Hops schedule help

[tkline808]

I need some advice. I'm following a recipe and it calls for Saaz hops.Currently I have .5oz of Yakima Cluster and Crystal and 1 oz Saaz on hand that I want to use up and was wondering what would be the best way to use them.
I plan on keeping the Saaz for the 1M addition but not sure when to use the Yakima or Crystal.
The original recipe called for
.5 oz Saaz @ 60m
.5 oz Saaz @ 30m
1 oz Saaz @ 1m

Was thinking Yakima for the 60 and Crystal for the 30 but not sure, not sure if it would even make a difference if I switched them.
Any help would be appreciated

 

[oakbarn]

You need to think about HBUs or Home Brew Units

Hops have an AAU % which is how much alpha acids they have. This is the bittering agent of hops.

Basically HBU = Oz * AAU

Your Saaz should be around 3.0 % AAU

.5 oz * 3 AAU = 1.5 HBU

If your Yakimaka is about 8.5% AAU, you would use

1.5 HBU/8.5 AAU = .17 oz.

This would apply to all Hops 30 minutes are more as they are mainly bittering hops. The 30 minute do provide some flavor but mostly bittering.

IMO, you can use almost any hop for 60 minutes or more in any recipe. We sometimes use partial left over hops from previous brews (store in a freezer without a lot of air space) and just get the HBUs correct.

The 1 minute addition is for flavor and aroma and the variety is more important. It would have been better for the 30 minute addition as well as there is some flavor at that timing. I would use the better smelling corrected for HBUs at the 30 minute drop.

All that being said, in Lagers I like to use the hops specified in a recipe and use lots of Saaz in our pilsners.