Basic Extract Ale? Hop Test

[John Sand]

I received some unidentified hops in the mail today. They were planted upstate NY in the 1940s. I'm thinking of brewing a simple extract ale with them to profile their flavor. My first thought is to just use light LME, the hops, and maybe US-05. Has anyone tried that? Or can suggest a very simple neutral recipe?

[Brewbirds]

Are you planning a 60 minute boil?

Also if you can get Munich I'd think you would have a better malt backbone depending on how much hops you are planning to add.

Don't forget that LME will darken as the boil lengthens and you will want to keep stirring so you get scorching.

If you have plenty you might consider a small hop tea just to get a hint of the flavor i.e. a noble, a citrus, a high alpha, it going to be hard to balance your beer if you don't have an AAU% for a target.

[gwcr]

I'll 2nd he hop tea suggestion if you have enough of them to do both. Once you get a feel for their profile, then I agree that a simple SMash recipe would be good. If the hop tea is more to your liking on the flavor and aroma side, you could also use a clean bittering hop like Magnum, and use your unknown hops for the flavor and aroma addition.

[John Sand]

I have 2 ounces. I have considered hop tea, and adding some to commercial light beer to give an idea of the flavor and bitterness. I could also make several hop teas, using high and low AAU hops to compare. But I think that many older varieties of hops were moderately low in AAUs. So, I could guess-timate at 7. I don't think I want to add Munich, I think that to test the hops, I should use light extract and neutral yeast. It will be easier to taste the hops without competition.

[FrozenInTime]

Can u do one gallon batches? I have 4 one gallon carboys for experimenting like this. 1 LB of light DME gives u a 1.045 OG, plenty of room to tinker.

1 lb DME
1/4 oz T-30
1/4 oz T-5

Something like that is what I do when tinkering.

[John Sand]

I was thinking about one gallon. I only keep LME and grain on hand, so a little over a pound might do it. I could probably make two one gallon batches with different amounts. Hmmm.

[John Sand]

OK, did it. Mixed up about 1.2 lbs of Briess Golden Light (had on hand), 1/4oz@30, 1/4oz@5. Overchilled the wort, unused to 1 gallon batches. I added the yeast (2g old MrB ale) about 60, it's rising toward room temperature now.
It smelled good. I think it will be beer.