US hops for bittering a ESB?

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camus

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I am will be brewing a ESB, essentially 12lbs MO, will be finishing Kent Goldings but want to bitter with some of my hops in the freezer, got Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, Columbus, Amarillo and Magnum to choose from. Any suggestions?
 
I would agree with Yooper (weird, I know). I like the flavor/aroma of those other hops too much to use them for bittering.
 
Elysian Brewing of Seattle's first commercial brew was their "The Wise" ESB. Bittering hops? Chinook. It remains one of their mainstays sixteen years later. I also just happen to have a batch fermenting right now, but I decided to substitute Warrior. Brew it the way you think you'd like it.
 
Supposedly chinook is a distant relative of an english golding variety. Don't really know if thats true or not. Still, my vote would be for either magnum or colombus as they are both neutral bittering hops.
 
Commercially, I would always bitter with the highest alpha hop I had... obviously this was an economic decision... point is though, that I was using these high-alpha American hops (Columbus/Tomahawk) in everything from Czech Pils, to dunkel weizen, to ESB to Marzen to American brown ale to doppel bock. Worked for everything and I was getting lots of positive feedback from native British and German brewers... Don't stress on your bittering hops... just use whichever you are least likely to want to use as a finishing hop later!
 
Thanks all, I thought the magnum would be a good choice just needed to confirm I was doing anything blasphemous.
 
I have an APA I bitter with Magnums for the reasons everyone lists here. High alphas & clean.

But I clicked on this thread out of interest because I'm putting together an American ESB recipe. British malt and yeast but bittered with Chinook and flavoured with other american hops.

Point is, bittering with Chinook really interests me andn I think it would work for you. Perhaps next time!
 
This brings up a question that I have been dying to ask: do bittering hops provide any flavor? and... In terms of styles and recipes, could you get by with just about any hop variety for the bittering hops?

I am planning a ordinary bitters for this weekend based on Jamil's recipe. I am using wilamette for flavor and aroma, but was planning to use cascade for bittering (or run out to the LHBS for EKG...) I not convinced that any of the citrusy qualities of cascade will slill be there after 60-90 minutes. The malt and earthy wilamette should dominate.

Thoughts?
 
with the cascade it should be ok, but some varities like chinook do provide some flavor as the bittering addition. certain ones with higher cohumulene levels will also give a harsher bitter as well.
 
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