Unknown Hops

[Binkie Huckaback]

I inherited a hop bine with my allotment about four years ago and despite drying and freezing them the first year (they're still there), all I've done is eat the shoots. I have no idea what variety they are, so is it best to keep it purely for the shoots, or is there some way I can tell if at least they're bittering or flavour hops?

Has anyone tried the method of making a tea and the diluting by half several times to get a rough idea of AA content? I'd really like to use them for beer, but not enough to potentially ruin a brew.

[Rookie]

Make a 1 gallon (3.9 L) batch with 1 pound (448 g) lme. Heat the water to 160f (71c), thoroughly mix in the extract, add the hops and steep for 30 minutes. Then chill and pitch some neutral yeast. It'll be done in less than two weeks and you'll be able to tell from that if these hops are worthy of a full size batch.
Unless you can tell from this what hops these are you won't be able to figure out the AA and even then you can only guess.

[Blackaddler]

I use wild hops regularly, so I just guesstimate that they're going to be about 4% AA. It's not going to be far off. The hop tea will give you an idea.

You won't ruin your beer, but if you like hoppy beers, then it could be less hoppy than you'd like. I don't like over-hopped beer, so it works fine for me, but I often add higher AA hops to raise bitterness levels, when required.

[bryanferry]

I use wild hops regularly, so I just guesstimate that they're going to be about 4% AA. It's not going to be far off. The hop tea will give you an idea.

You won't ruin your beer, but if you like hoppy beers, then it could be less hoppy than you'd like. I don't like over-hopped beer, so it works fine for me, but I often add higher AA hops to raise bitterness levels, when required.

Cheers for this Blackaddler. I've been invited to harvest a friends vines this weekend, a first in 15 years of brewing and no idea of their variety. Was just trying to work out how best to get it into a brew successfully when I saw this.

[Robwalkeragain]

What area? Apparently 80% of wilds are goldings or fuggles.

Give em a sniff when they’re ready. All hops are both aroma and bittering hops really, and i doubt you’d be looking above 8% aa% statistically speaking...

[Binkie Huckaback]

It's East London Rob, but on an allotment, so unlikely to be wild. Thanks for the info though.

[Rookie]

What area? Apparently 80% of wilds are goldings or fuggles.

Give em a sniff when they’re ready. All hops are both aroma and bittering hops really, and i doubt you’d be looking above 8% aa% statistically speaking...

If they are goldings or fuggles they are most likely closer to half that.