Question about Hop use

[mr_javi]

I am doing a few SMaSH brews in the coming days. I was looking at a thread about favorite SMaSH recipes and see that folks are using all Amarillo, or all Columbus. Beer smith lists Amarillo as an Aroma hop, and Columbus as a Bittering Hop. How does using, say, Amarillo for bittering affect the beer. I guess i was under the impression you should only use bittering hops for bittering, and aroma hops for late boil additions. Obviously this is not true.

 

[BuglessDuster]

There are many dual purpose hops that can be used for bittering and dry hopping. I have an old chart that I found in Brew Your Own that I use for reference. I'm sure you could Google hop characteristics and find many that you can use for bittering and aroma.

 

[kh54s10]

In reality any hop can be used for any purpose. Some high alpha acid hops with less flavor or aroma are best for bittering, others that are low in alpha acids are best for flavor or aroma. But there are no "rules".

Try them in a SMaSH. You may like one where others do not.

I did a SMaSH with Maris Otter and Nugget hops. "Otter's Nuggets" The Nugget hops are generally given a bittering classification. The beer was.... interesting. But good.

I have done a couple of beers that were all, or mostly all, Columbus . They were very good.

 

[pshankstar]

As @kh54s10 said, there are no rules. Give it a go with what you want!! I did a SMaSH with Pilsner and Simcoe. I loved this combo!!!

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

SMaSH beers are great for getting a gauge of flavor and bittering levels. If you do enough of them you will see why the bittering/aroma classifications exist; some are better for one or the other but a bittering hop can still be tasty. My Vienna/ Nugget SMaSH was one of the most surprisingly pleasant beers I've ever made