Bittering Hops

Hello All,

Rightly or wrongly, as of late I have begun using Northern Brewer as my standard bittering hop. Literaly using to bitter every one of my beers. Thus far I've been pretty happy with the results. My biggest motivation for this was economic. With Hop prices running over $2 per ounce at my LHBS I really wanted to cut costs and by buying from HopsDirect I was able to cut that cost in hand buy buying in bulk. The added advantage being that I always have them on hand, as I'm not much of a hop head a one lb. bag lasts me forever.

I'm starting this post to get some feed back, to see who else agrees with me and and what there bittering hop of choice is?

I've been using Chinook almost exclusively for the same reason. Almost out though.

I use Magnum to bitter most of my beers for two reasons. It doesn't take much to get quite a bit of bitterness and it's very clean allowing my flavor and aroma hops to really show themselves in my pale ales.

magnum.

I use magnum for most of my bittering, as it's "clean" and has decent AAUs without harshness or any citrusy flavors. It's the most neutral bittering hop I have. None of the ones listed in the poll are particularly neutral or "clean" flavored, but if I had to pick one to use I'd use Northern Brewer for most beers with Chinook for IPAs.

I use magnum for almost all bittering, even lighter beers like pils (which often use saaz exclusively).

I haven't had good success with Chinook, but your mileage may vary.

I use Columbus on just about everything but I haven't pit it up against Magnum or any of the others you mention in the poll.

Columbus. Why didn't it make the list?

Tomahawk is the same as columbus.. CTZ (columbus, tomawhawk, zeus)
I'm wondering why Magnum didn't make the list, that's my preferred bittering hop as well.

bruin_ale said:

Tomahawk is the same as columbus.. CTZ (columbus, tomawhawk, zeus)
I'm wondering why Magnum didn't make the list, that's my preferred bittering hop as well.

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Oh yeah... in that case, I pick Tomahawk!

LVBen said:

Columbus. Why didn't it make the list?

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It did! Columbus = Tomahawk.

Magnum has by far been my #1 bittering hop as I mentioned. I use it in German lagers as well as in IPAs. It's really a great neutral hop.

I like magnum as well but have been using Bravo after I bought a pound of it recently.

I use Palisades a lot, Magnum and Warrior too. I like to bitter with Sterling as well. They all change the character of the beer a little.

I brew a lot of hop forward American Ales, so I almost exclusively use Chinook for bittering on those. It's also pretty darn cheap and doubles as an aroma hop in some of my APAs/IPAs. For other styles though, I just pick up an oz or so of whatever I need from the LHBS.

I use summit or nugget on most of my beers, but I do use chinook too.

I use magnum or chinook, though in some styles the silly amount of low alpha hops you have to use actually contribute a certain flavor.

Thank you for your input everybody!

I'm going to try Magunm as a bittering hop.

Prost!

Phoenix.

I use warrior almost exclusively but voted chinook as I love that hop. I just tapped my keg of Chinook IPA a few days back and was blown away by how great it tastes.

Anyway, warrior at 17.2 AA really gets the bitterness I want for the best price. All the hops listed above work great as bittering hops, but I would never use simcoe for bittering, too precious an aroma or flavor hop for me.

I am dry hopping with some Simcoe at the moment, so I will let ya know how I feel about them in a couple weeks. I would also like to know how every one stores there excess hops cones and pellets. Im waiting on a half lbs. of Challenger pellets, and was just wondering what the best way to store the left overs.

Warren1086 said:

I am dry hopping with some Simcoe at the moment, so I will let ya know how I feel about them in a couple weeks. I would also like to know how every one stores there excess hops cones and pellets. Im waiting on a half lbs. of Challenger pellets, and was just wondering what the best way to store the left overs.

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If you have a food saver, you can easily just vacuum seal them and freeze them. Even a ziploc bag in the freezer will protect them, though, if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

Yooper said:

If you have a food saver, you can easily just vacuum seal them and freeze them. Even a ziploc bag in the freezer will protect them, though, if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

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Awesome! Thanks for the advice, and luckily I do have a vacuum sealer. Thanks again!

My Ferocious IPA was dry hopped with an oz. of Simcoe has been in the bottle for 2 weeks now, and I cant wait to crack one open next weekend. I hope they deliver the hoppy goodness I love!

Magnum/warrior exclusively for all the above listed reasons...

Warrior.

Nugget for me.