Comet Hops

[FATC1TY]

Anyone have some taste info, or anyone use them?

I planned to use some for bittering in IPA's and Pales... Seems to be a mix bag on peoples opinions.. Wanted to know what some thought about it here?

 

[FATC1TY]

Opened them up tonight to put the pound I bought into smaller bags to vacuum seal..

This stuff is dank and herbal smelling. Has some citrus notes to it, but it's just.... well... smells like weed... My wife was gagging while I was in the kitchen sorting it all out.. It's fragrant as hell... Not sure I made the best choice in buying these.. it was a random purchase!

 

[HopHoarder]

I bought a pound of the stuff too and havent opened it yet. Was thinking of dryhopping with it on my Falconer's Flight IPA. Anybody dryhopped with comet before?

 

[FATC1TY]

I bought a pound of the stuff too and havent opened it yet. Was thinking of dryhopping with it on my Falconer's Flight IPA. Anybody dryhopped with comet before?

If you do, post back.

I won't dry hop with them, personally. The aroma is way way over the top, and if you are going for the dirty danky weed smell, go for it!

 

[HopHoarder]

A friend of mine used 3oz comet for bittering and 2oz Amarillo for aroma. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. BTW I decided to DH with Amarillo, Super Galena and Centennial.

 

[pohldogg]

Bought a pound last year and it was my favorite hop. Hoping that pellets get released by HD soon. Made a comet only pale ale and the flavor is straight grapefruit juice. I mean strong ruby red juice. The dankness really didn't come through with dry hopping, just grapefruit. If you're a grapefruit fan then rock it hard and don't be afraid, otherwise use sparingly with other citrus hops because it's pretty intense. Currently conditioning a comet dry hopped sour that's got the same grapefruit flavor. I'm a fan.

 

[bighand]

My experience lines up with pohldogg's, I made an all comet pale ale and I tasted a ton of grapefruit and pineapple. I really liked it. You can see more details on my thread here.

 

[FATC1TY]

Hey great.. Thanks for the info.

It's a hop you don't hear about much.. Might be worth a try if thats the case. It's resinous and oily as hell, and man.. it sure is dank.

 

[HopHoarder]

Cool I'll have to do a small batch of all comet pale ale and see how it goes

 

[FATC1TY]

I was going to update this, since comet info is pretty sparse.

I dry hopped a huge DIPA with them a while back, only half a keg, and used... 2 oz maybe? The beer was all Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo and Cascade. Pretty good beer!

Added the comet to the cold keg and left it in there for around 5-7 days.

The Comet changed the beer completely. VERY potent hop. Very grapefruity, and dank.. Extremely dank hop when dry hopped with it. Makes Columbus seem tame! Had a semi tart grapefruit and melon aroma and flavor, and maybe a little tangelo in there.

Use it sparingly I say.. I haven't used it since. Kind of good, but in moderation.

 

[Kiichi]

I am really wondering if there are different areas where Comet is grown.
Now I only now have a IPA made with El Dorado, Galaxy and Comet (got them directly from Hallertau here in Germany) used for flavour (Polaris for bittering) fermenting so I cannot yet speak from use, but I had a Comet IPA from Häffner Bräu, who were also using Hallertauer Comet and that was to me and my friends mostly blueberry, with some, but not much citrus. Delicious brew.

So that makes we wonder how this comes about.

 

[FATC1TY]

Probably different I'd think... It's a varietal that went away and now has come back from what I understand..

The stuff from the US, is an extremely dank and skunky citrus bomb. Very potent, and has a ton of lupulin in the leaf stuff that covers your hands. Has a hint of onion to me come to think of it, but not much. Mostly a melon-ish citrus mixed with dank dirt.

 

[Kiichi]

Interresting. Would be cool to hear someone comparing the ones you have with the Hallertauer ones.
I am a noob so my interpretation of the ones I have can be off by a lot, but I feel that Comet as general hop variety might be getting a rep worse then deserved because of those differences.

 

[fab80]

I did an extract comet-amarillo IPA. DME only. No grains. I usually do partial mash but I wanted this to be dry. And it surely came out dry.

I used 1/2 oz each of amarillo and comet at 15 10 and 5.
1 oz each at 0.
Dry hoppped with 1.5 oz each.
Bittered with 1 oz columbus.

Comet is a powerful hop, it does taste and smell like grapefruit, but it's definitely more about bitter grapefruit zest than a grapefruit juice. It's really resiny and dank too. In my brew, Amarillo is sadly killed by this hop, but it adds some little floral flavors and aromas. I am glad I didn't do a Single Hop IPA with this guy, like I usually do for new hops that look interesting. Also (this my bad) I won't make another extract IPA without any steeping or mashing grain in it. This brew was kind of boring,
one-dimensional. Comet is a unique hop, if you want grapefruit zest in your IPA, this is probably your best choice. But I'd use some Mosaic or Columbus instead

 

[nutty_gnome]

I am going to try this one tonight:

EDIT: Brewed on 2/24/14. I smelled the pre-boil hop bag and the Comet hops have a hoppy citrus/herbal aroma but there is also a very distinct and strong cherry/blueberry smell too... not the artificially sweet-candy-berry aroma... rather the real scent you get when you eat fresh cherries or blueberries. The scent conjured the image of crushed cherry skins when I smelled it. I look forward to sampling this beer.



Cosmic Comet Pale Ale
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 11.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.3 IBU
Boil Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
3 lbs DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 37.50 %
3 lbs DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 37.50 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (45.0 SRM) Grain 12.50 %
0.95 oz Comet - HOH2013 [6.20 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)Hops -
0.30 oz Summit -HOH- LEAF [18.10 %] (Dry Hop 7 days)Hops -
1.00 oz Comet - HOH2013 [6.20 %] (15 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
1.00 oz Summit -HOH- LEAF [18.10 %] (15 min) Hops 20.6 IBU
1.00 oz Comet - HOH2013 [6.20 %] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
1.00 oz Comet - HOH2013 [6.20 %] (1 min) Hops 4.4 IBU
1 Pkgs SafAle US-05 (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale

20 minute hot stand after 15 minute boil. Quick and easy. Should be interesting. N_G

 

[nutty_gnome]

So I tried this out of the keg for the first time last night. It is good; I liked it. The hops have a strong citrus flavor but I think people are correct to associate comet with a slight wild, catty flavor as well; it is in there but it wasn't unpleasant. I didn't get any sweetness out of these hops, it was mostly grapefruit--- no pineapple. The malt and amount of bittering in the beer left me with a 'dry' tongue so it was easy to drink more than one. The keg is young and I'm sure it will change over the next month.

Would I brew a predominantly comet beer again? I don't think so unless they were offered at an extreme discount. Would I use them as a component of a multi-hop beer? Sure - I would probably swap them in for simcoe or chinook. I still have 4 ounce to use - maybe I'll do an amber ale next with comet for bittering and palisades to finish.

 

[nutty_gnome]

So lets talk a bit more about Comet hops. You can see from my posts above that I brewed a 15 minute extract Pale Ale with summit to bitter and comet for flavor/aroma. I brewed it in February. I tasted it in early April. I then had an accident a week later and had to have surgery and was laid up for 2 months. The Comet pale ale sat in the cold keg on gas for 2 months, untouched.

So I pulled off a growler last night. And promptly fell in love with this beer. I think I LOVE comet hops for 'AMERICAN ALES' After mellowing for 2 months, I still stand by my statements above about the taste and character. When I try my version I'm thinking a lot about commercial West Coast IPAs (Stone, Lagunitas) I've had and an IPA from New York's Southern Tier company, and especially Six Point's Resin. Really, it reminds me of Resin. So, I think this hop is best suited for massive late hopping when you want a ton of simcoe/grapefruit-skin flavor in a IPA. I have 4 more ounces of this and I think I'll do that; A BIG IPA with chinook bittering and crazy comet late hopping. Disregard my plan for an amber noted above. This hop shouldn't be muddled with malt character. I don't recommend this hop for delicate ales.... but if you want to hit someone over the head with an American hop-hammer of flavor... this is the hop for you.

 

[ProblemChild]

Way late to this game, but I just polished off a pale (at about 5.1 %ABV) where I put in Columbus at 60 and 20, then Comet and Idaho 7 for late addition, hop stand and dryhop. It took about 6 weeks after kegging to come into its own, but it was simply a gorgeous beer. The clean tangerine of the Idaho made a fantastic contrast to the pithy citrus of the comet.

 

[SanPancho]

Got tropical fruit from it in a smash. Very citra-like. Late additions and whirlpool. Was a small test batch. Gone in one night.

 

[catdaddy66]

Got tropical fruit from it in a smash. Very citra-like. Late additions and whirlpool. Was a small test batch. Gone in one night.

I used this hop twice this year and really liked the profile. Both times were in a pale ale and both batches were delicious! Had dank and earthy with some citrus. I would like to try them with northern brewer.

 

[SanPancho]

I actually looked at my old notes on the comet smash as i was prepping for todays brew- Candied grapefruit peel and tropical fruits.

I added wp hops at 190 and let it go for 50 min.

 

[peanasky]

I've been doing basically the same as you guys. I freaking love this hop. Pale ale, big whirlpool addition, and keg hopped. I ferment with Bootleg Biology S.Arlingtonesis, which gives off some light fruit notes that pair great with the raw citrus of the hops.

 

[jessup]

Bold similar to apollo. Aggressive danky & citrus. There is something unexplainsble about it,though. Try it!!

 

[TheHairyHop]

Got tropical fruit from it in a smash. Very citra-like. Late additions and whirlpool. Was a small test batch. Gone in one night.

fwiw, I don't get this at all. I get deep and dank citrus pith, nothing tropical or citra-like

 

[ProblemChild]

fwiw, I don't get this at all. I get deep and dank citrus pith, nothing tropical or citra-like

I get the pith like you say, but it is a very symbiotic thing with citrus type hops. It makes the flavor-----well, more complete. It adds depth to the flavor and fills in the voids for citrus hops. It makes it more citrusy.