Free leaf hops obtained - in need of some suggestions

[wakers3]

Right down the street from my house is a great little 'working' 1800's farmhouse complete with a garden tended to by volunteers. They have livestock and tours and a playground nearby - lots of fun for the kids to run around. A few weeks ago, I happened to notice giant hops plants and cones in their garden ready to be used for something other than going to waste. I engaged the volunteer who was tending the garden and she said I could have as many as I wanted. So, I loaded up my shirt with as many as would fit and became just as happy as my 2 year old was after getting to chase a sheep around.

Got them home and found myself in a dilemma. The volunteer didn't know what type of hops they were. I, having only ever used pelleted hops, don't know how to process and/or properly use leaf hops. So, here I find myself asking you, the HBT community for help. I want to make some beer. I would really like to use these hops as the farm is pretty well known for not using pesticides or anything out of the ordinary for what would have been considered non-1800's farming technique.

After getting them home, I threw the cones in a gallon ziplock freezer bag and into the garage freezer they went.

Any help that any of you would like to provide would be greatly appreciated!!!

SMASH perhaps? Amount of hops to use? Leaf hop preparation?

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

I too am new to the fresh hops having only used pellets but i think you were supposed to dry them out before freezing them.

 

[Frankiesurf]

Since you have fresh hops and don't know what they are you should use them for either a flavor addition or dry hopping. Not knowing the alpha acids I wouldn't use them for bittering.


Remember, it takes 5-6 ounces of fresh hops to equal 1 ounce of dry.

 

[Veronis]

Since you have fresh hops and don't know what they are you should use them for either a flavor addition or dry hopping. Not knowing the alpha acids I wouldn't use them for bittering.

I agree with Frankie. It could be 5% or 15% AA. That's a big difference at 60 minutes.

I'd use them in the last 5-10 minutes of a boil (you can throw them in fresh/wet) as well.

If you dry hop with them, that's when you might consider drying them out first. As I understand it, it's partly to ensure that you don't get fertilizer/pesticide in your beer, and to avoid getting a grassy flavor from dry hopping with fresh hops (which you may not get anyway - many dry hop with fresh "wet" hops and love their results). They also can take over a ton of head space and soak up quite a bit more beer than pellets.

Once dried, the 6 oz to 1 oz rule (mentioned above) goes out the window and it's close to 1:1 dried leaf vs. pellet (there is a conversion if you want to be exact but I don't know it offhand).