IPA Bittering Hops?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wobdee

Junior Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2012
Messages
1,060
Reaction score
103
Location
Lake Wissota
Ok, so I've recently become a big fan of American IPA's and have been doing a lot of research here on hops. I think I have the flavor and aroma hop additions down but was wondering about bittering hops. I'd like to use some more mellow bitterness type hops for bittering that don't sting the tongue too bad. I see many using Columbus, Magnum, Warrior and others for bittering while saving the Citra, Amarillo and Simco types for flavor/aroma. What type of bittering hops do you favor?

What about FWH additions? Will that mellow the bitterness but also give some unwanted flavors that will hide my flavor/aroma hops?
 
For bittering almost all of my beers, I use Magnum- it's low coho keeps the bitterness smooth without much bite. If you're looking for more of a sharp bitterness (think Sierra Nevada), consider blending in a small amount of Chinook with your 60 minute addition.

I rarely FWH, but when I do I replace the 60 minute addition. I don't really see the point in this method and have never really noticed a difference. Another "fun" thing to try is mash hopping, in which case you'd want to use whatever your late addition hops are.

Cheers!
 
For a long time I used Columbus for bittering IPA, right amount of "grab" for my tongue. I switched to HopShots for awhile after reading that places like Russian River and Hill Farmstead use it to reduce loss and vegetal flavor, but it was too smooth for my tastes. Recently gone with a blend of the two (5 ml of HopShot and 1.25 oz of Columbus @ 60 min in my last IPA) and have been pleased with the results.
 
Magnum, Warrior, and Horizon are all good choices if you're looking for clean and smooth. I like a little Chinook sometimes, but that's at the other end of the spectrum.
 
I use chinook exclusively for my ipas. I like the bitter. I don't think there is harshness. Maybe my tastebuds are wasted.
 
I have used Chinook and Warrior for IPA's. They both turned out pretty darn good. I am going to be making a Zombiedust clone here in the next few months with the Citra I just purchased.

I've never used Citra, what can I expect from them?
 
I don't think your tastebuds are wasted. I also use chinook on my IPAs. Falconer's flight is a great dual purpose bittering hop.
 
One of my favorite combinations is chinook bittering, centennial aroma, and chinook dry hop. Fantastic.
 
I've used Magnum many moons ago, I'll have to give it a try again along with Columbus. Hop shots sounds interesting as well. Thanks for the tips.
 
Any high alpha, American hop would be a great choice for bittering... regardless of cohumulone % or FWH vs. Traditional bitter. If you want to avoid harshness, simply use less than you normally do at 60, and much more than you normally do at the 15-10-5-0-DH slots.

The main thing is to change your bittering amounts.

Instead of using 1.5 oz. at 60 to gain 60-80 IBUs...

...Do 0.75 oz. at 60 to gain 25-40 IBUs

Then don't add any more hops until about 15 minutes left in the boil.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top