Need Help with Choice of Hops

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RiversC174

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OK this is a two part question:

1) Brewing a lemongrass wheat beer from AHS this thursday. The bittering hops it came with were Spalt (5% aa) but I have a spare ounce of Cascade (5.6% aa) in my fridge. I was thinking of using the Cascade because I know it has a citrusy aroma profile which would be consistent with the lemongrass added at flameout and lemon/lime zest added to secondary. I just wanted to know if the Cascade contributes a similar faint citrus taste when used as a bittering hop and get an idea of whether you guys think I should use the Cascade as my bittering hop or just use the Spalt the kit came with.

2) The Cascade hops I mentioned above have been sitting in my fridge, not my freezer, for about a month in the same bag I bought them in from my LHBS. Will they still be good to use or have they lost a significant amount of freshness/aa content. Thanks a lot guys, really looking forward to this one, I want it to be the perfect summer brew.

Joe
 
If they gave you an ounce of Spalt, I'd split the ounce and add .5 ounce for 60 mins. Drop the whole ounce of Cascade for 30 mins. and add the last .5 ounce of Spalt in the last 15-5 mins. Closer to the end based on your cooling system, if it takes 30 mins or more to cool, throw them in at 5. If you can cool fairly quickly, put them in around 15 mins.

Cascade is my favorite hop and it will give you that grapefruit undertone that works well in wheat beers.


Hope this helps!

:mug:
 
They will have lost a bit of their bitterness and aroma, but I wouldn't worry about it for a wheat, as they're low IBU anyway.

I think they'd work OK. You just need to decide whether you want some citrus flavor, or aroma, or both. Use your Spalt for bittering, then add some Cascade at around 20min for flavor, then at 5 min or flameout for aroma. I don't think I'd use any more than a half ounce for either addition if you want to keep the beer within style guidelines. If you do a 20 min addition, keep in mind the IBU's you'll get form them.....you might want to cut back your bittering hops a tad.
 
From the USDA listings, STORAGE STABILITY: poor (retained 40% of original alpha acids after 6 months room temperature storage)

I doubt the Cascades has lost any AA or aroma after a month in the fridge, but I wouldn't use it in a wheat. It will overwhelm everything else.
 
Just an aside: the flavor component is largely lost in any hop that is boiled 60 minutes.

That's not to say that you can't taste the difference between different bittering hops, but it's not exactly "flavor" that you're tasting: more like how smooth or harsh the bittering is.

If you match the AAUs, you'll get a very similar result using different bittering hops.

Where you really notice the difference is with flavor and aroma hops.
 
david_42 said:
From the USDA listings, STORAGE STABILITY: poor (retained 40% of original alpha acids after 6 months room temperature storage)

I doubt the Cascades has lost any AA or aroma after a month in the fridge, but I wouldn't use it in a wheat. It will overwhelm everything else.


I agree and disagree David.

I agree that the hops are fine like you said as far as their quality are concerned.


I think that the OP (RiversC174) was looking for a bit of that citrus/grapefruitiness of the Cascade hops in his 'lemongrass' wheat, so I think that a mere ounce of Cascades at 30 mins would be a great addition and I don't feel they will overpower this particular application. Hell, I put 2 ounces of Cascades in my American Wheat at 30 mins and I love the flavor (perhaps I just love Cascades?).

:cross:
 
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