Strategy for brewing a wet hop beer with unknown hops

[deadwolfbones]

So, a friend spotted a post on NextDoor (I won't touch the app with a 10-foot pole, but I'm glad she was on it!) from a guy giving away the hops in his yard. He doesn't know the variety because they were planted by the previous resident. It looks like he has quite a lot to give away, so I was thinking I'd brew a wet hop pale ale or IPA this weekend using them.

Of course, not knowing the variety or even having a guesstimate of bitterness makes it a bit tricky. Anyone have a strategy for brewing with unknown hops?

 

[deadwolfbones]

Some hop porn for y'all:

 

[CodeSection]

Wow! I wish I lived in the area! Both recipes sound good to me.

 

[Pappers_]

Wow, those do look nice.

You could bitter with a known hop and use the wet hops for flavor and aroma. So, take an IPA recipe and use some Chinook pellets, for example, at 60 minutes, enough to get you to 50 - 60 IBUs, maybe, and start throwing in the wet hops at the 20 minute mark, every 5 minutes until flameout, then dry hop with them after fermentation. You'd have no idea what you'd get, but it would be fun.

 

[Pappers_]

Oh and you'll lose a ton of wort to the fresh hops, fyi.

 

[deadwolfbones]

That was basically my idea. 30-50 IBU from CTZ or Magnum or whatever and then all late/whirlpool/"dry" hop additions from the mystery hops.

 

[Pappers_]

What a great experiment!

 

[kh54s10]

You could try a small hop tea and add it to a low hop beer to get an idea of the flavor and maybe an idea of the type of hop.

 

[jschein]

You could try a small hop tea and add it to a low hop beer to get an idea of the flavor and maybe an idea of the type of hop.

^^^ This, then if they taste like crap you don’t waste a batch