Been foraging:-)

[stevey]

Just got back with my haul of 800g of Roadside Hops. I have no idea which variety they are, although I would guess they are derived from ekg. They smell lovely.
I plan to use around 200g for a brew, so I just split them into 4 separate bags and froze them; as I have no way of drying them.
I won't have time to brew until probably Sunday 17th, so wont be drinking it until late october, but I'll post the results.

 

[chub1]

Did similar thing last year as did a fella along the road to me.Beer's was ok but wouldn't bother again.

 

[stevey]

Did similar thing last year as did a fella along the road to me.Beer's was ok but wouldn't bother again.

It's only really experimental, but there's so many around the lanes this year, I could collect enough for all year if I could store them.

If the beer's ok, that will be alright with me :thumb:. I could use them just for bittering and use known hops for aroma and flavour. I intend to experiment a bit, rather than just one smash brew.

 

[Martybhoy]

I think it's great that you can get them wild and also the mystery of not knowing exactly which hops they are. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

 

[chub1]

It's only really experimental, but there's so many around the lanes this year, I could collect enough for all year if I could store them.

If the beer's ok, that will be alright with me :thumb:. I could use them just for bittering and use known hops for aroma and flavour. I intend to experiment a bit, rather than just one smash brew.

Yup, likewise.Plenty of them growing nearby. I acually took a cutting just for the heck of it and to see if it grew,it has,its up about 8/9 feet,no cones however.
Don't get me wrong,the beer that we both made was ok,nowt wrong with it BUT it was,errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr just a nondescript beer:lol:

 

[Simonh82]

They look beautiful. That reminds me, there is meant to be some growing wild somewhere near me. I might pop down and take a look.

 

[stevey]

They look beautiful. That reminds me, there is meant to be some growing wild somewhere near me. I might pop down and take a look.

I spotted a nice little crop in Anerley today, right next to jewsons in limes ave. I've got plenty now so I didn't touch them. (SE20 8QR) ;-)

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Im all for foraging , but not with hops. The chances are that they are ornemental hops or a cross breed of different varieties. Why would you go to the extent of brewing a beer and then adding a unknown ingredient.
JMHO

 

[Leon103]

Im all for foraging , but not with hops. The chances are that they are ornemental hops or a cross breed of different varieties. Why would you go to the extent of brewing a beer and then adding a unknown ingredient.
JMHO

Experiment?

 

[stevey]

Im all for foraging , but not with hops. The chances are that they are ornemental hops or a cross breed of different varieties. Why would you go to the extent of brewing a beer and then adding a unknown ingredient.
JMHO

They won't be ornamental in Kent. Historically, Hops were grown on every suitable piece of land. The wild hops that are growing on the borders of all those disused hop fields have grown from dropped seeds or bines. Obviously they won't be the same as the variety that they are derived from, but they will retain some characteristics of the original.
In the same way that if you plant seeds from a coxes apple, an apple tree will grow and bear fruit, but they won't be coxes apples.
Grain is cheap enough for me to experiment, if the beer's not good I can tip it. However, I'll probably drink it anyway (or at least let my son drink it :lol:, he's 24 bty).
If I can make a decent beer with them, I can easily pick a years supply.:thumb:

 

[stevey]

Finally got round to brewing on Saturday (23rd). The recipe was: Maris otter 5kg, roasted barley 50g, torriefied wheat 150g. Mashed for 90 minutes @67c (was 63c after 90 mins).
I added 200g of the wild hops at 60mins and another 200g at 10 mins. Yeast was wilkos english ale.
I go on holiday saturday so it will benefit from 3 weeks in the FV, so it will be mid November before I get to taste it.

 

[stevey]

I finally got round to getting this in the PB today, so it's had a good month in the FV. It got down to 1010 from 1050 so around 5.25%.
I had a sip from the test tube and it was quite sweet, and had a slight grassy aroma; not unpleasant.
I'm going to leave it for about three weeks before it goes in the fridge, so will update in about a month.

 

[DerekofPriory]

Hi, my eldest foraged some wild hops last year but not having a clue about the AA levels and not being overly enthusiastic about the aroma declined the chance. How could the quantity of foraged hops to use be determined?
I have about 400g left of an unknown hop collected from the Faversham Hop Festival a couple of months ago, I used 50g @ 15mins and another 50g steeped for 30mins @ 80 Centigrade, bittering was by East Kent Goldings, yeast was S-04, Maris Otter and about 5% Amber. It goes into a pressure barrel next brew day and I'll sneak a trial taster then.
Derek B

 

[stevey]

Update: just started drinking this, and it's ok but not great.
In hindsight I should have used at least twice as many hops in the boil, as I like bitter beers and this isn't bitter enough for me. It is a nice reddish colour and head retention is good, it has a slightly grassy flavour. I didn't dry hop but I think it would be much better if I had chucked in 20g of citra or something after fermentation.
I will post a picture shortly.
It'll get drunk, hopefully my son will help me out there. I may try again next year with 400g at the start of the boil and 20g dry hop of whatever I have in the freezer.