# Bittering Hops For English Ales



## steve78 (2/2/11)

Hi all,

Was gonna make an experimental spice ale with English base malt with EKG to bitter only and was also tweaking a previous Stout and Porter recipe (a bit early, but well...), and noticed that I have always used EKG for bittering and at small amounts late in the boil. While perusing Craftbrewer I noticed the only real high AA English hop is Target. 

Has anyone used Target for bittering in comparison to EKG for any English beers?

Cheers,

Steve


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## brendo (2/2/11)

steve78 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Was gonna make an experimental spice ale with English base malt with EKG to bitter only and was also tweaking a previous Stout and Porter recipe (a bit early, but well...), and noticed that I have always used EKG for bittering and at small amounts late in the boil. While perusing Craftbrewer I noticed the only real high AA English hop is Target.
> 
> ...



Target and Northdown are both pretty good - higher alpha so less mess in the kettle.


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## steve78 (2/2/11)

brendo said:


> Target and Northdown are both pretty good - higher alpha so less mess in the kettle.



Cheers mate, that was my thoughts exactly, less crap in the kettle. Thanks bud!


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## mucko76 (2/2/11)

Hi Steve. Fuller's use target as their bittering hop for their ESB and London Pride (CYBI espisode in 2010).


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## fawnroux (2/2/11)

How about Northern Brewer??


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## Cocko (2/2/11)

thefawnroux said:


> How about Northern Brewer??



NB FTW!

Last batch I bought was up around 12% somewhere..





3.96c


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## steve78 (2/2/11)

was also thinking of NB, I have a stash of it and its a relatively clean bittering hop, probably wouldn't make much of a difference really....


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## Cocko (2/2/11)

If its bittering only - Please tell me what affect it will relay on the actual flavour of the beer?

Not trying to be smart but I sub bittering hops all the time and they fail to absolutely affect the over all beer... maybe that just me.

That said, if brewing something English, I try to use something British for bittering and so on...



4.32c


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## steve78 (3/2/11)

Yeah thats what I thought, I have only really ever used NB and EKG for bittering UK beers so am rather inexperienced in subbing hops, so thought I'd ask some experienced brewers on this topic. Was unsure if other hops may impart a harsher bitterness or anything like that.

Cheers for the advice!

Steve


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## dr K (3/2/11)

Northdown is a personal favorite of mine



> UK Northdown 2009 8.6% Alpha..UK Bargain !! Absolutely brilliant aroma
> 
> An excellent all round hop in the dual-purpose bracket with good alpha and aroma properties. Very popular used either on its own or in conjunction with an aroma variety. A slightly richer flavour than Challenger although quite similar in many other ways.
> 
> ...



I got a tad more aroma from the 2008 though maybe that was just reminiscing...anyway for bittering that tad is just not there !!! 
Regardless, bittering hops do bring their character all the way through, go the Northdown

K


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## bum (3/2/11)

Cocko said:


> If its bittering only - Please tell me what affect it will relay on the actual flavour of the beer?
> 
> Not trying to be smart but I sub bittering hops all the time and they fail to absolutely affect the over all beer... maybe that just me.
> 
> That said, if brewing something English, I try to use something British for bittering and so on...


Not wanting to start some sort of shitfest (heaven forbid!) but are you a smoker by any chance? I have define favourites as bittering hops and can (in my favoured styles) detect a more than subtle flavour difference imparted in early hop additions. 

I don't really brew English styles so I can't offer practical advice - just wanted OP to know his reasoning for asking is seems sound enough.


Twenty-eight dollars and fifty-two cents!


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## dth (3/2/11)

Different bittering hops do tend to add certain flavours and slightly different bitter characteristics to your beers IMHO.

For an example, try a beer bittered with Saaz hops, compared to say EKG. I know they're usually used in different styles of beer, but they tend to leave a different type of bitterness too.

When I've made beers with Saaz as the bittering hop, the bitterness tends to take a bit to kick in from the first sip, but it also tends to stick around. It might not be quite as up front as some others but to me it seems to linger and intensify, coating your mouth with a good solid bitterness after you've swallowed. Whereas something like EKG, bittered well it gives you a good hop kick to begin with, but doesn't seem to linger on your taste buds. (IMHO, others may perceive differently)

Hops do tend to impart some character too even if they are only used for a 60min addition. My brother-in-law used to use one type of hop nearly every time for bittering until one of our mates said, 
"What type of beer is this meant to be? It tastes very similar to the last one."

I can't say there was anything wrong with the beers my brother-in-law was brewing at the time, but once it was mentioned you could taste a certain similarity between every one of his beers.


I would love to be able to pick through the different hops and their chemical components to be able to give you a better answer on all of this, but I honestly don't have the time, money and liver to be able to drink that many brews unfortunately. However, I can recommend that you use some different bittering hops every couple brews, try as many different hops as you can get your hands on, keep experimenting and most importantly - KEEP BREWING!

Cheers,
Dan


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## Bizier (3/2/11)

I know that this is note directly related to the OP, but I wanted to chime in that aside from all time favourite EKG - Target, Northdown and Northern Brewer are fantastic hops for bittering. From memory Northdown might even be English-grown NB or a very similar cultivar, but it seems to have a crucial difference in that it imparts that marmalade orange kind of note, compared to the spicy woody NB thing (I have only used the German-grown NB, no experience with US-grown). I really think Northdown has a good English character. To me, Target has a similar but rougher vibe, but to be honest I still feel like I am on my training wheels with it compared to the off-the-bat pleasantness that is Northdown.

FWIW today I brewed a saison and bittered with Tett and EKG and finished with Saaz.


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## Bribie G (3/2/11)

Northdown was bred to replace Northern Brewer due to disease problems in the UK with NB, which is still grown in the USA and Germany. Target was one of the first UK high alphas but can have a very harsh bittering - I used some in a Yorkshire Bitter about 18 months ago and some Hopheads like Ross raved over it - others such as Butters and Dr S (those were the bottles I sent down) didn't like it.

My favourite UK bitterer is either a good dose of Challenger (a dual purpose hop) or Admiral. I get the feeling that Admiral has slipped under most people's radars. It's the only hop I ever use in a UK style stout or an Irish Red. It's similar to Target but not as twangy. 
Recommended.


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## manticle (3/2/11)

My most commonly used are fuggles and ekg. I have used Northern brewer with success and reckon it's a great neutral hop.

I've also used challeneger and first gold once and target many times (but later in the boil with ekg rather than as a bittering hop). Most UK bitters I make are hoppy (ipa/esb type) so the early characters coming through is actually something I want.

I wouldn't use a hop for bittering if I wasn't 100% happy with the possibility of some of its flavour being discernible in the final product.

For high aa, neutral, my vote would go for NB. If you want a nice bit of marmalade in there go challenger.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (3/2/11)

A man after my own heart. I'm about to start brewing my browns, then my blacks for winter.

I've been using bobek and first gold (Fuggles and EKG offspring) for an ESB, but I have some EKG for the Brown Ale (I'm calling it Geordie Cordial).

I'm thinking of putting some Citra (leftovers) in the kettle to very slightly up the bittering, and maybe a little at the end. I kind of want some citrus to offset the very sweet grains I've chosen.

My last Brown Ale (not in the Newcastle Style) I used Nelson Sauvin, Saaz and EKG (off memory) and it was easily the best (non stout, non dark ale) beer I've ever brewed.

Some don't like Citra, or Nelson Sauvin, but if you use them in moderation, they are fantastic. It's just hard to take a "less is more" approach with it.

Goomba


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