Hop ID help

A friend just moved into a house and found these hops growing on his deck as the summer proceeded. He has no idea as to the variety and gave them to me hoping to have them turned into beer. They were just picked and dont have a lot of aroma, more grassy than anything. Will the scent develop with time drying? Does anybody have a clue as to which variety?

they don’t really look ready yet, but it is hard to tell from the photo.

It’s pretty tough to tell just by looking at them, send me some beer brewed with them and I’ll give it my best guess :lol: Try sticking your finger in between the leaves of the cone to get some lupulin on there and rub that together to release the aroma.

When they’re closer to ready (I agree that they don’t look ready in the photo), make some tea with a measured weight of them (steep in hot water). Do the same with a hop that has a known, measured %AA. Compare the bitterness in the teas. You’ll get an idea of the approximate %AA that way, which may help narrow it down. If you can ID the aroma in the tea too, that might help get you even closer.

Not having a whole lot of info. to work with, but they do kinda look a lot like Canadian Redvines which seem to be very close to a number of the ‘wild’ hops I’ve found between Upstate NY and here in Ohio. This is only based on the cone structure in your picture. Grown in Ohio, the wilds and the Redvine are the last to ripen~ usually around the first week in September. If they’re growing from a mature crown, the time they ripen will help get you closer to an actual variety. Other than that you can do a ‘rub-n-sniff’ test for aroma, make some tea which is a great idea and also compare leaf and cone shape to some known varieties with similar harvest times. Hop On!!

What a great concept to make a beer with mystery hops

Brew a one malt beer lightly hopped with something like magnum. Split it into two (or more) carboys and dryhop one with a hop you like and dryhop the other with the unknown hop. If you make the second one only a gallon you won’t be out much if it’s no good.