Unknown Hops

[Slowfro]

Hey all, I bought a single tier keggle setup from Craigslist a few months ago and am finally getting the chance to use it. The guy I bought it from was moving and couldn't take it with him, so when I went to pick it up he threw a bunch of extra stuff at me (carboys, bottles, grains, hops)...it was a pretty big score.

Anyway, I've since used the grains he threw in, but still have the hops in my freezer. There is 1# of Cascade (leaf), 1# of Crystal (leaf) and then there are 2 Ziplock bags that aren't marked. They are leaf hops, and total another 12oz.

Now I plan to make a nice IPA as the Maiden Voyage of the new setup, 10 gallon batch, but I'm torn on how to hop it. I love Cascades, and read that Crystal would be best used for aroma, but do I risk throwing unknown hops in the batch?

Let me know what you think, thanks!

 

[permo]

smell em, if they smell good use the unknows to dry hop.

 

[Slowfro]

Good idea, that'll be my plan. Besides, what's the worst that could happen right? haha

 

[MazdaMatt]

If I were to stumble through this situation blindly... I'd take two gallons of water split between two pots. Bring them to a point, put a known hop in one, maybe 1/4oz and 1/4oz of the unknown in the other. Boil it for 60 minutes, cool, then taste each. Use this as an approximation of the bitterness. Then you can just use it for bittering at your assumed AA%

 

[Vance71975]

smell em, if they smell good use the unknows to dry hop.

+1!