The mystery of Galaxy hops and harshness

[HopsAreGood]

The 2019 Enigma I got from YVH recently is awesome. I ordered more after using the firs lb and they sent me 2020 instead of 2019. I reached out and said I wanted 2019 and they sent me 2 more lbs of it without asking for the 2020 back.

Wow. That’s pretty generous of them. The 2019 I have is also from YVH so this makes me even more excited. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Jesse Runowski]

I have some 2019 enigma I’ve been sitting on for a while. Just haven’t gotten around to using it yet but I think I’m going to do something with it soon. I’ve seen a lot of differing opinions on it but perhaps it’s because they’re similar to galaxy in the way that it’s a crap shoot in terms of what you actually get.

I have some 2020 Enigma and was thinking the same thing. Trying to think of a good hop combo, I like galaxy, I was also thinking maybe solo on the cold side with a touch of Columbus on the hot side. Good luck and let me know how it turns!

 

[TBA]

I finally got some Galaxy to try and now I am ready all this... I got 2020 YVH with AA 15.6. Anyone know what this batch is like?

 

[Joggin]

Made a multi hop DIPA with Enigma added late boil and dryhopped and liked it a lot.

 

[mrcastellino]

All hops from Australia get blended. You could have Galaxy that’s A++ and they still blend it with stuff that’s an F. For everyone even the biggest breweries. It’s roulette for just about everyone.

That being said I tend to have better results with older Australian hops. The super fresh stuff is always insanely harsh to me. I think they actually benefit from aging. Just a thought but so far it’s been my experience lately with Enigma and Galaxy.

There aren’t many, but there are breweries that have Galaxy hop contracts and get to do lot selection in Tazmania every year which is where Galaxy is grown. Treehouse is one of them.

 

[bierhaus15]

IMO, Treehouse is a poster boy for how to get bad, astringent Galaxy flavor in beer. That aside, as mentioned, aging Galaxy hops can be beneficial, as the oxidation of sulfur compounds in the hops can lend to a fruiter and softer hop flavor. More passionfruit, less dank-pine.

 

[Craft_brewer]

Hey guys, I've been reading this thread and have just joined as a member to discuss

I'm actually brewing a single hop galaxy pale ale as we speak and it has that all too familiar spoiled taste and aroma again.. I've probably brewed about six batches of single hop galaxy ale in the past and tipped them all thinking they were all infections. Even with extended conditioning would never get any better

I can agree with every point the original poster has experienced and then some. I get "extremely grassy" "hefeweizen" "celery" "infected" "bad yeast" "tiniest bit tropical aroma trying to shine through" "vegetal"

This particular hop batch is a slightly lower AA than the batches I previously remember using, so I'm assuming is still from the same grower due to the bad taste and aromas

The one commercial galaxy single hop beer I've tried (Holgate) was intriguing and very different. But in a pleasant way. Tropical flavours came through without the murky grassy flavours. Nice, clean pale ale

This will unfortunately be the last time I use galaxy, which is a real shame because I'd love to make something great but it's just not happening for me