Found Wild Hops, Now What? [pics]

[Charlie5423]

http://www.brewlaboratory.com will test and type your hops for $30US.
It doesn't look like Northern Brewer or Cascade.

 

[SunnyDownSnuff]

Hi, I'm really wanting to get some fresh wild hops... I'm in central Newfoundland. Can anyone point me in the direction to find some?

agree this should be a different thread but since your here, I'm here, what the heck.

many homebrewers say look somewhere by old train depots, rail lines, etc. where hops were either shipped, passed through, or delivered.

the fact that the original poster in this thread is from Truckee California bears that out 110% -- that's a major east-west rail line in northern Calif.

important to note what he found looks like feral hops; they don't appear to be native "wild" hops, which also supports the idea that they fell off a train.

also important to note, the US Dept of Agriculture has records of Humulus lupulus found in Newfoundland! Here's the link Now why the USDA is tracking that, perhaps some international intrigue. But, point is, there is record of hops found in Newfoundland.

Question is, where were they observed? I'd guess somewhere near a science university, besides a botanist who else would care to make the USDA aware of this? If you have a science university near a shipping port with a railroad, and fresh water, that's where I'd look, (rail culvert near a stream, that sort of thing) and I'd be looking now while they're probably at their peak size.

Happy hunting!

 

[bamcisman]

That is awesome! Like others have said, I'd brew a SMaSH and see what you get.

 

[desmoinestony]

I have used Wild hops in several batches of SMASH beer, late hop additions, and sour wild ales. If they are close to ripe you should eat a cone. If you have ever done this before you will be able to taste how harsh the alphas are compared to other commercial hops. I have tried vastly different varieties growing very close to one another and they ripen at different times. I have also "stolen" Rhizomes and now grow them at my house.

Its hard to say what you will get but I know the ones at my home taste like low alphas herbal peach and slight vegetal. So I use them in my sours if only for the preservative qualities. I have used up to 3 dried oz in a 5 gallon sour (60, 5, 0min) and up to 10 dried oz in the smash with Maris. (2 oz each @ 60, 20, 10, 0, dry hop)

Taste them and try something! Wait till they are papery just and starting to brown before hacking them down. Cheers and good luck!

 

[B-Hoppy]

I started growing back in the late 80's and have used 'wild' hops from different locations over the years with really poor outcomes, mostly garlic. Having access to them is critical in order to harvest at the proper time, too early and you get grass, too late and you get onions/garlic. For quite a few years now, I've been growing from seed and have come up with some very interesting selections. The method I use to test them in a beer is to brew a base beer of about 5 abv, maybe 90% pale malt with 5% each melanoiden and dextrin for a little mouth feel. Small bittering additions at 60 and 30 min with something pretty neutral like Willamette. At kegging time, 2.5gal go into two different kegs, each containing an ounce of different experimentals. Last year was a banner year and I'll have about 20 to test this fall so I'm going to rely on some local nano's to help out and have a little fun collecting feedback. Hoppy Trails~

 

[beebrewer]

What a wonderful find! I'm jealous! I would pick , pack and preserve...! Then, make a five gallon test batch, something easy and light, and just use an ounce for bittering to see how it tastes. I would also drop another ounce in at the very end of the boil just as I chill the wort, to see what type of aroma you get! I would then take a couple bottles of my test beer along with some hops to fellow or professional microbrewers for their opinion. They can help you assign a number for the bitterness so you can try it in your traditional recipes. Im just a casual brewer, and thats how I would do it. Again, I'm jealous!

 

[slick098]

There's a little town in PA called Hopbottom. Yep. Lots of hops grow wild. Not high AA. But back 100 years or so who cared. There's be hops grow'n.

 

[Rassol]

Hello everyone.

I live in Ukraine and started brewing a year ago. We have lots of wild hops here, it's kind of wild grass/weed and they are spread almost all over the country.

This season i decided to look for some decent wild hops to brew with. So i surfed the net, gethered some hops and made a tea with each plant separately (30 gramms per liter of boiling water for 20 minutes in french press). There were 7 samples, 2 of which turned out to be pretty good. One has piny notes with peppery mouthfeel (a little bit hot), other one is citrusy. Both are not very bitter, i believe around 6-8%AA, and have a strong smell of ripe hops. So i would assume that first of all one should make a tea to get an overall impression and taste.

I made two 1 gallon SMaSH batches with both hops and looking towards getting those risomes. I will try to plant them near my countryside cottege.

We have an institute here, which specializes on hop selection. Local hops are based on european spicies like czech Saaz and german Tettnanger and i have no idea how this wild examples turned out to taste like american.

Don't know how to make spoiler here, sorry

 

[yanick74]

buy an tasteless commercial beer , throw him 2 or 3 grams of your dry hops and cover it well again , put in the refrigerator about 3 days , and this will give a good approximation of your cones.

 

[Hullabaloo-Brew]

I would certainly ask around and see if any of the neighbors know whose they are and be certain they are on public property. From your photo it looks as if someone grew them intentionally by laying the wire mesh, which is a unique way of growing.

A SMASH is what I would do.

Cheers!

Hullabaloo Brew Co
Texas

 

[davimi]

I would certainly ask around and see if any of the neighbors know whose they are and be certain they are on public property.


Hullabaloo Brew Co
Texas

umm..he did 4 years ago

 

[Brewbuzzard]

Recently I found a bunch of wild hops in my neighborhood. They are growing next to a river and main road. I'm sure it would be fine for me to gather them. What would be the best way to use these? How could I tell what these hops would be best used for? Any advice is helpful, Thanks! :rockin:

If they smell nice use them for aroma and/or flavor. You don't know the AA value so go for aroma, flavor.

 

[brew1fish]

https://www.alphaanalyticstesting.com/

We used this company to check some hops of unknown origin.
Gave us good info.
Good luck, brew on

 

[normonster]

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

Let's keep the zombie thread going! Here's what I did with wild Neomexicanus hops I found growing in northern NM.

Fresh hop camping brew, cooled in the river and US-05 pitched that afternoon.

 

[SunnyDownSnuff]

hey that's great, done a couple camp brews myself. Usually do BIAB because I'm usually half in the bag when I get started