Help choosing hops!

Ok so I know this all boils down to personal preference, but since I have very limited experience I need some help deciding.

I was never in a position where I could jump on one of farmhouse's combo deals since I was going to let that decide for me but it doesn't seem like there is anything coming up. I finally have a nice cushion of money and can finally by hops by the pound. They are also $4 an oz. at the LHBS as opposed to about a $1 at the store at school so I am looking to buy bulk.

I wont be brewing an IPA any time soon and my main preference is clean, subtle hops. I am looking at brewing a cream ale, stout, brown ale and just a few other random brews in the future.

I am looking for versatile hops that fits the bill above. From my own research I have chosen saaz for bittering/aroma, willamette for aroma and hallertau for everything in between. I am not confident in this decision so any advice would be helpful! Also if anyone knows and current of upcoming deals let me know since I would like to branch out.

I am planning to order on tuesday to grab two free ounces of something random from wholesalehops

morning bump!

I seem to have a supra-normal love for Willamette hops, but... WILLAMETTE.

Seriously, in a dark beer (for your stout or brown ale...) they cannot be beaten in my book.

I use a lot of Cascade

HI_SALENITY said:

I use a lot of Cascade

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I have in the past as well. I am going to get a lot of amarillo/cascade/cent. next year when I get the urge for some IPA's. But for now I am looking for less citrus

Sounds like you made good choices for what you want. Maybe also consider fuggles,Tettanger, Simcoe( if you like the pineyness). I use the first two for general purpose and I use simcoe for aroma/flavor with good not citrusy results.

jeburgdo said:

I seem to have a supra-normal love for Willamette hops, but... WILLAMETTE.

Seriously, in a dark beer (for your stout or brown ale...) they cannot be beaten in my book.

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Thank you sir. I was hoping that is the case because I am almost completely set on willamette with a slight consideration for fuggles.

hoppymonkey said:

Sounds like you made good choices for what you want. Maybe also consider fuggles,Tettanger, Simcoe( if you like the pineyness). I use the first two for general purpose and I use simcoe for aroma/flavor with good not citrusy results.

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Thank you for the suggestions. I considered fuggles, but decided willamette instead since in my upcoming brews I want less pronounced hops that accent the malt flavors. I am torn between hallertau and tettanger since I have used them both in the past with good result.

With the two free ounces I'll get from wholesalehops I am considering and ounce of fuggles to do a side by side comparison to willamette and something like simcoe to experiment with.

Can anyone provide a comparison of hallertau to tettnanger or am I off base that they are similar.

Farmhouse is a really good way to go, and their shipping is cheap. Fuggles are a good route when you are looking for low bittering and low citrus flavor. I would say cascade, but fuggles work too. Look at recipes you think you'll like and find the common hops for them.

DrinkinSurfer said:

Farmhouse is a really good way to go, and their shipping is cheap. Fuggles are a good route when you are looking for low bittering and low citrus flavor. I would say cascade, but fuggles work too. Look at recipes you think you'll like and find the common hops for them.

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Thanks! Thats exactly what I have been doing...I made a spreadsheet with all the ingredients for all the different recipes I want to brew in the future:



And I am not locked into a vendor yet, once I figure out exactly what I want to order I'm going to compare