at all.

It doesn't seem there'd be much benefit to using these in an upcoming batch, but would it be detrimental? I kind of want to use them as an homage to her in the first place, since she did give me a Tettnang rhizone with a bunch of bines already 12" long.

 

[undallas]

just try it out with hot water.. brew a hop tea.. you'll know if the bitterness and aroma are still there.

 

[cactusgarrett]

More info: As far as i know, the whole hops this woman gave me are from 2007 and she sun dried them.

I gave the hop tea a try tonight. I threw about 10 cones into about 2 cups of tap water and boiled for 30min. The aroma was similar to a normal lipton tea bag. The bitterness is definitely there.

What concerns me is that the water turned a medium amber color. If i were to guess, it'd be similar to an amber ale in color. I've never worked with whole hops for brewing - only pellets. Does boiling whole hops typically impart a medium color/tint to beer like this? What would cause this, if not? In the baggie, i can see what i can assume is the loose powder from the cones that has shaken off, and that appears similar in color to what the water turned out to be.

 

[cactusgarrett]

Can anyone who uses whole hops give their $0.02 on the result i saw?