A recipe I'm going to brew this weekend calls for some Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops. After doing some research online I realized that I might not find it since it doesn't seem to be heavily produced anymore due to growing difficulty, yet it is also in high demand. So I went to a couple brew stores and none of them carried any Mittelfruh, so I grabbed some "German Hallertau" from Crosby & Baker instead.
According to this Home Brewing Wiki, "Hallertau" could be any number of different varieties. How do I know which one I have?
Also - I stopped by another store and asked about Mittelfruh and the guy pulled out some hops labeled "Hallertau (American origin)" from LD Carlson, that he said he had been told were Mittelfruh (but that he honestly did not know if that was true and had not brewed with them yet). Any chance these really are Mittelfruh? And if not, what are they?
I doubt if any true Mittelfruh makes it to the homebrew market. You are correct in that there are not large quantities grown and most are surely grabbed by commercial breweries. That said if what you have is a German low alpha Hallertau it will do a fine job in the beer. Other choices for good subs would be the American "triploid" Hallertau derivitives like Mt. Hood and Liberty.
I managed to score a pound of Mittelfruh while in Germany last fall. I haven't noticed any difference between them and the German Hallertau hops I've bought from HopsDirect. Which doesn't mean they are the same, just that any differences are more refined than my crude palate
How do I know if I have Hallertau Hersbueker or Hallertau Mittelfruh or Hallertau Whatever when the packages only say "German Hallertau"? (or "American Hallertau")?
Unless they are labeled by sub-type, you can't tell. However, if the AA is over 5%, it probably isn't Mittelfrüh. If it's in the 7-10% range and from Germany, good chance it's Hallertau Gold.
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Unless they are labeled by sub-type, you can't tell. However, if the AA is over 5%, it probably isn't Mittelfrüh. If it's in the 7-10% range and from Germany, good chance it's Hallertau Gold.
Do the different kinds of Hallertau contribute different notes to the final beer? I am going to be brewing a Grand Cru with these soon. I used them in Weizen recently, not sure what kind I had. Do they all give the same subtle spiciness?
They are much the same, although the high AA Hallertau from New Zealand is less subtle.
__________________
Remember one unassailable statistic, as explained by the late, great George Carlin: "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider!"
Hallertau hops - which variety do I have?
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