Mixing different Styles of hops?

Most of the recipes I see use similar styles of hops throughout the recipe. Is it general practice to keep hop additions similar to one another? like an IPA with primarily citrusy hops? or only use light spicy/earthy hops in european lagers?

Well what I'm really asking is if there's any sort of guidelines that you should abide by when selecting hops for your beer. For example; if I have a bunch of leftover hops, say some European/German hops like saaz or hallertau and wanted to put them in a pale ale with some citrusy American hops like cascade would that be a bad idea, mixing Spicy/earthy and citrusy hops? What if I were to make it really hoppy like an IPA?

the thing you have to watch for is that some of them will overpower the others, other than that you can use whatever you want in it, that's the beauty of brewing your own! It just wont match any defined style, but that doesn't mean it wont be good.

Ah okay, well I'm not too concerned with being within a certain style.

I had one more question though, I know that you boil hops for 60 minutes for bittering and 15 for aroma/flavour, what exactly does dry hopping do? does it impart more intense/fresh aroma and flavour?

The reason I ask is I really like the very hoppy IPAs with strong citrus flavours (American IPAs?), would it be better to dry hop cascade hops or boil for the last 15 mins of the boil to get the most citrusy flavours from them?

A good place to start would be "How to Brew" by John J. Palmer,
it has a very good chapter on this subject.

ADL said:

Ah okay, well I'm not too concerned with being within a certain style.

I had one more question though, I know that you boil hops for 60 minutes for bittering and 15 for aroma/flavour, what exactly does dry hopping do? does it impart more intense/fresh aroma and flavour?

The reason I ask is I really like the very hoppy IPAs with strong citrus flavours (American IPAs?), would it be better to dry hop cascade hops or boil for the last 15 mins of the boil to get the most citrusy flavours from them?

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Last 15mins to flameout for the flavor in my opinion and dry hopping for aroma.. My two cents

overdbus said:

A good place to start would be "How to Brew" by John J. Palmer,
it has a very good chapter on this subject.

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i second that. also, when learning how to brew a particular style it's quite useful to look at known recipes for that style to get a feel for what goes into that type of recipe. IPA for example has relatively large hop additions from 15 minutes to flameout and is usually dry hopped after fermentation. that's what gives it its assertive hops aroma and flavor.

pg 155-66 of 'the complete joy.....' has a recipe guideline chart for most styles of beer. they're very simple and allow you to use the ingredients you chose, but gives you an idea of how to use them.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

i
155-66 of 'the complete joy.....' has a recipe guideline chart for most styles of beer. they're very simple and allow you to use the ingredients you chose, but gives you an idea of how to use them.

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Another vote for the guidelines in The Complete Joy Of Homebrewing! Easy to use guidelines that anyone can use to put together an amazing recipe. (I did!!)

Ah wow I'm gonna have to get these books! I never really thought about getting books about homebrewing.

Thanks allot for the help, Ive only just joined this forum this week and have already learned so many useful things.

ADL said:

Ah wow I'm gonna have to get these books! I never really thought about getting books about homebrewing.

Thanks allot for the help, Ive only just joined this forum this week and have already learned so many useful things.

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there's a lot to be learned from books about the hobby. i really suggest reading BOTH 'the complete joy...' and 'how to brew', they're great reads for someone getting into the hobby. as my wife said in her post above, she made a great beer simply using the guidelines in 'the complete joy...', it's a brew we make regularly with only a couple minor tweaks from the first time. in fact, it's our next batch on deck!