Hops for an American Saison/Farmhouse Ale

[brwagur]

I'm toying with the idea of brewing a farmhouse beer using locally harvested yeasts (maybe, probably in conjunction with a saison yeast) and all-american ingredients. What American hop varieties could I use? I'm looking for more of a noble hop character. I'm familiar with hops like Mt. Hood that were developed from Hallertau and such, but I'm really just looking for any input. Any other ideas for an American Farmhouse beer would be great, too. I probably won't be brewing it until the summer, anyway.

 

[wild-flower]

I use saaz for farmhouse and saison.

 

[brwagur]

I usually use Saaz or Hallertau myself, but I was more curious about American varieties.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I use Mt.hood and santiam in my saison. I get great reviews from that beer. It seems to be the most favorite of all the beers I make. I use the dupont strain in the saison.

 

[Quaker]

Anchorage's Love Buzz Saison uses Citra which after tasting a bottle, I dry hopped the second half of a keg of saison with Citra. Quite delightful result.

 

[Calder]

US Goldings, US Saaz!!!

Amarillo goes pretty well. It is used in Houblon Chouffe.

 

[Jonkl]

Thoughts on Liberty here?

I'm thinking about a saison using Neomexicanus hops, but I'm having a hard time pulling the trigger at $5-6/oz.

 

[JKaranka]

I've used Liberty and EKG in Saison and it works well. I'd consider Cascade (gently) as well.

 

[AnOldUR]

Amarillo

 

[mb82]

Willamette. I also have used my far share of cluster not only for bittering but for late hop additions in Saisons.

 

[user 141939]

Allagash uses tettang, bravo and cascade in their new saison. Its. Rather clean tasting beer with a citrusy thing going on. Not sure if thats from cascade or what.

 

[brwagur]

Thanks for some great suggestions! Amarillo sounds like a tasty idea

 

[youreanimpulse]

Loved Citra/Nelson/Galaxy in a Brett saison I'm drinking right now. Amarillo/Mosaic/Centennial is aging now as the sequel. With clean saisons I haven't tried it yet, but I wouldn't hesitate. Citrusy/tropical seems to work well.

 

[brwagur]

Anything I made would probably be funky/sour anyway so thanks for the suggestions I'd love to hear how the mosaic turns out.

Anyone use any of the weird new stuff like Polaris?

 

[badlee]

Glacier,Glacier and a bit more Glacier

 

[b-boy]

Amarillo

Yup - perfect complement to a Saison.

 

[user 141939]

Anything I made would probably be funky/sour anyway so thanks for the suggestions I'd love to hear how the mosaic turns out.

Anyone use any of the weird new stuff like Polaris?

I bought a pound of this years mosaic that I plan on pairing with belgian beers. I have a belgian pale with it so far. I'd like to do a 100% brett belgian pale thing with them too. Haven't though about using them in a saison. Maybe a small batch is in order...

 

[brwagur]

I'd like to do a 100% brett belgian pale thing with them too. Haven't though about using them in a saison. Maybe a small batch is in order...

I have a 100% Wyeast Brett Lambicus pale that's ready to be bottled. Smells weird but good so far.

 

[youreanimpulse]

I have a 100% Wyeast Brett Lambicus pale that's ready to be bottled. Smells weird but good so far.

I just kegged a 100% Wyeast Brett L pale (almost IPA). It's dry hopping right now, but I think I'll use sugar to condition in the keg, let the Brett do a little more work. It's good, but still lots of Brett in suspension so it's dusty/musty more than fruity right now. A little Brett cherry coming through. That one is Mosaic/Amarillo so it'll give me some idea of how the saison will turn out.

 

[user 141939]

Cool you guys should let me know if they end up being good. I was thinking of doing a 100% pilsner with maybe some kind of decoction thing and then using the mosaic hops with some sort of brett.

 

[smithmd4]

I did something like Prairie 'Merica but with Citra. Unbelievable beer.

In a 5.5gal, 1.053 all pilsner malt beer, I hoped it like this:
.2oz @ 60 (9.5 IBU)
2.8oz @ 0 (40.2 IBU on 20min hopstand)
5oz dry hops for 4 days

That went really well with 3711. What Prairie does is then adds Brett (and some wine yeast) with the priming sugar so you get the aromatics of the brett without much of the funk flavor. Plus it scavenges oxygen from the bottles so the hops stay fresh and don't oxidize. I have the ingredients to make a 2nd batch with Brett Trois in the fridge.

 

[brwagur]

The hot gossip on Brett Trois is that it's actually a saccromyces species! So I'm not sure it can scavenge oxygen in the same way...

 

[smithmd4]

Well at some point we'll find out!

 

[Brett3rThanU]

Amarillo

This is what I use as well.

 

[edroberts]

It depends on what you are going for. Traditional saisons use more Hallertau and Sazz. The latest trend in craft saisons seems to be more late flavoring additions. I've whirlpooled Mosaic in the past and it wasn't bad. I can see Amarillo doing some nice things. For summer, I'm adding Nelson to my base saison to bring out more of a lemongrass profile.

 

[brwagur]

My goal is really to create a uniquely american rendition of the style while still retaining the spirit of the original (rustic, local agricultural ingredients, etc.)

My plan is to use american (and if possible local) ingredients and maybe some open fermentation or locally harvested yeast.

 

[jimjohson]

How about Cluster?

 

[Arrheinous]

I think late addition US Tettnanger could be good for this.

 

[brwagur]

I'm reading about neomexicanus hops and they seem super interesting. They are a native american hop species. There are a few cultivated selections available but I'm not sure how easy it would be to get ahold of them.

 

[Mwhy71]

I made a Simcoe Citra Saison in the style of Prairie Hop. It turned out really good.

 

[Jonkl]

brwagur, the monks sell their neomexicanus harvests at holyhops.biz. They have a few aroma notes for the different varietals, and the applicable numbers, as well. Haven't tried them yet, though. I haven't found anything about getting a rhizome, unfortunately; it would be cool to compare how well its dry/hot performance is compared with European stock.

Let us know about your local, rustic project! I've been thinking of working my way toward something similar.

 

[catdaddy66]

I just put together a saison hop schedule with some NZ hops I have on hand (all the American varieties have been mentioned except Ahtanum).

.5oz Green Bullet (12.2%aa) @ 60
1oz Saaz (4.1%aa) at 15
1oz Saphir (2.1%aa) at 15

I may dry hop with 1.5oz of GB. Hmmm...