Substitute Hops Question

Got a couple of recipes looking to brew soon. I'd like to use up some of the hops I have had stored in the back of my kegerator (~32F) for the past year (still factory sealed). I'll buy new if I have to, but looking for your opinions if I can substitute any of these with what I got while keeping close to the style I'm hoping for.

The Cream Ale recipe I have calls for 1/2 oz Saaz @10 and 1/2 oz Saaz @ flameout, and 1 oz Hallertauer @ 60.

The KBBA clone recipe I made last year calls for 1/2 oz Fuggles @ 5 and 1.25 oz East Kent Goldings @ 60.

I have on hand - Admiral (1oz), Citra (1oz), Magnum (1oz), Perle (1oz), Tettnang (3oz)

If the Tettnang are German you could sub those for the Saaz and Hallertauer in the cream ale. If they are domestic Tettnang you could still do that although the domestic ones are actually more of a Fuggles/Willamette type than German. For the KBBA the only British hop you have is the Admiral. It's designed as a bittering hop so it could replace the Goldings in the 60 minute addition. You could also use it for the late addition in place of Fuggles but the flavor/aroma won't be as delicate. As noted above if the Tettnang are domestic those could be subbed for the Fuggles late addition in the KBBA.

Thanks for the tips. Turns out the Tettnang is German, so I'll use that for the Cream Ale. I went ahead and bought the Fuggles and Goldings for the KBBA.

Now to find a good recipe to use up this Admiral, Citra, Magnum, and Perle! Maybe I'll make another Citra Pale Ale for the Citra. Honestly can't even remember what I bought the others for.

Bee Cave Brewery Kolsch uses perle and tettnang if you have any tettnang left over. I made a similar Kolsch and it was pretty tasty.

Rdom said:

Bee Cave Brewery Kolsch uses perle and tettnang if you have any tettnang left over. I made a similar Kolsch and it was pretty tasty.

Click to expand...

You know what, I haven't made a Kolsch yet. Challenge accepted!

Is this the one you were referring to? Looks tasty. I got a couple other brews to bang out first as promised to friends/family. But definitely adding this to my list!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/bee-cave-brewery-koelsch-33548/

That's the one. I used red wheat and added a few ounces of light Munich I had left over. Don't know how much of a difference it made. Cleared up nicely with some cold conditioning in the bottle for ~6 weeks. Easy drinking and delicious.

Magnum is a perfect bittering hop for any beer- German, English, American- it's a German hop and very "clean" and will be fine for any beer you make for bittering.

Perle is also German, and is used in Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as a flavor hop, and it works well in beers like Rogue Dead Guy as well as all German beers. Tettnang as was mentioned is also German, and you've got the hops for a kolsch.

Citra is tougher- it's notably citrusy tropical fruit. It would be nice in a cream ale, in a small quantity (which you have) or another beer as a cascade substitute for a different flavor. It's totally "American" in flavor and I wouldn't use it in something with an English or German grain bill but otherwise you could use it in many different beers.

Admiral? I don't know- never used it or even had a beer with it. That one has me stumped.

For bittering, it's best to use software (or old fashioned math) to get close to the target IBUs for the given recipe based on your hops' AA%. With low alpha noble hops, there's a lot of room for error, but calculating is a good habit to get in.

Thanks Yooper. Very good information that I'll hold onto for utilizing the rest of these hops. Masonsjax, I do use Beersmith for calculations which is a huge help too. Just still learning what goes with what style beer.

Use the magnum in the cream ale late, perle and tettnanger in the kbba and the rest in a nice American session IPA.