OK, so my latest yield from my hops is as such: Columbus 1/2 ounce, Cascade at least 1oz (there are still some drying), Chinook about 1oz. My plan is to supplement my home grown into a recipe just to see how it goes. I have read that most home grown hops are not quite as strong as the pellets or the store bought cones. My thought is to add the Chinook in the start of the boil for any bittering that might be able to be done, then the Cascade and the Columbus at the end, say 10 to 15 mins left in the boil. I would add some pellets to the mix as well as I have a huge take of Cascade and CTZ in stock. It would be a very simple Pale Ale recipe with 2 row and maybe a bit of crystal for color. What say the pros who have done the home grown hop brewing? Thanks in advance.
It is not necessarily true homegrown hops are not as “strong”. There are too many variables to be able to generalize like that. The safe thing to do is to use them for late additions where AA doesn’t matter as much. Or you can roll the dice and use a plan like yours.
If you hit your bitterness it is a pale ale. Over bitter IPA. Under bitter Scottish ale [emoji38]
Point is if you want to use them go for it, just make sure you temper your expectations regarding bitterness amount since you are flying sort of blind
Thank Denny. I have only used Chinook as a bittering addition, so that is where I was going with it. I will fool around with it and see where I end up.
Thanks HUEBrewer, I was thinking the same. Maybe just add them as a extra to an already existing recipe, or cut the pellets down by half of what I have in Home grown. So, if I am going to use 3oz of pellets, use 2.5 ounces and then throw the ounce of home grown in and see where it ends up. My wife is totally into the growing end of it, so I want to at least try them and see where I end up
Chinook is fantastic as a late hop. This would be a good chance to give it a try.
I use them typically in a big post-boil hop stand. This year I’m subbing them in as late additions as an experiment. I always bitter with purchased hops so I know the ibus coming out of the boil.
Typically I brew some type of pale ale or IPA because those are natural fits for showcasing hops. Each year I look at the volume of each of the four varieties I grow and pick a style that fits. This year I’m brewing a red IPA, partially because I have some grain to use up, but it’s a lot of cascade and a little chinook. Last year was a black extra pale ale with some chinook and an astronomical amount of mount hood. It had one pound per gallon of wet hops in the hop stand. Ridiculous use of hops but one of the best beers I’ve ever brewed.
It’s fun using your own hops! I still do the bittering with pellets and use home hops as late additions as well. Enjoy!
I’ve heard that you can try to estimate the AA% by making a hop tea with a hop of known AA% and another with your homegrown hops, and then carefully diluting into they taste about the same bitterness. Then do math to calculate the AA% of your hops. Seems like a lot of work!
I will say that a friend of mine, who is not afraid of IPAs, told me that he was pulling hops off the bine and tossing them straight into the boil one year, and the beer ended up so bitter that he couldn’t even drink it. So, late additions are probably much safer. 