Strisselspalt '16???

[Gytaryst]

Found a recipe I want to try that calls for 3 oz of Strisselspalt @ 4.0 AA. So far all I keep running into is Strisselspalt pellets - 2016, and closer to 2.0 AA.

So my questions are:

1. Isn't 2016 too old for hops?

a. If the original AA was only 2.0 in 2016, am I just throwing a bunch of useless vegetable matter in for nothing?​

1. Does anyone know if there's an close alternative that won't perceptively change the beer?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Depends on the storage - if they've been stored cold and vacuum-packed, then you could be looking at 20-25% decline? The recipe sounds ambitious as 4% seems unnaturally high for Striss though, 2% is more normal.

The obvious replacement would be one of the modern French varieties like Bouclier or Triskel or Aramis which all have higher alphas. Otherwise you can probably sub in something German like Hersbrucker - there are those who would say that the hop-growing bits of Alsace etc are German anyway!!!

 

[Jayjay1976]

At 2% it's an aroma hop, isn't it? I mean, it's not like you're boiling low acid hops for an hour trying to bitter your beer with too little acid and all that green matter. I'm new to this and still learning, sorry if I have this all wrong. I've been brewing with a pound of 2016 hersbrucker 2.8% whole cone hops, for both FWH and flameout additions without any problems. Undesirable flavors only came out when I exceeded 1oz @60 minutes, and it was a bit grassy.

 

[BigEd]

I've never seen Strisselspalt at 4% AA. As was posted earlier 2% is more common. Assuming you're using this for flavor/aroma additions the AA is not going to really matter. If you are doing a bittering addition the one of the French varieties mentioned above would work as would something like German Spalter or Hallertuaer Mittlefrau.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Hoplist.com reports that it can have alpha a bit over 5% but I suppose the growing conditions must be just right. Anyway, substitutes Liberty, Hallertau, Mt Hood, Crystal and Hersbrucker

 

[radwizard]

I believe my last bags of Strisslespalt were less then 2%. It's a great hop, but if the goal is more ibu's I sub Hallertau, or Hersbrucker for early additions, and finish with the Strisslespalt.

 

[Gytaryst]

I found the original recipe in an article awhile back and transferred it into BeerSmith II as closely as I could. The numbers seemed to match pretty well.

I just looked and for hops I have it down as 1 oz of Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 4% AA for 90 minutes and 2.5 oz of Strisselspalt @4 AA for 60 minutes. That seems odd so I'm now questioning if I copied that part right? Unfortunately I don't remember where I read that article, (online or in a magazine or book). I do remember reading, "Add all the hops in at once for the entire boil" although at this point I'm not even sure if I read that for this recipe . I don't remember if it was a 90 minute boil and I adjusted the Strisselspalt or if it was a 60 minute boil and I adjusted the Hallertau???

Either way, I'm committed now. I'm going to go on the assumption that I copied everything correctly and just adjusted one of the hop additions to get the IBU's to match. Perhaps if I lower the Strisselspalt to 2% and add it in at 90 minutes that will work out?

I'm gonna brew it the way I wrote it down - for better or worse.

 

[SanPancho]

THB id just use a bit of hercules or magnum to get the right IBUs and then save striss and whatever else for flavor.

The 90m add will almost certainly not give any flavor, and the 60 probably very little to none. So it seems bit pointless to me to use low alphas in that way. Especially when you will use so much less of a high alpha, and have less hop matter in your kettle, wort loss, etc.

I have no idea what your recipe is, so im just speaking generally here.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

What style of beer are you planning?

I just looked and for hops I have it down as 1 oz of Hallertau Mittelfruh @ 4% AA for 90 minutes and 2.5 oz of Strisselspalt @4 AA for 60 minutes. That seems odd so I'm now questioning if I copied that part right? Unfortunately I don't remember where I read that article, (online or in a magazine or book). I do remember reading, "Add all the hops in at once for the entire boil" although at this point I'm not even sure if I read that for this recipe . I don't remember if it was a 90 minute boil and I adjusted the Strisselspalt or if it was a 60 minute boil and I adjusted the Hallertau???

Either way, I'm committed now. I'm going to go on the assumption that I copied everything correctly and just adjusted one of the hop additions to get the IBU's to match. Perhaps if I lower the Strisselspalt to 2% and add it in at 90 minutes that will work out?

 

[Gytaryst]

It's a Belgian Tripel
I've noticed a lot of Belgian beers only have one hop addition at or near the beginning of the boil, and yet they seem to be specific about what those hops are. I don't know, I've never done any side-by-side analysis on it. It takes 4.5 ounces of 3% AA Hallertau Mittelfruh to get the same IBU number that 1 oz of 14% AA Hallertau Magnum can get.

Again, I don't know. I'm no scientist or chemist and I've only been brewing a couple years so I have no idea. My instincts tell me that early addition hops contribute more than just bitterness. I might be totally wrong, (wouldn't be the first time).

At any rate, the hops for this recipe were both lower than I figured in BeerSmith. The Hallertau Mittelfruh I bought are only 2.6% and the Strisselspalt is 2%, so I upped it to 2 oz of Hallertau Mittelfruh and 3 oz of Strisselspalt. I know I could have gotten the same IBU reading with a hop shot or a 1/2 oz of some modern high alpha hybrid.

But I'm going with the 5 ounces of low alpha hops - just for giggles.