Columbus vs. Northern Brewer

Well? Columbus vs. Northern Brewer

So I'm going to try a 1-gallon batch of Grapefruit Honey Ale (as per the Brooklyn Brew Shop recipe).

For a 1-gallon batch I use .1 oz of Columbus for bittering. My LHBS sells hops in two oz. packages so I would put away 1.9 oz stored for future purposes. Or I could use .15 oz of the Northern Brewer that I already put away for future purposes one or two batches ago.

Maybe I'll use up the Columbus soon. Maybe I won't. I am definitely *not* the kind of guy who can plan ahead with ingredients.

So the question is, is columbus so distinctive that I really want it, or is hops is hops (especially bittering hops)?

Columbus seems to have more bittering potential than northern brewer, but if you are just using it for bittering Northern Brewer will do a good job, just add a bit more. .15 oz sounds good to me.

I haven't used Columbus before, but I did a single-hop CA Common recently with Northern Brewer, and it did just fine. What was the %AA of either one?

Yeah if the northern brewer gets you the IBU's you want I'd just use up what you have. On the other hand, it never hurts to have some CTZ around. It's high AA and usually cheap so good for bittering but I also like it for flavor and aroma in American ales.

I think the northern brewer will be fine in that quantity as a bittering hop replacement for Columbus (CTZ). Heck brew two 1 gal batches with the different bittering hops and see if you can tell the difference. I bet the amarillo will "cover up" any particular bittering hop flavor.

Recipe didn't say what the AA% of columbus was supposed to be but it was assumed to be 15% from what I could research.

My n. brew is 9.5%. I did five grams (which should be about .15 ounces).

Amirillo ain't going to cover nothin' as I had to sub with Cascade...