Need an aroma hop to pair with Kent Goldings

[dougdecinces]

I am brewing an English Barleywine this weekend. I'm still struggling with the hop schedule. I have a malt setup that I'm content with, but the hop schedule has confounded me for some time.

I have 6 oz of Kent Goldings in my freezer, so they will figure prominently. I will most likely use them as the bittering hop. I also want to add 1-1.5 oz of them at 5-10 minutes for aroma, but I'm drawing a blank as to what would be a good pair for them.

Suggestions?

 

[Guden]

How about some fuggles or willamette?

 

[lumpher]

How about some fuggles or willamette?

i second the willamette. i'm doing a barleywine this weekend, and using willamette

 

[RumRiverBrewer]

Perle would be interesting

 

[motobrewer]

uhhhhh, more kent goldings!?

but, williamette is always a solid paring

 

[dougdecinces]

What kinds of slightly fruity or citrusy English style hops exist in the world? Other than fuggle and Kent goldings, my experience with English hops is minimal.

 

[JoMarky]

I like this chart:

http://brewsupplies.com/hops_reference_chart.htmI

 

[lumpher]

most european hops are spicy or earthy or a combination due to the soil. most american hops seem to be citrusy for the same reason. willamette is an american strain of fuggle, so it works, since it's usually a lot cheaper than fuggle and provides a little citrus also

 

[bierhaus15]

If you got real Kent Goldings, as in not the US variety, why dilute their awesomeness with something else?

 

[Irrenarzt]

Agree, if you are sporting all EKG, you are gonna win.

 

[BigEd]

doug, I am in complete agreement with bierhaus15 and Irrenarzt. Asking what hop to use on top of East Kent Goldings is like asking what kind of wallpaper to put over one of Michelangelo's frescoes.

 

[tallybrewer]

I made an "imperial" English pale ale once; used KG for bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry hopping. Came out great.

 

[unionrdr]

you're not going to get a lot of bittering out of Kent Golding. I used the US variety,& it was only 4.5%AAU. I pared it with Willamette,which was only 4.7%AAU. They're both aroma/flavor hops due to low AA,& the aromas/flavors they produce.I'd say find a spicy/fruity hop with higher AA% to bitter with.

 

[Golddiggie]

I would go with either Target or Northdown for the bittering hop, or at least a portion of the bittering hop so that you have more EKG to use for flavor/aroma... Since you're only targeting 35-70 IBU's, you could do it all with EKG, but I wouldn't use a lot of it for the bittering addition.

For reference, I also have an English Barley Wine recipe I'm working on right now. For the hops, I have 1.5oz of Northdown (9.6% AA) for the 60 minute addition. I have 1oz of EKG (5.00% AA) for the 15 minute addition... I'm thinking about adding another 1oz of EKG at ~5 minutes (or 1-5 minutes) for some more flavor depth and aroma...

While you could just use all EKG, I would plan to reserve some in case you decide you want to dry hop the brew just before bottling it.

I would need to use double the Northdown hop amount if I was to go with EKG for bittering... I'd rather not use up 3oz of my EKG hops there.

It's your brew, I would just be sure of your hop schedule before you start the batch. I've had really good results using either Target or Northdown for bittering and either EKG or Fuggles (or both) for flavor/aroma additions. I also used a mix of Fuggles and EKG for some dry hopping and the smell was AMAZING... That batch has been in bottles almost a week now, so I have another 1-2 weeks to go before I try one out... I do think that if you use all UK hops, then you'll be more pleased with the end result.

 

[motobrewer]

don't agree, you can bitter just fine with EKG. just need to use more than, say, warrior.

 

[GuldTuborg]

First Gold is another fine option not already mentioned.

 

[dougdecinces]

So I went to the LHBS today. I decided to go with Brewers Gold as a 30 minute addition and Kent Goldings for the rest. You guys won me over with that whole "use EKG by themselves argument." Especially when I pulled them out of the freezer and got a whiff. I'll be adding 2 oz of them at 5 or 10 minutes.

Thank you all for your suggestions.