Wild hop in oxfordshire

[BeerEagle]

Unlikely to see cones yet. My secret baby is well up, but no cones yet down here in "sunny" Kent

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Oh.... Ok, i thought homebrew forums were all about SHARING usefull information and tips, but perhaps im wrong. Not to worry i have found somewhere as is happens

Are you tellin' ??

[MattGuk]

I will tell in time lol

[seymour]

Here's some nerdy info for you from a similar thread last year:

How did you calc the AA%

Basically you don't. If they are green bine they are generally a lower alpha hop, Red bine higher. The only way to get the Alpha, unless you are a botanist, is to send them to a lab where they charge you money for doing it. Unless of course you have friends in the trade!

When it comes to using homegrown or wild/naturalized hops, it's true most people choose between either a wild guess, resigning themselves to only using them for late aroma additions, or paying a lot of money to a lab.

BUT, here are some resources. Please pardon the lengthy post. If you read on, there is a fairly accurate way to test hops acid percentage at home, it just requires some patience and a willingness to do a little chemistry. It's the same process wine-makers use to test acidity http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/m ... cidity.htm, so there are even inexpensive wine acid titration kits for sale which work here too.

One more caveat: note I didn't specifically say "test alpha acid percentage." This process measures all acids (Alpha, Beta, etc) but if you use a well-known store-bought hop with a specific Alpha Acid percentage, you can use that baseline to determine if your wild hop is higher or lower, and by what order of magnitude, which is pretty darn actionable information for a homebrewer. Not that I expect many people will take me up on it, I'm just putting it out there for the daring

Hops alpha determination
Dr. Leonard Perry, Extension Professor
University of Vermont

A common question I get, especially in late summer and early fall, is how to determine a hop variety or the alpha acid content. There are no good and easy options.

1. Unless an experienced professional hops grower, it is difficult to tell varieties by the size and shape of cones.

2. If an unknown variety and alpha level, it is often best to use the cones for aroma or flavor at the end of the boil.

3. If a known variety, check standard alpha levels in references, online, or at homebrew shops. If you grew these in the east, depending on year and climate and location, alpha levels “may” be slightly lower.

4. A rough method of estimating alpha levels is to brew a tea from known cones, then compare by taste to a similar tea from the unknown cones.

5. Chemical analysis is really the only sure way to tell alpha levels, and with a more extensive (and costly) profile to determine variety. Many “wild” varieties may date back decades and not be named, rather similar to Cluster. The following source is listed online as testing for alpha levels, but be prepared to pay upwards of $50 a sample. The method below is one found online for a home hops titration procedure if you are into chemistry. (I have not tried this procedure so can not vouch for nor endorse it.)

Hops testing for home brewers: (these and possibly others for commercial)

Siebel Institute, Chicago: http://www.siebelinstitute.com/catalogs ... rvices.pdf
Brew Laboratory, MO: http://www.brewlaboratory.com/?p=home
Hop Union, WA: http://hopunion.com/27_HopTesting.cfm?p5=open

I've seen several basic methods of acid titration, but here's a fairly spelled-out example. If you have a background in chemistry and some basic lab equipment, it will help. If you're a winemaker who already tests acidity, you have a head-start too.

How to measure hops acid percentage at home

From the rec.crafts.homebrewing newsgroup:

I use phenolphthalein as an indicator. Phenol Red (available at any pool supply store) will work as well, just that the phenolphthalein indicates at a bit lower pH. Household lye (NaOH or KOH) is used as your reagent and baby medicine droppers to measure your titrant.

Dilute your reagent with distilled water to 1% solution. (10g/L) and store it with the lid on tight. (This should last you a long time)

I boiled 1g of hops into 250ml of water for about 1 hour, strained the cones out and further reduced to 100ml. If you go too far, just add distilled water to get back to 100ml. That became my sample batch.

At this point you're ready to titrate.

Place 10ml of your sample into a clean container. I use Dixie cups since their color (plain white) makes seeing the break very easy. Add 5 or 6 drops of your indicator and swirl around to mix thoroughly. Slowly drip your reagent into the cup while swirling it around. When the acid has been neutralized, your indicator will turn pink in color. Continue SLOWLY dripping reagent in until the solution remains pink for 20 or 30 seconds. Record the amount of reagent used (in ml.) This corresponds to grams/liter of acid in your solution.

This is where I stop. I'm not sure what the hops industry uses for their %Acid standard, but I took some hops of a known acid content and performed the same process and use that as my standard. Like I said, I have a spreadsheet at home with a little more detail on it, but that's all you really need to do. If you're looking for more specifics on home titration stations or if you want to go beyond Dixie cups and baby medicine droppers, most biodiesel web sites have all sorts of cool plans, better descriptions of the process, etc.

It's basic, almost crude, but it is repeatable and realistically that's all need for my home-grown hops.

[BeerEagle]

And don't forget the basic test before you use them:

Rub them between your hands and smell them. Any hint of onion/garlic? Then probably don't bother.

[seymour]

And don't forget the basic test before you use them:

Rub them between your hands and smell them. Any hint of onion/garlic? Then probably don't bother.

I dunno about that. To me, Flyer and Challenger raw hops both have a faint cheesy, garlicy smell which doesn't show up in the brew, and I love those hops. I've noticed it with some other higher alpha English hops too, such as Northdown, Brewers Gold and Bullion. I think what you're describing is just proof they aren't a noble aroma type, but doesn't necessarily mean they're good-for-nothing. That's just my opinion, and everyone's preferences vary...

[scuppeteer]

Beer Eagle is right, any hint of Garlic then they will be horrible, as for cheesy, that usually means they are past their prime and haven't been stored particularly well. We did a brew last year with some old EKG plugs, didn't think to give them a rub first. Now I love Stilton but not necessarily in my beer!

[brodington]

Way way to early for cones I'd say.

[Dr. Dextrin]

I paid good money last year for a bottle from a micro up in Yorkshire that was made with hedgerow hops. Suffice to say I won't be repeating the experience. The taste was sort of musty and dusty; like the bottom of a tea caddy. I now see why people bother to select good varieties - and on that basis I'm unlikely to be foraging for them in the local hedgerows.

OTOH, the location of the bullaces that go into my red wine... well that's a closely guarded secret.

[jmc]

I paid good money last year for a bottle from a micro up in Yorkshire that was made with hedgerow hops. Suffice to say I won't be repeating the experience. The taste was sort of musty and dusty; like the bottom of a tea caddy. I now see why people bother to select good varieties - and on that basis I'm unlikely to be foraging for them in the local hedgerows.

OTOH, the location of the bullaces that go into my red wine... well that's a closely guarded secret.

A few trees in a field within 3 miles of here seem to be bullace / plum cross. Great in a sloe gin.
Location is a close family secret of course