AA% and aroma

does AA% matter with aroma hops? My recipe calls for a 0.5 oz addition of 4.5% at 2 minutes. The hops I have are only 3.0% (same variety - German Tettnang). Do I need to increase the amount of hop like I would for bitterness?

 

You get no use of bittering units unless you boil them. Select the aroma you like, and the quantity you use is dependent on their abundance of fragrance, not AA's.

Fragrance will vary as AA% does, but most take no account of this, an ounce is an ounce.

 

Hops are pretty complex things...we don't just select particular ones based on their alpha acid rating. Yes, the high AA American superhops will give you plenty of bitterness during the boil. But there are other residues that come out of the hops to help form flavor and aroma profiles...so you do find different aromas for say your standard American hop vs German one.

If you have some spare German hops laying around, they'd obviously be good for a German recipe....but they're also pretty good as hops (be it bittering or aroma) in an English ale or stout. With American pale ales, IMO, it's best to stay with American hops for both bittering and aroma (as I get much more of a citrus/flower aroma that can balance the extra bitterness).

 

daverose - the recipe I have calls for 0.5 oz of Tettnang (4.5% AA). I have some Tettnang but only at 3.0% AA. My question is should I use more of the lower AA hops of the same variety to achieve the same aroma?

 

How old is your hops? Since it's Tettnang hops, you should be golden to still use the one that you have (no big deal if the AA is a point lower). The only question is if your hops have been sitting out for awhile. A hop's AA and aroma starts diminishing the longer it sits opened on the shelf. When I first got into brewing, I did have old hops laying on the shelf for awhile. I did notice that they lost their aroma *fairly* quickly. I've found that you can just smell your hops....if it's got a nice flowerly aroma, it should still be good. It does seem to get a sort of stale smell when it starts turning bad.