Expert: Ed Westemeier - 6/18/2006

Question
I am interested in getting started with homebrewing, and I was wondering about some particulars with ingredients, namely hops.  I have several hops vines of rather healthy size growing in my gardens, and though this is partly what inspired me to begin researching homebrewing, I know that there are many, many varieties of hops used in brewing, and that mine may not be a good one for that application.  The problem is that I don't even know what variety these vines are, as they were planted before I moved into my house.  Can you tell me anything about identifying different 'brands', and whether it might even be worth trying to use these hops at some point for brewing?  Thanks,
Dan  

Answer
You didn't say where you live, but if they are wild hops, they are probably the Clusters variety. It's extremely difficult to tell one variety from another except by smell, or from the shape of the cone and leaf if you're a real expert, so it's probably not worth trying.

Of course you can use them for brewing, but the problem is that to use them properly (knowing how much to use) you need to know their alpha acid percentage. That's a fairly expensive laboratory test, so again, probably not worth the effort.

What I recommend is that you simply use them as finishing hops, to give some extra aroma to your beer. That way, you won't need to worry about those other factors, but you can still enjoy knowing you used your own hops.