Bramling cross?

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motorneuron

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Anyone have experience using this hop? I am interested in trying it out, since it is reportedly rather odd. I like the classic UK hops (EKG/Fuggles/Challenger etc), but some people claim that Bramling Cross winds up having a little "American" character too, which is intriguing.

I think I'd try doing a single-hop special bitter.
 
I've done a couple. A bitter and a robust porter. The porter was brewed September last year. I just opened one of my few remaining bottles. It's always been a good drinker and now has taken on vanilla hints that are wonderful. A lot of people get a rather harsh, sharp, pungent black currant flavor. I think it depends on the batch of hops you get but I do get black current just not harsh, sharp and pungent. I've been using it later in the boil to try and avoid harshness. Seems to work for me.

When I first used BC I searched for real experience with it and found Steve Jones, head brewer at Oliver Breweries in Baltimore brews with it. I sent him an email inquiring about using the hop and he kindly responded, in part with:
"Our regular (English style ESB) is bittered with a little cascade (start of boil), Kent Goldings (20 minutes) and Bramling Cross (40 minutes) and finished entirely with Fuggles. Of course the preference for hop is very much a reflection of the brewer's tastes and to be honest you can't go wrong with any combination of Goldings & Bramling in your ESB to my mind (i use these two in a couple of seasonal session bitters that I make). Personally I would split it 50:50 between the two with the Goldings as an early bittering addition and Bramling added half way through the boil and an equal split again for the finishing hop (or any dry hopping)."
 
Tastes like juicy fruit chewing gum when added as a late addition.
 
I just ordered some for a clone I want to take a stab at. It's a BDSA, so I'm not sure how much it matters to use Bramling instead of Saaz or another similar AA hop, but I was ordering Galaxy from Farmhouse and they had the Bramling for $3 for 4oz.

What I want to know about this hop is how the second B got added. Hop Union has it labeled 'Brambling' and it's trickled down to some retailers.

Bramling is a town in Englan where the hop was originally grown, a Brambling is a European Finch....
 
Well, I went ahead and got 3oz of it. I'm basically following the much-loved Common Room ESB recipe (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/common-room-esb-83878/), though at a slightly lower gravity to make it more of a special bitter. But for the hop bill, I will be using just Bramling Cross. I am so intrigued by the varying reviews that I felt I had to try it. We'll see!
 
I'm curious about Bramling Cross. Is it worth a try? I've seen lots of mixed reviews around (getting more lemon than blackcurrant). I've been brewing a Brewer's Gold single hop that everybody seems to like which gets stone fruit and blackcurrant flavours in it (and some candy), and I was thinking whether Bramling Cross could take this to the next level or whether it ends up being lemony.
 
I'm going to have to get back to you on that. The carboy smells great, but I won't know how the stuff actually tastes (with bubbles, that is) for about two weeks. I will be sure to report back, though.
 
Definitely has that black currant smell when you open the pack. I used it in the Avery Old Jubilation recipe instead of buillon. In a few weeks I will be able to open a bottle.
 
Cool! I get much more blackcurrant and fruit from Brewer's Gold than what you'd expect from the smell, so you might be up for overkill with Bramling Cross! :D
 
Just tried my first bottle of the Common Room ESB made with Bramling Cross. I must say I was a little disappointed, although that might have been a problem with the yeast. I used Fuller's, which--much to my surprise--seemed rather low on esters and rather high on attenuation. I didn't wind up with the expected fruity ester and mild malt sweetness that I expected. But to the point about hops--I guess I didn't notice too much out of the ordinary here. They had a little of that Fuggle-esque earth quality, but not much on the fruit. I will have to try again in greater quantity, and maybe with some dry hopping.
 
I used 4oz Bramling Cross (along with 2oz EKG) in an IPA that was delicious, extremely fruity, although a lot of that was probably due to using WY1318. The recipe is in my dropdown, but it's pretty much what I wrote on MO.
 
I'm about to brew some test batches for an ESB recipie and to keep the number of variables as low as possible will use a single hop. The earthiness and black currant sound like the kind of flavor profile my wife and I like in english hopped beers so Bramling looks like a good fit. Honestly I'll be happy as long as the lemon doesn't become the dominant flavor.

The fruits from the Bramling should go well with the extra dark crystal and the yeast esters.

Final grain bill will look like this:
8# British base malt
0.5# British crystal 50-60L
0.25# British crystal 70-80L
0.25# British crystal 160L
26 IBUs @60 min
9.5 IBUs @30 min
0.5oz @Knockout
Wyeast West Yorkshire Ale

I will brew two 3 quart batches of this beer, one with marris otter and one with Fawcett optic. I've ordered enough Bramling to brew both these test batches and the final full batch, so I should have plenty of feedback by the time we run out.
 
Looks good!

I'd consider dividing the 30 min addition into two additions, one at 30min and one at 15min. Completely agree: brewers' gold, bramling cross, and other dark fruit hops go well with either high abv or some darker roastier malts. If you ever get your hands on it, Otley here in Wales make a barley wine with bramling cross in it.
 
I was pleased with the Bramling Cross in my ESB. It has a dark fruitiness--someone described it as being like juicyfruit gum, which I think gives you an idea--that goes well with darker crystal, definitely. Given how it came out, it's much more of a hop for bitters and browns than for pales or IPAs, I think.

Your recipe looks good. The one thing I found when I made my ESB was that it finished a bit drier than I anticipated, even with a pound of crystal (like your proposed recipe). Not sure why that was; maybe I missed my mash temperature.
 
I can't stop drinking that Avery clone, the dark fruit bitterness is great with the winter warmer style. That recipe with those hops will be in my fridge year round now. Delicious.
 
Well the West Yorkshire Ale is a yeast that is supposed to leave a full chewy malt character. Supposedly it is the Timothy Taylor yeast and finishes a bit high. That and mashing in at 152 should help keep it drinkable without thinning it out.

And a 15min hop addition couldn't hurt.
 
The hops I got were a higher alpha acid than I was expecting. At 7.4% I had to scale down the amount I used in my somewhat subdued ESB. I was both happy and sad since I really wanted to get a good feel for this hop, but the 'juicy fruit gum' descriptor had me pretty worried. The hops smelled pretty different in each of the two test batches, which is perfect. Without a difference the experiment would be worthless.

In the marris otter batch, the hops had a very subdued aroma at 60min. You got that initial hit in the face of hoppy steam and then it dissipated. Around 40min I got a strong, resiny, cat-pee aroma that lasted about 10-15 minutes. After that it was more of the molasses-y sweet biscuit smell from the wort. The 20min and knockout additions gave a spicy, british-earthiness to the aroma.

In the fawcett optic batch the floral/black currant sents came through a lot more. The wort for this batch was much cleaner smelling. Caramel and burnt suger coming though a grainy background. Each hop addition lent a stronger, and more lingering aroma. This time I didn't get that harsh burst of resin-y fumes at 40min.

My over all impression of the hop so far-- Great. I love that strong spicy UK hop smell. I got much less black currant during the boil than expected, because it was up front in the bag. In a more hop-forward beer it might be more intense. I also need to see how it holds up after fermentation.

Can't wait!
 
Hydrometer sample had almost no hop aroma, but a nice clean bitterness. Oddly, the bitterness behaved differently in each of the two beers. In the Maris Otter batch it was a building bitter that stayed on the tongue. In the Fawcett Optic batch it was a clean, cleansing bitterness that opened the palate back up and then lingered.

Happy so far, but want more hoppiness. Could change after carbonation. Definitly dry-hopping the next batch.
 
I might make a batch of pumpkin ale with brambling cross instead of magnum. My recipe could always be tweaked in search of the perfect taste.
 
I think it would go well with pumpkin. It has some of that English earthiness, which I think would complement spice.
 
Found a problem, and made an excellent solution: Of the two ESBs in my experiment, I liked the Fawcett Optic much more. However, my LHBS doesn't carry and Fawcett malts. So rather than take another go at the same recipies and try to get more hop aroma I decided to just combine the leftover base grain and come up with a recipie to brew with it. Here is the porter I made last night (recipe shown as 5 gallons for easy refferance):

3# Fawcett Optic
3# Maris Otter
0.75# Chocolate Malt
0.625# Munich
0.5# English Crystal 70-80L
0.25# English Crystal 160L
1oz Bramling Cross (7.4% for 22IBUs) @30min
WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast

Hit my numbers for once! Did a 3 gallon batch of this recipe with an OG of 1.046. Took a while to chill but my sanitation was good, so it'll be fine.

Towards the end of the boil the hops and roast smelled WONDERFUL together. The guy at the shop said that he has gotten some nice choclate notes from the burton yeast, so I'm really looking forward to this.

As for the ESB experiment, I picked up some more base grains and made sure that my LHBS can actually order sacks of them this time. In a couple of weeks I'll be repeating the experiment with Golden Promise and Mutton's Pale Ale malts. I'll also be upping the flameout addition and dryhopping this time.
 
looking forward to trying this hop as ive just ordered a lb of it.. I never ready any reviews I just saw the descriptiong of similar hops goldings ect which I love.. seems like there are mixed reviews if it sucks ill use it for bittering but I pretty much love all hops, ive used pere and northern brewers for flavour and have enjoyed that too.. not too picky
 
Just dry hopped a batch of bitters, EKG and Bramling Cross at 60, flame out and dry hopped today . It's one of my routine recipes.
 
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