How far can I push saaz hops?

[TAK]

I'm brewing a simple lager next week, and I want it to have a prominent saaz hop profile. For example, if you've had it, Ska's Mexican Logger. I haven't had that in a while, but I remember being blown away by the dominant, aggressive, but balanced noble hop, saaz profile. I'm not looking to clone that by any means, just a point of reference.

I picked up a lb of saaz for brewday. This is a 11 gal batch. I don't tend to keep open bags of hops, or at least I don't tend to come back and use them. I'm not necessarily planning on putting a full lb into the batch, it was just the cheapest way to buy them.

So, end of story, I have enough saaz hops to just play with. I figured roughly 7-8 oz split between 60 and 15 minute additions will get me the IBUs I want. Thus my question is, how much more of the 1/2 lb can I throw in between 5 min and flame out? Is 8 oz too much? Like I said, I want the hops to be prominent, but balanced nonetheless.

 

[V-Fib]

I've only used it in 0.5 to 1 oz at a time in brews but this might be an interesting read for you.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/08/04/the-hop-chronicles-czech-saaz/

 

[dsaavedra]

I brewed a 5.5 gallon batch of pilsner recently with the following recipe. I used 4.5 oz of Polish Lubliner hops, which I have heard are clones of Czech Saaz just grown in Poland. Brewer's Friend says it should be around 47 IBU. Anyway, it tasted great on bottling day, much better than a previous batch I brewed with nearly the same recipe but less hops. Haven't had a chance to try it fully carbed yet, I expect it will be awesome. Anyway, I think you can definitely use 8 oz of Saaz if you like hoppier pilsners.

8.75 lbs Avangard Pilsner malt
4 oz Melanoidin malt

1 oz Lubliner (4.7% AA) @ 60 min
1 oz Lubliner @ 30 min
1 oz Lubliner @ 10 min
1.5 oz Lubliner @ 0 min

 

[Cyclman]

I love Saaz but have never used it late. It may be my favorite hop.

 

[ChelisHubby]

I love Saaz but have never used it late. It may be my favorite hop.

What style of beer and what would the grain and the hops be. I have kicked around trying to change my blonde some.

 

[michaeltrego]

Love Saaz too. I used 7 oz of 4.3 AA Saaz in my last 11 gal. batch of Czech Pils with a third at FWH, 90 and 30 for 45 IBU. Just for kicks I calculated that if I had wanted to use the whole pound of hops with this recipe, I could have put 16 oz in at 10 min and achieved the same 45 IBU. Not that it would be the same beer, but who knows?

 

[Cyclman]

What style of beer and what would the grain and the hops be. I have kicked around trying to change my blonde some.

Pretty much any Belgian or German beer. Tried them in a pale, got too muddled with US high alpha hops.

Got a 50 ibu pils on tap right now.

 

[bkboiler]

i did a huge saaz dry hop once in a czech lager. floral and very noble, just like you'd expect.

 

[Dcpcooks]

+1 for the big dry hop

 

[PatrickLS83]

While I would generally encourage going all out and pushing the limits of your experiment, I did a similar thing with Tradition hops once and wasn't happy with the results. I used it for bittering, aroma and dry hopped (it was 1 lb per BBL so roughly 1 oz per gallon dry hop). It came out terrible. There's a reason the pacific NW "C" hops are used for heavy dry hopping. I recommending experimenting and drawing your own conclusions, but just know I did something similar and the result was really unpleasant. Maybe Saaz will be more pleasant than Tradition, who knows.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

FWIW, Kazbek = "Saaz turned up to 11," according to the literature....

 

[PatrickLS83]

FWIW, Kazbek = "Saaz turned up to 11," according to the literature....

Spinal Tap FTW!

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Saaz is bet used when hop character and aroma are not desired. With low AA%, it fits this purpose very well but that's it.

 

[maxxxx]

Whirlpool 4oz and dry hop with 4oz.

 

[yugga]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch of Bo Pils using an ounce at 30min, 10min and flame out. I bittered with Columbus. The beer was the best pilsner I ever had, so much more saaz flavour and aroma than most commercial examples. I don't think 8 ounces for an 11 gallon batch is too much at all, especially if you're going to be bittering with them. You could even up the late additions to 3oz at 10min and flame out. Let us know what you try and how it turns out!

 

[TAK]

I've only used it in 0.5 to 1 oz at a time in brews but this might be an interesting read for you.

http://brulosophy.com/2016/08/04/the-hop-chronicles-czech-saaz/

Thanks for the link. I hadn't seen the hop chronicles before.

Saaz is bet used when hop character and aroma are not desired. With low AA%, it fits this purpose very well but that's it.

I don't agree with that at all. Just because it's low AA, doesn't meant it can't be used as a character hop. You're not going for the same thing you're looking for in a pale ale, but noble hop character is undoubtedly a pleasant thing, at least to many folks, and use of hops like saaz are how ya get it.

------------------------

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm not sure I want to dry hop. Mostly because I'm looking to formulate my house lager recipe, and simplicity is important to me in that regard. Not that dry hopping needs to be complicated, but in my house I make it a bit complex, and for a 10 gal batch, it's a couple extra kegs I don't want to clean.

I think I may throw the whole pound in, with about half at the end of the boil. Not sure if I'll whirlpool/hopstand, or just do a big flame out addition and start crashing.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

FWIW I brewed this 3 weeks ago using the short method with 34/70 and it might just be the best beer I've ever made...straight up fantastic dangerously easy drinking beer.
I used 1 oz saaz and 2 oz tettnang but I think there both pretty much the same hop.
I know your looking to dump some hops but with just 3 oz this is so damn good it might be my house beer

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=48985