Hallertau hops - which variety do I have?

A recipe I'm going to brew this weekend calls for some Hallertauer Mittelfruh hops. After doing some research online I realized that I might not find it since it doesn't seem to be heavily produced anymore due to growing difficulty, yet it is also in high demand. So I went to a couple brew stores and none of them carried any Mittelfruh, so I grabbed some "German Hallertau" from Crosby & Baker instead.

According to this Home Brewing Wiki, "Hallertau" could be any number of different varieties. How do I know which one I have?

Also - I stopped by another store and asked about Mittelfruh and the guy pulled out some hops labeled "Hallertau (American origin)" from LD Carlson, that he said he had been told were Mittelfruh (but that he honestly did not know if that was true and had not brewed with them yet). Any chance these really are Mittelfruh? And if not, what are they?

I doubt if any true Mittelfruh makes it to the homebrew market. You are correct in that there are not large quantities grown and most are surely grabbed by commercial breweries. That said if what you have is a German low alpha Hallertau it will do a fine job in the beer. Other choices for good subs would be the American "triploid" Hallertau derivitives like Mt. Hood and Liberty.

I managed to score a pound of Mittelfruh while in Germany last fall. I haven't noticed any difference between them and the German Hallertau hops I've bought from HopsDirect. Which doesn't mean they are the same, just that any differences are more refined than my crude palate

Best sub for Mittelfrueh is german Hallertau Hersbuecker.

How do I know if I have Hallertau Hersbueker or Hallertau Mittelfruh or Hallertau Whatever when the packages only say "German Hallertau"? (or "American Hallertau")?

Unless they are labeled by sub-type, you can't tell. However, if the AA is over 5%, it probably isn't Mittelfrüh. If it's in the 7-10% range and from Germany, good chance it's Hallertau Gold.

david_42 said:

Unless they are labeled by sub-type, you can't tell. However, if the AA is over 5%, it probably isn't Mittelfrüh. If it's in the 7-10% range and from Germany, good chance it's Hallertau Gold.

Click to expand...

They're only 3.7%

Do the different kinds of Hallertau contribute different notes to the final beer? I am going to be brewing a Grand Cru with these soon. I used them in Weizen recently, not sure what kind I had. Do they all give the same subtle spiciness?

They are much the same, although the high AA Hallertau from New Zealand is less subtle.

Cool, thanks.

I got a pound of hallertau Mittelfruh through NCM. I also have a partial pound of Hallertau Hallertauer left from Midwest. Are these truly what they are? I don't know... just how they are labeled.

No telling DD, but very likely they are exactly what the labels say. EU labeling rules are rather strict.

The mittelfruh was a pure accidental order in a group buy.... so I just took it. I will probably use that in my altbier when the hallertauer runs out.