Confused about hops

[kiwiguy]

Hi

Have just put my second home brew down. I used all the ingredients that were supplied in the kit. Its a Mangrove Jacks Munich Lager. I added the pack of dextrose munich lager enhancer into the mix like instructed.

I am completeley new to all this .. When and where can you add other flavour enhancers i.e Hallatau hops etc. Or are we just suppose to use the supplied ingredients??

I wondered if others used different hops etc to enhance the flavour of your beer, and if this is the case how do I know what hops etc to add that will actually compliment the beer you are brewing

 

[BryanJ]

You should look through this read it should answer most of your questions: http://www.howtobrew.com/.

 

[Homebrewtastic]

Early in batches just stick to kits so that you can get used to the different flavors the different ingredients add.

Hops are typically added into the boil at different time increments. The longer they're in the boil the more bitterness they add, the shorter in the boil the more flavor/hop aroma they add. If you don't know what I mean by hop flavor and aroma take a big whiff of your hops when they come out of the bag.

For some styles of beer it's appropriate to dry hop. That is adding hops into the fermenter after primary fermentation is complete. That adds more intense hopping aroma and flavor.

To get the best feel for individual hop profiles look for beer kits that is a style that is hop driven in flavor. Such as english pale ales, american pale ales, english IPA, american IPA etc...

Flavors of hops can range from piney to fruity to citrus to earthy to spicy with a whole lot more flavors in between.

If you want to brew certain styles of beer and know better what hops to use check out The BJCP Style Guidelines. Click on a style and read the ingredients tab. It will give you all sorts of info about individual styles of beer and what hops and appropriate grains go in them.

Hope this helps.

 

[kiwiguy]

Early in batches just stick to kits so that you can get used to the different flavors the different ingredients add.

Hops are typically added into the boil at different time increments. The longer they're in the boil the more bitterness they add, the shorter in the boil the more flavor/hop aroma they add. If you don't know what I mean by hop flavor and aroma take a big whiff of your hops when they come out of the bag.

For some styles of beer it's appropriate to dry hop. That is adding hops into the fermenter after primary fermentation is complete. That adds more intense hopping aroma and flavor.

To get the best feel for individual hop profiles look for beer kits that is a style that is hop driven in flavor. Such as english pale ales, american pale ales, english IPA, american IPA etc...

Flavors of hops can range from piney to fruity to citrus to earthy to spicy with a whole lot more flavors in between.

If you want to brew certain styles of beer and know better what hops to use check out The BJCP Style Guidelines. Click on a style and read the ingredients tab. It will give you all sorts of info about individual styles of beer and what hops and appropriate grains go in them.

Hope this helps.

Hey thank you so much for your useful answer I appreciate it a lot

 

[kiwiguy]

You should look through this read it should answer most of your questions: http://www.howtobrew.com/.

Great thanks this will be really helpful I appreciate your reply