bittering hop for sterling; liberty

hokster · 01-23-2009, 12:23 PM

So the owner of the local brewpub says he can get me a good price on some excess Sterling and Liberty hops that he has. I've never used either, but Google tells me that Sterling has Hallertau and Saaz like properties, so it seems it would be nice in some cool fermented pale ales or lagers. This particular batch is apparently somewhere in the neighborhood of 2% AA, so I was mostly wondering what bittering hops people have had success with when using Sterling for aroma/flavor.

Also, what sorts of things do you use Liberty hops in? How do they taste/smell?

**Mutilated1** · 01-23-2009, 12:56 PM

Sterling is great in Lager or Pilsner type beers. I use it for bittering, but thats probably not a good idea if yours are only 2% AA. I use Liberty in Lagers too.

To me, I think Liberty tastes and smells a lot like Mt Hood. Mt Hood is just softer.

If you need a bittering hop to use with your Sterling, I suggest Perle.

If you're making an American style Lager I find Liberty and Sterling work really well, makes a good combination.

**Mutilated1** · 01-23-2009, 01:00 PM

oh by the way - there is a recipe for "Lawnmower" in my Recipe drop down. I made that beer with Liberty and Sterling probably 5-6 times last year and just drank the hell out of it all summer long. It was fanstastic. Take a look at that and it might give you some ideas about what to do with those low AA% Sterlings.

**dstar26t** · 01-23-2009, 01:13 PM

I recently saw sterling hops at the LHBS, never heard of them before. They smelled good so I made an IPA recipe for them that I'm brewing tomorrow. Columbus was the highest AA hop they had so I chose them for bittering. I can post how it turns out in 5 weeks if you can wait that long.

Silver IPA
Batch Size: 7.25 gal
Boil Volume: 9.21 gal
Boil Time: 90 min

Ingredients Amount Item Type % or IBU
12.00 lb 2-Row (1.8 SRM) Grain 75.19 %
1.50 lb Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 9.40 %
0.63 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
0.63 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3.95 %
1.00 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1.50 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Sterling [6.10 %] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
1.25 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.20 %] (80 min) Hops 42.9 IBU
4.25 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (15 min) Hops 29.0 IBU
4.25 oz Sterling [6.00 %] (5 min) Hops 11.6 IBU
2.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.20 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 7.52 %
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [Starter 1.5 gal] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile Estimated Original Gravity: 1.069 SG
Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Color: 5.5 SRM
Bitterness: 83.5 IBU
Alpha Acid Units: 43.3 AAU
Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 7.26 %

Mash Profile
SIMS, single rest with mash out
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
sacc rest Add 4.61 gal of water at 161.6 F 148.0 F 90 min
Mash out Heat to 169.0 F over 5 min 169.0 F 10 min

**pjj2ba** · 01-23-2009, 03:04 PM

I'm in the midst of brewing a series of lagers where I use the same grain bill, plus magnum hops for bittering at 60' and then I'm changing the flavor and aroma hops. The Liberty version gets kegged this weekend as well as brewing up the Sterling version. After that it will be Tetnanger and then Hallertau. My goal is to decide which of these I like best - I have plants of all but Hallertau.

Last year I made a Liberty pils but I can't recall any flavors specifics other than I liked it quite a bit.