columbus hop
 

anyone ever us it? i just saw it at my lhbs and bought an oz for my pale ale i'm gonna boil up tommorrow. it's very high in alpha acid, about 12 %, i'm gonna use about 3/4 of it to boil and the rest for aroma... i used two oz of perle last time i made this recipe and was pleased, but wanted to try this hop out.

We use it ALL THE TIME. Columbus rules! For American Pales and IPAs, it's the best bittering hop there is as far as I can tell. I really don't ever use it for aroma, so who knows about that. I like a lower alpha aroma/flavoring hop.

Make sure you get an IBU calculator like SUDS or some piece of software or one of the online calculators so you don't use too much. This stuff can make your beer bitter fast.

BTW, another name for Columbus is Tomahawk. It is THE high alpha hop used by many American microbreweries. Cheers! :D

I was checking out an IBU calculator for my upcoming "hop taste test", when I realized I don't even know what range I'm looking for. What's a good medium IBU range? What's a typical IPA? Give me an idea of what to shoot for. Thanks.

IPA is 40-60 IBUs...some are a heck of a lot more than that.

For your hop taste test, I'd go less bitterness, like an American Pale Ale zone. That's 20-40 IBUs. That level of bitterness, using the same malt/extract regime in each batch, will give you a great platform for the various hop flavors and aromas. You'll really be able to see the difference in varieties. Plus, you'll really enjoy making some tasty pales. :D