When to harvest hops?

[Shoit]

I've just discovered that a friend has a rather well established hop growing in his back garden. How do you know when to harvest them, also is there any way of identifying it or checking the AA content - or is it just a case of having a go?

Kev

[6470zzy]

Hops are ready to pick when the bracteole of the hop cone starts to turn papery and brown around the edges. When the hop cone is broken open, the lupulin gland should be yellow and sticky.

As far as identifying the variety of the hops themselves........I believe that you are out of luck. You'll just have to give them a go, I would suggest using them in a small batch and then taking your impressions from the results.

Cheers

[edit1now]

Apparently you can guesstimate the alpha acids by making a hop tea with an precise weight of the unknown hops in a known amount of hot water, and ditto with a known hop from a commercial packet with the AA% on the label. E.g. 2g of hops in 200ml of water at 80°C, then let it cool down so you don't burn your mouth. If the unknown one is stronger or weaker than the commercial one then you could make a guess. If you had a second commercial one then you can bracket the guess - e.g. Fuggles and Perle or Target. I haven't tried this with my homegrown Hallertauer though.