Southern Hemisphere Hops

[sawbossFogg]

I just got William's Southern Hemisphere Pellets bonus hops including Jade, Galaxy, Gem, Topaz and Summer. I've only tasted a few beers like Sierra's SH which is bright, aromatic and grassy along with some similar home-brews.

What do folks think of these hops in their modern American style beers?

 

[tooldudetool]

I think they're awesome! I'm a fan of the tropical notes and flavors as kind of a break from the typical citrus pine IPA's I usually drink. I really like Good Life's "Sweet As" pale ale, it uses Pacifica and Galaxy hops and it's wonderfully balanced and bright, with complex tropical fruit aromas, if you can find it you should try it. I did try to make a NZ hop IPA after tasting Sweet As but it was kind of a failure. I had an og of 1.068 and the overall effect was that the softer fruity notes of the hops were overpowered by the big malt bill. I used Pacific Jade for bittering, and Pacifica and Summer for flavor, aroma and dry hopping. I dry hopped with 2 ounces and got little to no aroma when it was finished, which was really disappointing. When I try it again, I will keep the gravity in the 1.055 pale ale range, with a cleaner malt bill and really hit it with several ounces of flameout and dry hops to see if that will make them stand out more.

 

[worksnorth]

I think they're awesome! I'm a fan of the tropical notes and flavors as kind of a break from the typical citrus pine IPA's I usually drink. I really like Good Life's "Sweet As" pale ale, it uses Pacifica and Galaxy hops and it's wonderfully balanced and bright, with complex tropical fruit aromas, if you can find it you should try it. I did try to make a NZ hop IPA after tasting Sweet As but it was kind of a failure. I had an og of 1.068 and the overall effect was that the softer fruity notes of the hops were overpowered by the big malt bill. I used Pacific Jade for bittering, and Pacifica and Summer for flavor, aroma and dry hopping. I dry hopped with 2 ounces and got little to no aroma when it was finished, which was really disappointing. When I try it again, I will keep the gravity in the 1.055 pale ale range, with a cleaner malt bill and really hit it with several ounces of flameout and dry hops to see if that will make them stand out more.

And maybe cooler mash temps, dryer beer more hop forward?

 

[sawbossFogg]

I think they're awesome! I'm a fan of the tropical notes and flavors as kind of a break from the typical citrus pine IPA's I usually drink. I really like Good Life's "Sweet As" pale ale, it uses Pacifica and Galaxy hops and it's wonderfully balanced and bright, with complex tropical fruit aromas, if you can find it you should try it. I did try to make a NZ hop IPA after tasting Sweet As but it was kind of a failure. I had an og of 1.068 and the overall effect was that the softer fruity notes of the hops were overpowered by the big malt bill. I used Pacific Jade for bittering, and Pacifica and Summer for flavor, aroma and dry hopping. I dry hopped with 2 ounces and got little to no aroma when it was finished, which was really disappointing. When I try it again, I will keep the gravity in the 1.055 pale ale range, with a cleaner malt bill and really hit it with several ounces of flameout and dry hops to see if that will make them stand out more.

Huh. I'm excited to use them! Your beer sounds great, my gut is asking if you simply under pitched! The big malt requires a big yeast bill. Before you lighten up, pitch up. I have approached the same challenge when building high gravity, higher volume beers.