What to make with these hops?

[dreaded_rust]

This year I grew some hops for the first time and ended up with about 1.3 oz of hops. I had planted centennial and culumbus hops but the label sticks got sun-bleached so I'm not totally sure if I have 80% culumbus & 20% centennial or the other way around; one plant did much better than the other and it all got mixed together when I dried them.
So here is what I'm looking to do
I want to make a beer that uses only the 1.3 oz that I grew but I know that that's not much to work with. I really don't want to do a half batch but it's not completely off the table.

Any advice? Recipes?

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Use pellet hops for your bittering addition, and use your homegrown hops for late/dry hopping additions. Without knowing the AA%, it is a crap shoot to use them for bittering.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Use pellet hops for your bittering addition, and use your homegrown hops for late/dry hopping additions. Without knowing the AA%, it is a crap shoot to use them for bittering.

Ok so here is what I've come up with.
A simple small batch pale ale. I'll use store bought culumbus hops for the bittering addition and my hops for the rest.
Should be a simple beer that will hopefully highlight the flavors and aroma of the homegrown hops.

What do you guys think?
Right yeast or should i go with us05?
Homegrown Pale Ale V.2-3

Recipe specifics:

Style: American Pale Ale
Batch size: 2.5 gal
Boil volume: 3.2 gal
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.015
Bitterness (IBU): 57.2
Color (SRM): 8.2
ABV: 5.9%

Grain/Sugars:

2.50 lb Light DME, 71.4%
0.75 lb Light DME, 21.4%, boil for 5 min
0.15 lb Crystal 20L, 4.3%
0.10 lb Biscuit (Belgian), 2.9%

Hops:

0.30 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Pellet) 60 min, 36.1 IBU
0.25 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Whole) 15 min, 13.5 IBU
0.35 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Whole) 5 min, 7.6 IBU
0.20 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Whole) 0 min, 0.0 IBU
0.30 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Whole) dry hop

Yeast/Misc:

Finings, 0.5 unit(s), Fining Whirlflock tab
Us-04, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast Half package
Hydrated

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[Qhrumphf]

Keep in mind that your whole hops (unless you've dried them) will be about 80% lower utilization in terms of IBUS due to water content. So your actual IBUs will probably be lower than what is listed. You also MAY want to avoid dry hopping with your homegrown just in case there's anything nasty on there.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Hmmm...that is some good advice about dry hopping.
I did dry the hops when i harvested them a couple months ago and they've been in my frezzer since

 

[dreaded_rust]

Would y'all go with us04 or 05 on this one?

 

[Chris_Primavera]

You also MAY want to avoid dry hopping with your homegrown just in case there's anything nasty on there.

Dry hop away - that's what I did with my first year crop and the result was splendid.

I suspect you have more Centennial - but don't sweat the details just throw 'em in.

Remember, when it's time to DH you have alcohol in the beer and the hops act as a preservative.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Dry hop away - that's what I did with my first year crop and the result was splendid.

I suspect you have more Centennial - but don't sweat the details just throw 'em in.

Remember, when it's time to DH you have alcohol in the beer and the hops act as a preservative.

Do you think anything could still be livving on them after a few months in the freezer??

 

[Qhrumphf]

Do you think anything could still be livving on them after a few months in the freezer??

If they're dried and have been frozen you're probably fine. My initial comment was mainly if they were wet hops. I've known folks to pick up an infection from dry hopping with wer hops.

 

[Calder]

1.3 ozs is dry weight, do you know what the wet weight was? You lose roughly 80% of the weight in the drying process if you do it right. It is tough to tell from the pictures, but I would question whether they were fully dried. You may have less hops than you think.

I had some first year growth hops this year. Got maybe 3 ozs dry from 3 plants (the most expensive hops I've ever used - worked out at over $100/lb - but was fun). Should get a lot more hops next year. I used them as a whirlpool addition to a standard IPA. Beer is currently waiting dry hop, so I can't comment on results.

After finding a Caterpillar crawling out of the hops while they were drying, I decided I was not going to be using any of them for fry hopping.

 

[dreaded_rust]

1.3 ozs is dry weight, do you know what the wet weight was? You lose roughly 80% of the weight in the drying process if you do it right. It is tough to tell from the pictures, but I would question whether they were fully dried. You may have less hops than you think...

Yes, the dry weight is indeed 1.1 oz ( typo in original post) I put them in between a couple ac filters and put them against a fan for several days. Followed some directions i found here on the forum
I dont remember the exact wet weight but it was several ounces.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Brewed this up last night.
Went pretty well. Hit my og of 1.061.
I did have a ton of trub at the bottom of the kettle, andthe hops didn't break up like I thought they would. Is this cause they're whole hops??

 

[dreaded_rust]

Heres a pic of what im talking about

 

[Calder]

Brewed this up last night.
Went pretty well. Hit my og of 1.061.
I did have a ton of trub at the bottom of the kettle, andthe hops didn't break up like I thought they would. Is this cause they're whole hops??

Yes, whole cones do not break up. We are actually after the lupulin, which is trapped between the leaves of the flowers. Pellets are crushed flowers and while they don't dissolve, are very small 'bits' that are in suspension in the wort.