grassy 2013 Amarillo hops

[stpug]

I know your comment wasn't aimed at me directly, but I feel I should reply. Personally, I REALLY like the typical amarillo characteristics, it's the 2013 batch from Hops Direct that doesn't cut the mustard. I'm not trying to "talk trash" about amarillo, just confirm what many others have experienced with a single crop year (or partial crop year maybe).

 

[loetz]

Definitely not aimed at you as I hadn't actually read the last few posts. When I said, 'asked about this' I meant I asked him about the bad press this year's harvest was getting.

 

[loetz]

Well, I put an all-2013-Amarillo beer in the Birofilia competition and I got isovaleric acid marked as a brewing fault. Doing a google brings up this info on isovaleric acid:

Cheesy
Description: Blue cheese, “funky,” sweaty (AF).
Cause: Hops – old hops.
Feedback: Only use fresh, properly-stored hops. Store hops in the freezer in vacuum-sealed or CO2-filled sealed containers.
Notes: Isovaleric acid. Formed due to oxidation of hop bittering compounds. Has a very distinct, usually low-level, “Roquefort cheese” or “Ranch dressing” aroma and/or flavor.

The hops were vacuum sealed and stored in a freezer, so I'm not sure if the fault was on my side. I'm not sure if these descriptors really match my reaction to tasting the beer, but I can say that I'm a bit let down by the quality.

 

[ktblunden]

I brewed a DIPA and an APA using my 2013 pellet Amarillo and both came out with a fairly heavy onion/garlic aroma and flavor. I get the same aroma from the pellets themselves. The hops were purchased from Farmhouse and kept vacuum sealed in a deep freeze at all times. Pretty disappointing, I'm going to have to dump the Pale (the DIPA was brewed and dumped about a month ago, I thought it was infection) and throw away the remaining 10 ounces of Amarillo. Makes me wary of buying next year's crop. Maybe I'll open and do a sniff test immediately and send them back if they're bad.

 

[aStoutObserver]

That's really odd that you got the onion garlic from the Amarillo. I got mine from farmhouse as well and would not describe any of my beers using that Amarillo as onion or garlic. A tiny bit grassy for sure, but it isn't overbearing enough to dump.
Was Amarillo the only hop in both beers? Or any other constants?

 

[ktblunden]

Didn't see that reply until just now. Other hop in common is Citra, but the Amarillo hops themselves definitely have a strong smell to them of the onion and garlic. I've used the same Citra in other recipes without incident. Got a reply from Farmhouse that they had a single shipment from Hop Union with that characteristic and from that point they carefully monitored what they were receiving.

 

[aStoutObserver]

Interesting. Just cracked my version of the zombie dust clone that had all Farmhouse hops where I did not have enough Citra so for the dry hops I did 1 oz Citra and Amarillo. After a week in the bottle it's all onion too. So I guess it could be either after all. I had not got the onion from the other Amarillo or Citra beers I've made.

 

[Calichusetts]

I was very worried about my amarillo hops after this thread. Rocked out a MO/Amarillo smash with a pretty insane amount of amarillo along with a hop tea. just cracked it and its excellent. No issues what so ever.

 

[Tony269]

Yeah, I would avoid this hop all together this year, I brewed a wheat beer and just put it in a keg to start carbonating and it was almost undrinkable. I only used .5 Amarillo and .5 Citra at flameout and it tastes SUPER grassy, absolutely no tropical fruit or citrus what so ever. Dont think I will be using this hop again anytime soon.

 

[MrSnacks]

Is this the fault of the hop or the growing conditions? If this is a growing conditions problem, this might really illustrate the shortcomings of patented hops.

 

[Nagorg]

Dont know the batch size for reference but 1/2 an ounce as a flame-out addition doesn't seem like much. The last brew (10 Gallon batch) I used these hops in had 1.0oz @25min, 1.5oz @10min, 2.0oz at flame-out for a whirpool and 2.5oz for dry hop. Amarillo wasn't the only hop; I also used Chinook and Cascade but there was a significant qty of Amarillo!

The brew was delicious and wasn't grassy at all nor did it have any odd flavors like garlic and such. Maybe I just got lucky with my shipment and/or perhaps there's other things influencing the off flavors others report.

Again, I don't think 2013 was as aromatic as 2012 but it's proved to be a usable hop for me!

 

[jessej122]

I bought a pound of Amarillo pellets and was very displeased with them still have half in the freezer probably making its way to the trash I can't describe the flavor but isn't what it used to be

 

[jessej122]

I should say I also brewed a wheat with it and the beer was pretty bad one of my worst

 

[Evan_L]

Agreed that the aroma is lacking on last year's and the flavor doesn't seem to have the same punch, however I haven't found them to be grassy at all.

 

[moreb33rplz]

I was going to buy a lb of amarillo and citra from HD. Anybody tried this year's crop?

 

[241]

This thread popped up in my feed and reminded me to report on the 2013 Amarillo hops I have. Just made a SMASH IPA with them, utilizing in boil, whirlpool and dry hop. Tastes great!

 

[Calichusetts]

This thread popped up in my feed and reminded me to report on the 2013 Amarillo hops I have. Just made a SMASH IPA with them, utilizing in boil, whirlpool and dry hop. Tastes great!

Agreed...my MO/Amarillo SmaSh was fantastic