Pick Two Hops...

So I got the clearance from SWMBO to buy 2lbs of hops from Hops Direct. Now I'm trying to figure out which two to buy. I was on a multi-year IPA binge that I'm recovering from now and have turned my attention to regular old pale ales, ESBs, wheat beers, and lagers/pilsners. Anyone have advice on which two pounds to buy. I'm thinking cascade is a must. I'm leaning to either Hallertau or Saaz as my #2. Any opinions out there?

Make a list of the next 5 or 10 batches you want to brew.

Look for the most common hops.

Remember that there are substitutes -- cascade/centennial/amarillo can all substitute, (beer will taste different, but still good!), EKG/Fuggles/willamette can substitute, etc. etc.

My recipes that stay in constant rotation (with tweaks here and there) are an all-cascade pale ale, a hefe using Hallertau, and a light lager using saaz. And that's why my current rankings are the way they are. I guess a better way to put this is if I go Hallertau, I'm going to start making my lager with it. If I go saaz, my hefe and will be using it. Which is the better substitution in your opinion? I like the saaz hop better but I'm afraid it will go poorly in the hefe. But even though I like saaz better, historically I've used a lot more Hallertau so I'm afraid I'll get saaz and then get tired of it halfway through.

There are 2009 Cascade pellet hops going for $6/lb on ebay right now. So you should get two other kinds from hd and then get like 3-4 lbs of cascade!!

Oh, and I think Saaz > Hallertau, but I don't think a hefe with it would be good.

opteek said:

There are 2009 Cascade pellet hops going for $6/lb on ebay right now. So you should get two other kinds from hd and then get like 3-4 lbs of cascade!!

Oh, and I think Saaz > Hallertau, but I don't think a hefe with it would be good.

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I definitely agree. DEFINITELY


if you have the space to store that is...