I just brewed my first batch and the hops came packaged with the alpha acid content printed on the package. I received some cuttings from a friend and started growing my own hops. Given that there are bound to be a lot of variables such as water, nutrients and other things, how will I be able to determine the alpha acidic content of my home grown hops?
I was also wondering if hops are like grapes in that the variables I mentioned above will ultimately affect the sugar content of grapes. Will the alpha acid content change in my hops from year to year or do they remain relatively the same?
I’ve been growing hops for about 10 years now and my experience is that the alpha acid levels change from year to year. I think they generally stay within a range, but can vary within that range. I just assume a midrange number and brew with them. If my tastebuds tell me I was off one way or the other, I correct on the next batch.
I kind of figured the value would bounce around. Heck, just about everything in my wife’s garden has a different taste from year to year. I was just wondering if there was some method of testing it short of hiring a chemist.