Greetings all!
I started thinking about this the other day during a (relatively) mindless drive home...
When we formulate our recipes for hop additions, we tend to focus on meeting an overall bittering level and adjust the amount of hops we used based on the alpha acid. When it comes to hop flavor, however, does the same thinking apply, i.e., if you have the same calculated bittering value for a flavor hop addition, will you have comparable "strengths" of hop flavor from a high vs. low acid hop?
An example:
You have two hops, one with an AA of 4% and the other 8%. Let's also assume that they have similar flavor characteristics. In terms of bittering levels, you would use half the amount of the 8% hop as the 4% to reach a given bittering level.
Would you then have the same flavor "strength"?
Is it only the AA that contribute to flavor, or are there other aspects that come into play that would potentially be stronger with the lower AA hop, since you'll be using twice as much weight-wise?
I started thinking about this the other day during a (relatively) mindless drive home...
When we formulate our recipes for hop additions, we tend to focus on meeting an overall bittering level and adjust the amount of hops we used based on the alpha acid. When it comes to hop flavor, however, does the same thinking apply, i.e., if you have the same calculated bittering value for a flavor hop addition, will you have comparable "strengths" of hop flavor from a high vs. low acid hop?
An example:
You have two hops, one with an AA of 4% and the other 8%. Let's also assume that they have similar flavor characteristics. In terms of bittering levels, you would use half the amount of the 8% hop as the 4% to reach a given bittering level.
Would you then have the same flavor "strength"?
Is it only the AA that contribute to flavor, or are there other aspects that come into play that would potentially be stronger with the lower AA hop, since you'll be using twice as much weight-wise?