# Choosing the right hops.....



## TheBigMan (25/3/14)

Hey everyone, I'm very new to home brewing and have a question for those more learned than myself. I would love to be educated on what hops to use for different brews. For example: what's best for an IPA, a Golden Ale, etc. I know I can ask my local home brew shop every time I'm buying the ingredients but I'm curious to learn for myself.... 

Cheers for any help


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## Ducatiboy stu (25/3/14)

Thats not really that easy to answer. But as a traditional guide

Pilsner uses Saaz
English beers use Golding,EKG,Fuggles
German beers use Hallertauer,Tettnanger.
Coopers Pale uses POR

That is a very basic guide as there are so many varieties that can be used depending on what flavours you want.

Some hops are more suited to bittering and other more suited to flavour & aroma


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## jaypes (25/3/14)

Easiest way to learn is choose what you like, grab some commercial beers to find out what you like then experiment.

Brewing Smashes (single malt and single hop) will give you a good starting point for experimentation - pick a base grain and brew with different hops ( if you are into all grain).

You will soon get the taste of what different hops offer, and be able to put your own recipes together based on this knowledge


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## Ducatiboy stu (25/3/14)

Also. Use a single hop and play around with the bittering/flavour/aroma ratios to get a feel of what a hop is like if used more for aroma than bitterness.

As Jaypes said, make a simple beer with 1 malt and 1 hop

You can do it easily with a tin of light extract and brew 12ltr batches. That way you will use hops and if you dont like it so much then you wont have to drink 22ltrs


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## mrsupraboy (25/3/14)

Question about this. If u did a can kit added nothing then when bottling u put a different hop in each bottle. Would that work


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## jaypes (25/3/14)

No, hops need to be boiled to isomerize the alpha acid oils - this is your bittering component, what you are doing is dry hopping - will be great for aroma but not for bittering


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## mrsupraboy (25/3/14)

That's my point isn't it. A easy way to taste what aroma you like the best


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## manticle (25/3/14)

Unfortunately the particulate matter will probably make the beer gush if you do that. You could try a pellet of each in a beer that's been poured and left for a touch (not sure how well that would work) or making yourself some hop teas (only gives a vague idea of the flavour - you have to imagine the beer.

There are loads of good descriptions including appropriate use and beer styles - once you have a handle on that, it's pretty easy to start playing around.

here's one: http://hbd.org/abnormal/reference/The%20Ultimate%20Hop%20Chart.pdf

Wikipedia summary is not too bad either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hop_varieties


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## Yob (25/3/14)

manticle said:


> You could try a pellet of each in a beer that's been poured and left for a touch (not sure how well that would work)


Gritty


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## Spiesy (25/3/14)

Ducatiboy stu said:


> Thats not really that easy to answer. But as a traditional guide
> 
> Pilsner uses Saaz
> English beers use Golding,EKG,Fuggles
> ...


Or to further surmise...

Generally speaking:

German beers use German hops.
Czech beers use Czech hops.
English beers use English hops.
American beers use American hops.
Australian beers use Australian hops.

Very big generalisation, but it's a decent starting point.


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## Yob (25/3/14)

Spiesy said:


> Very big generalisation, but it's a decent starting point.


...and then bittering breaks all of those rules, German Magnum for example is divine in American Pales and IPA's.... 

NZ Hops also cross boundaries right across the board...


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## TheCarbinator (25/3/14)

http://www.hopslist.com

Yakima hops posted this link to their Facebook page about a week ago which seems to be a good, reliable resource.

You can also look at the "BJCP style guidelines" online (or download their mobile app) if you want to know what hops to use in a particular style.

Sent from my HTC One XL using Tapatalk


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## Spiesy (25/3/14)

My personal favourite: http://beerlegends.com/hops


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## Spiesy (25/3/14)

Yob said:


> ...and then bittering breaks all of those rules, German Magnum for example is divine in American Pales and IPA's....
> 
> NZ Hops also cross boundaries right across the board...


For sure.

Plenty of high-alpha US varieties that are both popular and awesome as bittering in a multitude of styles: Magnum (US), Summit, Horizon, Warrior etc.


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