Favorite Home Grown Hop Varieties

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BlackRock

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I'm ordering up some rhizomes and looking for input on what others have grown, brewed with or enjoy in their beer. Here are the varieties I've got access too this year:

High Alpha - Columbus, Chinook, Nugget, Centennial and Northern Brewer

Low Alpha - Cascade, Golding, Willamette, Glacier and Tettnang

I have room for up to 4 plants at my home and want both bittering hops and something for aroma. I'll be brewing more IPA's, Black IPA's, IIPA's :) You get the idea. I like a good Amber maybe a hoppier stout and want to start a Lager once my temp controlled ferment chamber is done.

I'm leaning toward Columbus, Nugget and Centennial for higher alpha's and Willamette or Tettnang for Aroma though Cascade seems so universal that might be a good one too. I don't mind a little overlap in styles either.

What varieties do you grow or would you choose? These won't supply me with all the hops I need, but it would be awesome if I could actually make a good percentage of my beers with my own hops.
 
I have 2 chinooks, a centenial, us golding, willamette, 2 cascades, very happy with them. Brew mostly IPA IIPA do use the chinook centenial and cascades the most, the other two add alot of flexibility.

All are going into there 3rd season
 
I'd recommend buying varieties more for their aroma and flavor properties, rather than their bittering abilities, simply because it's difficult, if not impossible, to determine alpha acid percentage without having to get samples tested at a lab.
 
There are ways of getting the AA, been posted on the internet. Gave me a headache when I read the how-to article.

I go by general numbers, then adjust after a single brew / tasting. Beer Smith helps with the adjustment.

I love brewers gold. I love the smell and taste. Really underrated hop.
 
Bezel said:
I have 2 chinooks, a centenial, us golding, willamette, 2 cascades, very happy with them. Brew mostly IPA IIPA do use the chinook centenial and cascades the most, the other two add alot of flexibility.

All are going into there 3rd season
Click to expand...

Excellent list of hops you've got going. Between the Chinook and Centennial which do you like better? I've used Centennial before which is why I was leaning towards it as a start, but Chinook looks very interesting.

Whats your reason for having two Chinooks and Cascades? Just for more quantity, favorites or do they not produce as well for you?
 
blawjr said:
I'd recommend buying varieties more for their aroma and flavor properties, rather than their bittering abilities, simply because it's difficult, if not impossible, to determine alpha acid percentage without having to get samples tested at a lab.
Click to expand...

Which varieties do you like for their flavor properties? Everything always lists "A nice flavor profile with floral, spicy, piny, blah, blah, blah aromas" for everything making it hard to discern one from another.

I'm still interested in what people liked for bittering from the list though. I've been using Warrior in my "house" IPA and love it. I wish I could get Warrior hops as my primary bittering hop.

Here is a question. Anyone ever seen a good substitute for Warrior hops? I've read Nugget and Columbus which is why I'm leaning toward getting one of those two but never grown or used either in a beer.
 
I like the chinook the best (would have a simcoe and chinook if simcoe was available) I brew a ranger clone that uses chinook cascade and simcoe (when I can find them) if not I sub chinook and am happy with that beer.

doubling up on the two varieties is just for quantity of my two faverite. My 2nd year cascades have me close to 3 lbs each dried. The willamette and golding not as good but average for the variety
 
BlackRock said:
Which varieties do you like for their flavor properties? Everything always lists "A nice flavor profile with floral, spicy, piny, blah, blah, blah aromas" for everything making it hard to discern one from another.
Click to expand...

I have 2 cascade, a columbus (great dual purpose hop), and a centennial, all of which i love dearly :)
 
I'm ordering two Centennial, one Chinook, and one Glacier tonight.
Or One Centennial, One Chinook, One Cascade, One Glacier.

Who knows!! I'm a big fan of Centennial so go for it. Chinook is nice for IPAs as well. Cascade is milder but got that grapefruit for American hoppy beers... and I like Glacier more then Willamette, similar hops but Glacier is a little peachy and fantastic for bittering (cohumulone)
 
I ordered my chinook from greatlakeshops and was EXTREAMLY pleased... Came with 8" of growth and rack produced about 1 lb dried first year
 
BlackRock said:
I'm ordering up some rhizomes and looking for input on what others have grown, brewed with or enjoy in their beer. Here are the varieties I've got access too this year:

High Alpha - Columbus, Chinook, Nugget, Centennial and Northern Brewer

Low Alpha - Cascade, Golding, Willamette, Glacier and Tettnang

I have room for up to 4 plants at my home and want both bittering hops and something for aroma. I'll be brewing more IPA's, Black IPA's, IIPA's :) You get the idea. I like a good Amber maybe a hoppier stout and want to start a Lager once my temp controlled ferment chamber is done.

I'm leaning toward Columbus, Nugget and Centennial for higher alpha's and Willamette or Tettnang for Aroma though Cascade seems so universal that might be a good one too. I don't mind a little overlap in styles either.

What varieties do you grow or would you choose? These won't supply me with all the hops I need, but it would be awesome if I could actually make a good percentage of my beers with my own hops.
Click to expand...

Did you go with Chinook? From what I understand they don't grow well in moist climates so I was wondering how they grew for you here in Seattle. I ordered a couple Chinook rhizomes before learning about this :drunk:
 

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