Hops Order (By the pound)

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.

hoppysailor

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
134
Reaction score
2
Location
Montana
We're putting together a hops order from Hops Direct. We're buying several pounds of hops to to try to get most of what we'll need to brew primarily APA's and IPA's with an occasional amber or brown thrown in. My thought is to buy a pound or two of Cascade and Centennial for flavor and aroma hops and then to buy a high alpha bittering hop (like Magnum) to use for my standard 60 minute addition. Does it really matter which hop is used at 60 minutes? My understanding is that this addition doesn't effect flavor much. If you were ordering 4 types of hops for general brewing, what would you order?

Totally off topic, I've attached a picture of our boat at anchor this past weekend. Nice views, no neighbors, good steaks, good beer, good wine.....priceless.

2nd Spring (3).JPG
 
I would lend to stay away from the super high hops like Columbus. It's tough to fit them reasonably into an amber, and forget throwing them into any kind of lager. The problem with hops direct is you get a range of AA, so something like Perle or NB at 8% would be great. But, there's a chance they come in to you at 5.5% and then you really have to start upping your additions to make up the difference.

I've made some crazy good AA and APA with Galena of all hops.
 
Your choice for bittering hops does make a difference in flavor, but not so much if you use a ton of aroma hops. For instance, in an IPA I find the bittering hops are drowned out by all the other hop additions late in the boil and those used in dry hopping. However, if you are light on the aroma hops you'll notice the flavor of your bittering hops a bit more.

:off: Nice boat! Is that a Catalina? I've sailed just about my whole life, and much of it was in either a Catalina 25, 30 or MacGregor 26. Many great memories in the SF bay. :)
 
The boat is a San Juan 28. The picture was taken off of Wildhorse Island on Flathead Lake.
 
Use a clean neutral high AA like Magnum or Galena for bittering- you'll have no problems doing what you suggest.

I've often said that every brewer needs to have a clean neutral hop on hand at all times. Galena or Magnum makes it into just about every beer that I make as the bittering charge.
 
I have Galena,Magnum and Chinooks for bittering most of my ales. I love Columbus,Centennial and Willamette hops for a good portion of the beers I make.
 
I have Galena,Magnum and Chinooks for bittering most of my ales. I love Columbus,Centennial and Willamette hops for a good portion of the beers I make.


Can you give me a couple of examples of where you would use the Columbus and Willamette?
 
Can you give me a couple of examples of where you would use the Columbus and Willamette?
I don't use them together as Columbus is pretty potent. I like Columbus with rye and Willamette and Cascade work for a Lagunita's type of IPA. Williamette is a Fuggle derivative so it has it uses in English ales too. 11.00 a pound for Willamette at Hopsdirect right now is nice.
 
I just bottled some small test batches of a pale ale that I dry-hopped with a few different hops I recently ordered from HopsDirect. My tasting notes from bottling time says that Columbus is going to be an awesome brew, and the Willamette was also very tasty with strong floral notes.
 
Here's what I like to keep on hand.

Clean High AA for bittering. Galena is my goto now. Any hop with a pronounced presence, like Chinook, should be avoided IMO.

Willamette for anything. Really. EIPA to stouts and Irish Reds to the Scottish ales. Also makes a great Amber and American Pale when used with a C hop.

Something from the German noble hops.

Right now I have Galena, Cascade, Amarillo, Vanguard, Willamette, and Saaz in bulk, in the freezer. Vacuum packaged and ready for anything I might want to brew.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses. I have a pond each of Cascade, Centennial, Magnum, Perle, and Willamette on the way.
 
Back
Top