Unknown hop ale?

[jim_reaper1066]

So I may be getting a bunch of fresh hop comes from a professor who used to brew, but neither I nor he know what variety they are. I would like to brew up some sort of ale with these. Any advice on brewing with unknown hops?

 

[samc]

If using them for bittering I'd compare some to a known bittering hop by using a simple tea made from boiling a few cones. Or you could just rub some on your hand and then taste. Most people shy away from homegrown hops for bittering as they don't know the AA%. So if you make a tea out of them and like the flavor/aroma, then go for it as the late hopping in your brew.

You could or course just make a one gallon test batch to see if you like them.