Wild hops

Someone posted a picture on Instagram of wild hops which they said were growing along a canal towpath.

Does anyone here forage for hops? Is it even a thing? Can you forage enough for a brew and what varieties are out there in the wild? Not asking for anyone's secret spots but just trying to get a sense of whether this is even feasible as I quite like the thought of brewing a foraged hop beer.

I've never foraged for wild hops but would like to. I've found some this year which I'll try and harvest. My neighbour a few years back had a huge hop plant growing in their garden, I spoke to them about it and they didn't know what it was , it was a borderline weed to them. The trouble with wild hops is they may not have as much lupulin as known varieties, and when I sniffed the hops growing in my neighbour's garden they didn't have a strong scent at all. I could probably dry them and brew with them, but would need a lot to get any flavour.

If you find some, wait until they're looking and feeling ripe and give a few of the cones a rub. If they're papery and the petals come off easily they're ripe and if they don't have a strong scent then that's your answer on how usable they will be realistically. They will all be usable technically speaking, but if they have low flavour and require a lot of cones to get any flavour, it could lead to a grassiness in the finished beer.

I'm not sure if it's possible to know the varieties. When hops grow from seed they are very different from their parents, and I'd imagine a lot of wild hops are grown from seed, meaning that even if they came from a fuggle or EKG etc, they'd be nothing like that anymore.

BlackRegent said:

Someone posted a picture on Instagram of wild hops which they said were growing along a canal towpath.

Does anyone here forage for hops? Is it even a thing? Can you forage enough for a brew and what varieties are out there in the wild? Not asking for anyone's secret spots but just trying to get a sense of whether this is even feasible as I quite like the thought of brewing a foraged hop beer.

Click to expand...

I found quite a lot of vines growing down the lane where I walk my dogs this week. I have absolutely no idea what variety they are but after crushing them in-between my fingers they smelt pretty good! I took a ladder down there over the weekend, picked a bag full and left them drying in the sun under some weed control fabric in the garden. Last night I picked the heads off, divided them out into sandwich bags (air tight) of 100g and froze them. I filled a bin bag with the hops I picked in the end but after pulling the heads off the vine and compressing them into the 100g in the bags I've ended up with 15 sandwich bags of hops in the freezer.

I'm pretty new to brewing and still on extract kits and it may not work, but I'm hoping to get them into a brew in the next month as a tester! It's quite satisfying going through the process of harvesting them (assuming I've done it right!) so fingers crossed something good comes of it!

Good work - let me know how you get on with them. I might need to start asking around to see if anyone knows of some

I grow my own hops but I have seen them out and about in the wild, usually close to the riverbank. I'm close to the Severn near Tewkesbury and there are several spots just south of the town where they grow wild. I've no idea what variety they are, it would be tempting to brew a beer with some known bittering hops then use the wild ones as a late addition for aroma.

I'll second that. Use something like EKG for bittering hops and a goodly amount of your wild hops as a flameout addition. That way you'll get a good idea of their flavour and the exact AA levels won't matter.
Personally I'd just use pale malt. Basically a smash but with wild hops at the end.

last autumn/ late summer i was ploughing and spotted some in a hedgerow. so jumped out the tractor and picked a bag full. dried them out in the sun for a day or two.

i bought a jar of H&B LME and lobed the two in together.

i dont know what variety of hops they are, or indeed if they were at the right stage but i ended up with 8 pints of dark , earthy and very hoppy beer, (not IPA hoppy but very 'rustic') but none the less very enjoyable and extremely satisfying.

i walked the dogs the other evening to the same spot and established that there is a nice supply growing again. i will try for more control and precision for this years attempt.

BlackRegent said:

Someone posted a picture on Instagram of wild hops which they said were growing along a canal towpath.

Does anyone here forage for hops? Is it even a thing? Can you forage enough for a brew and what varieties are out there in the wild? Not asking for anyone's secret spots but just trying to get a sense of whether this is even feasible as I quite like the thought of brewing a foraged hop beer.

Click to expand...

Early 80s my dad and I used to climb over a wall which separated a desolate and blasted piece of land from the gasometers at Northam, Southampton, there, on the fence which surrounded the gasometers grew some amazing hops which I used to use in preference to bought hops for my malt extract (EDME D.M.S.) best bitter. They were miles more flavoursome than bought hops, which, then, were not vacuum packed and came in a bag. I had no way of keeping a year's supply, however, and it was a race to use them before they went mouldy. Could never be arsed to follow Dave Line's advice of rigging up a tea chest with a hair dryer to dry them. Interestingly, I there are three apple trees growing on the edge of the road in a field. One of the trees has an amazing hop bine growing in and the hops look bigger than those I've grown in the garden. Hoping to fight my way through brambles and nettles to get a closer look iver the next couple of days.
Anyone living near that part of Southampton might go and have a look and see if they are still there!

An Ankoù said:

Early 80s my dad and I used to climb over a wall which separated a desolate and blasted piece of land from the gasometers at Northam, Southampton, there, on the fence which surrounded the gasometers grew some amazing hops which I used to use in preference to bought hops for my malt extract (EDME D.M.S.) best bitter. They were miles more flavoursome than bought hops, which, then, were not vacuum packed and came in a bag. I had no way of keeping a year's supply, however, and it was a race to use them before they went mouldy. Could never be arsed to follow Dave Line's advice of rigging up a tea chest with a hair dryer to dry them. Interestingly, I there are three apple trees growing on the edge of the road in a field. One of the trees has an amazing hop bine growing in and the hops look bigger than those I've grown in the garden. Hoping to fight my way through brambles and nettles to get a closer look iver the next couple of days.
Anyone living near that part of Southampton might go and have a look and see if they are still there!

Click to expand...

Try Google Earth