Hops- What are you using now adays?

[dexter_craig]

I am in a bind as my recipes call for Hallature or casscade hops. I found the Argentiniun Cascade at Midwest to be very Aromatic but what about the Hallature?

What have all of the brewers here found in alternate hops?

 

[BrianP]

You should still be able to find both if you look around. My LHBS had both last time I visited.

Vanguard is a good substitute for Hallertau. Check out hopsdirect.com if you want to buy in volume. They sell them by the lb (but you usually get more than 1 lb in the pouch).

 

[BierMuncher]

I am in a bind as my recipes call for Hallature or casscade hops. I found the Argentiniun Cascade at Midwest to be very Aromatic but what about the Hallature?

What have all of the brewers here found in alternate hops?

Get some Sterling. I used it in a recipe a few weeks ago and it easliy would replace any of the noble hops.

 

[eriktlupus]

mt hood works for hallertau

 

[Bert]

I ordered a pound of Cascade pellets from morebeer the other day for ~$35 shipped.

Freshops has whole leaf NZ Hallertauer for $2/oz.

 

[idkid]

Brew Your Own had a fantastic article on hop substitutions due to the hop shortage. This was February's edition I believe.

 

[Judd]

EKG is my favourite hop, and it's still widely available. I'd use it for any purpose.

 

[sleepystevenson]

I am gonna be subbing Mt. Hood for Hallertau over my next couple brews. I like Wiezens that use the Hallertau, but was lucky enough to score a couple pounds of Mt Hoods...

Guess this doesn't help you out much now, cause I haven't tried it yet, but I will report back in the summer sometime!

 

[Bromley]

I am in a bind as my recipes call for Hallature or casscade hops. I found the Argentiniun Cascade at Midwest to be very Aromatic but what about the Hallature?

What have all of the brewers here found in alternate hops?

From what I've heard about the Argentinian Cascade is they are NOT like US Cascades. You can always see how your recipe comes out, but I've been told they're quite different.

 

[Soulive]

Lately its been Magnum for bittering. EKG, Centennial, Mt Hood, and Amarillo for flavor/aroma...

 

[zoebisch01]

Lately its been Magnum for bittering. EKG, Centennial, Mt Hood, and Amarillo for flavor/aroma...

Magnum is a great hop for bittering imo.



One thing too, you can really budget hops by using a high alpha in small amounts for bittering. I really have a hard time distinguishing if someone used Magnum, Colombus, etc. in the bittering. My personal take on it is...in these times of high hop prices....economize by using the high alphas strictly for bittering and then finish with your nobles, and perhaps consider brewing mostly session beers, and with that styles that traditionally aren't hop-heavy. Just food for thought.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i've been using magnum, columbus and centenniel for bittering lately (which i never had before previously) and everything's tasting pretty good.

i've used mt. hood a few times recently, too. all pretty good stuff and i think it would be decent sub for hallertau (although i do have some hallertau and tettnanger, luckily.)

EKG and fuggle are two of my favorite hops and i'm almost out. i think it's still available, so if you can score some EKG, i'd definitely take advantage.

 

[Soulive]

Magnum is a great hop for bittering imo.

One thing too, you can really budget hops by using a high alpha in small amounts for bittering

I agree. I almost slipped up and bittered some Stout with EKG, but bradsul caught me. I've bittered all of my recent batches with Magnum and its worked well...

 

[rnrchemnerd]

I bought a bunch of crystal, sterling, and willamette from freshops a couple months ago, and I'm rapidly becoming a believer! I absolutely love the smell of the crystal hops, and they seem to have a synergy with the willamette. I can't complain about the sterling either. They're like a higher alpha saaz.

 

[BierMuncher]

...I can't complain about the sterling either. They're like a higher alpha saaz.

+1 on the Sterling.

This Recipe has been proclaimed by friends and family as my best house beer so far.

Definitely love the Sterling.

 

[TexLaw]

I'm all about the Sterling, too, right now. It has quickly risen up in the ranks of my favorite hops, and it is still readily available. Perle also is nice to use instead of Hallertauer, but it is a little tougher to find right now.


TL

 

[terrapinbrewer]

ive been buying as much cascade as i can when i find them, cause i cant make my fav recipes without them! i also just bought the last two ounces of east kent goldings cause i like to use those in alot of my brews, and the Nuggets are totally gone

 

[uglygoat]

i got about a 3/4 pound of mt hood and williamette each.

i'm just doing simple session beers these days. a few handfuls of kettle hops, and maybe one at flame out. i've definately let go of needed a certian hop to brew a certian beer. bitter is bitter

i'll check out those sterling, i know the lhbs had them.

 

[raceskier]

When Chicken Little started screaming "the sky is falling!" ("hops won't be available!"), I stocked up on as much as a pound or more of most of my favorites. I haven't had to substitute yet. I will, for the most part, plan my brews around what I have.

 

[JohnA111]

I was happy to see Cascades show up at the LHBS a few weeks ago, so I went for it and IPA'ed them. ($3.54/oz ).

Freshops has delivered some summit for aroma / flavor maybe?, willamettes for bittering, and pacific gems for I don't know what.... but I'll know in a month in a half when the "experiment" is ready to drink. Hopefully Amarillos, Cascades, and EKG will continually but sporadically show up at the LHBS if I'm in the neighborhood to grab them (Thursday at 9:30am ).

 

[AdIn]

I'm all about the Sterling, too, right now. It has quickly risen up in the ranks of my favorite hops, and it is still readily available. Perle also is nice to use instead of Hallertauer, but it is a little tougher to find right now.


TL

I have rather disappointing results with sterlings. I find their aroma is very low intensity compare to Saaz. I did a Budvar clone and the distinctive hops taste and aroma this beer is famous for is nowhere compare to results I had with original hops. May be there is something wrong with the quality. I got those from freshops.com Where do you guys get your sterlings?

 

[jmiracle]

I used Tradition for Hallertauer in two batches of hefe and it turned out good.

 

[TexLaw]

I got my Sterling from Hops Direct, in pellet form. I am quite happy with the aroma. Certainly, it is not the same as Saaz, but I was not looking for it to be, and I thought the intensity was on par. How did you use them?


TL

 

[oms1981]

Can anyone recommend a good substitute for chinook, or point me to a retailer that has some if you've come across one? I am planning a brew that calls for chinook and saaz. I was able to locate saaz but no luck yet on the chinook. Since I dont know much about hops yet, I dont really know what to sub with. Any ideas?

 

[joshpooh]

I had bought a pound of I think 3 varieties b4 I even knew about the shortage and way b4 hops skyrocketed. They were Hallertau, Northern Brewer, Goldings. When I heard of the hop situation I said ok, no IPAs until the situation gets better, and I won't buy hops until I run out of what I have. I have bought hops since, but sparingly and just whatever I can find w/o paying an arm and a leg. I got some Williamettes from morebeer for less than 2 bucks an ounce recently and bought I think 8 ounces. I'm just adjusting everything I brew based on what I have on hand. When you're not brewing real hoppy beers this isn't hard to do, and even though I'm not achieving the consistancy I used to by doing this the recipes are strikingly similar to the originals that I brewed with different hops.

 

[BierMuncher]

Can anyone recommend a good substitute for chinook, or point me to a retailer that has some if you've come across one? I am planning a brew that calls for chinook and saaz. I was able to locate saaz but no luck yet on the chinook. Since I dont know much about hops yet, I dont really know what to sub with. Any ideas?

I use nugget and/or Galena when chinook is not available.

Nice, high AAU's, good spice and slight pine.

Just like Chinook.

 

[skinfiddler]

I was happy to see Cascades show up at the LHBS a few weeks ago, so I went for it and IPA'ed them. ($3.54/oz ).

Freshops has delivered some summit for aroma / flavor maybe?, willamettes for bittering, and pacific gems for I don't know what.... but I'll know in a month in a half when the "experiment" is ready to drink. Hopefully Amarillos, Cascades, and EKG will continually but sporadically show up at the LHBS if I'm in the neighborhood to grab them (Thursday at 9:30am ).

LHBS here is getting 4.50/oz for the Cascades if you don't buy them with a kit. (Forget that that I spent a hundo on a wine kit .)

With a practice like that they are surely driving customers to buy on line. I orderded two lbs from Fresh Hops the next day.

 

[Sixbillionethans]

With a practice like that they are surely driving customers to buy on line. I orderded two lbs from Fresh Hops the next day.

Sorry to be a stickler, but you're wrong.

With a practice like that they are surely maintaining their inventory so they can continue to sell kits for the rest of the year. If they have 0 hops, they won't sell very much extract, grain or yeast, will they? They'd go out of business.

My LHBS guy is open and honest about his approach. He sells at a fair price (albeit higher than in the past) but needs to cap the amount of hops people can buy. He CAN'T run out of hops or he's done. This hop shortage is making me more likely to buy from him cuz he's working harder than ever before to provide ingredients to his customers. Take care of him now, and he'll take care of me later.

An online store like Fresh Hops that ONLY sells hops doesn't have this type of concern in their business model.