# Red earth



## buntung483

> No description available online. Please help with this hop, and if there is a consensus reached, this will be the new description.


*MOD: *Inserted by Lord Raja Goomba I, original post below:

Hi

Got some hop rhizomes past year from hop co in tazzy. There just about ready to harvest.
I got a variety called red earth which I've never heard of but being something different I thought why not. I have asked Sam from hopco but he must be to busy to reply so thought I'd try the forum.
Does anyone know anything about this hop. All I've been told is earthy and woody aroma/flavour. If someone is able to tell me what type of beer to make with it would be great to try out this new variety.

It's going to be the beginning of harvest time in the next few days. Hope can help

Cheers


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## AndrewQLD

Never heard of it before, but if the descriptors are "earthy and woody" it should go well in the darker ale styles such as a porter or even an English Dark Mild.
I could even imagine that in a big Belgian Trippel or Strong Dark Ale for a bit of a twist.

Andrew


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## Lord Raja Goomba I

How do you buy from HopCo, now that I'm living in Tas? Their site is kinda nothing about how to buy or do anything. Unless it's a different site I'm looking at.


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## buntung483

There is an email address there on the site. If you send an email to them. He Will let you know when rhizomes are available. It was around June from memory. And we're 25 each plus postage.


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## buntung483

Porter does sound good. Maybe I'll have to try a couple different styles this harvest and next year hopefully can nail it


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## benken25

I have just received a cutting of this from hop co a friend bought if for me as a thank you for giving them some of my hop cuttings. how did you go using this hop


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## Niksko

I'm interested too. I just got a Red Earth rhizome from Hopco and I'm interested to see what it's like.


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## malt_shovel

Anyone used this hop either from a supplier as flowers/pellets or home grown? Planning to use it like Fuggles at tgist stage.
Cheers


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## benken25

mine is growing ok but no flowers as of yet. a mate of mine found this info
Red Earth was trialled by Birbeck’s Brewing Company over two seasons, owner said on last years trial:

I really like the red, it proved to be an exceptional hop in the beer I brewed with it last year and has again come to the fore with the Alt this year. I really didn't know if it would work with the Alt but it has and it is simply divine. The taste is amazing, one of the best hops I've tasted. It has some lovely flavour and a nice woodiness that works with so many beers. The bitterness isn't harsh so it will work well to bitter and the flavour and aroma is fantastic.

I've used it in an Alt and a California common. the cal common (last year's effort) I think was the better beer. That would also put it in good stead for an American Pale Ale I think with a little help from some Cascade or something.

...and last week after I requested a more detailed description:

I'd have to go back over my notes from the tastings as I haven't had a good crop to play with for a little while. A good descriptor I think is that earthy woody character, over the top of a light citrus. Its a great blend of a number of hop characters. There is a great woody spicy aroma which does come though in the flavour. Like a blend of the best of the Euro/UK hops with some subtle new world character underneath. I recall the aroma is great with that spice, woody and light fruit. such an interesting blend. I'll track down some of my notes and send something through. I dug up mine with a view to moving it to a better spot soon hopefully to get some more growth. It would be good to be able to do a special release beer, once a year using fresh Red Earth. If I had some Red Earth now I'd brew that Cal Common again.

I really hope to get a few flowers this year


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## benken25




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## O-beer-wan-kenobi

Hops west in wa sold some rhizomes of this breed. I have never heard of of them before but the guys that bought them may be able to comment.

From memory I think the guy selling them said they were like a fuggles, but don't take my word for it, I had a few when he told me.


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## malt_shovel

Cheers for the info. I like to sounds of UK/Euro with a touch of citrus. I have some flowers emerging just now from first year rhizome so not expecting much this year.
Cheers


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## r055c0

BenKen25 said:


> red earth.jpg


Is that seriously what they look like?? Almost worth growing them just for the ornamental value.


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## lukiferj

BenKen25 said:


> red earth.jpg


They look awesome Ben! Keen to hear how they taste.


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## Camo6

BenKen25 said:


> red earth.jpg


Half my brain is screaming "BEWARE! DO NOT EAT ME!" the other half is going "Nom, nom, nom". I want some.


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## benken25

ro55c0 said:


> Is that seriously what they look like?? Almost worth growing them just for the ornamental value.





lukiferj said:


> They look awesome Ben! Keen to hear how they taste.





Camo6 said:


> Half my brain is screaming "BEWARE! DO NOT EAT ME!" the other half is going "Nom, nom, nom". I want some.


 I belive thats what they look like that was a pic that was also emailed to me from a mate. they look cool i hope i get a few flowers but mine is only a first year plant so fingers crossed


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## colin butler

Red Earth was Breed in Western Australia by Rupert Ward we have taken over his business it was bred from a Columbus and crossed with Goldings derived male
cheer from colin and Britt (hops west)


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## colin butler

we just brewed our first beer made with Red Earth and wurttemberger it turned into very nice drop ,the hops were picked and straight into the brew (wet hopping ) and if you lucky you can get two pickings from your Red Earth, cheers Colin & Britt


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## technobabble66

Thanks colin!
Great to hear of the parent stock of Red Earth & it's background.

So is it going to become available to the general public, either as hops or rhizomes?
The pictures of it look fantastic, so i'd be keen to grow it just for ornamental value - though the option of picking lots of yummy flowers is an obvious bonus. A few earlier descriptors for the flavour/aroma sound great!


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## Rieewoldt

technobabble66 said:


> Thanks colin!
> Great to hear of the parent stock of Red Earth & it's background.
> 
> So is it going to become available to the general public, either as hops or rhizomes?
> The pictures of it look fantastic, so i'd be keen to grow it just for ornamental value - though the option of picking lots of yummy flowers is an obvious bonus. A few earlier descriptors for the flavour/aroma sound great!


I won some on eBay yesterday, from hopswest. Keen to see how they go!


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## quiet1_au

I bought a rhizome from Hops West too after spotting their eBay listing (although I ended up buying from them directly to save a little money on eBay fees  ) and reading about them here - I hope I can successfully grow it to see those interesting cones and hopefully make a brew from them


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## Ramps

Have bottled a single hops Red Earth (home grown) last w/e based on Smurto's Landlord as I was after an English style beer ... looking forward to trying one ... might sneak and early taste in this w/e ... I'll let you know how it goes

A word about growing the hops. Seems to yield well and fairly early in the season (well it did near Bunbury, WA last year) and that was first year small rhizomes so am looking for more this year. Difficult to tell what to do with the quants as unsure of the AA's Goldings can be as low as 5% whereas Columbus can be up to 16% !! Where do I go? Had a punt at about 7% yielding about a 28 IBU that way if it's got more AA content I can easily handle it

More soon ... with tastings


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## AJ80

Ramps said:


> Have bottled a single hops Red Earth (home grown) last w/e based on Smurto's Landlord as I was after an English style beer ... looking forward to trying one ... might sneak and early taste in this w/e ... I'll let you know how it goes
> 
> A word about growing the hops. Seems to yield well and fairly early in the season (well it did near Bunbury, WA last year) and that was first year small rhizomes so am looking for more this year. Difficult to tell what to do with the quants as unsure of the AA's Goldings can be as low as 5% whereas Columbus can be up to 16% !! Where do I go? Had a punt at about 7% yielding about a 28 IBU that way if it's got more AA content I can easily handle it
> 
> More soon ... with tastings


Keen to hear the results of this one mate - have just planted a red earth rhizome for the exact same reason. The few descriptors online make it sound great for an englishy ale.


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## Ramps

OK after a few weeks in the bottle, it's turned out very pale and more like an Australian Pale than an English style. Well liked by all but aI find a little "boring".
Plenty of bittering (for the style) and moderate to low amounts of hops flavour and aroma. I would definitely up the flavour hops component ... but that will have to wait til next season as I'm out of Red Earth for this season.

Fed one to the brother-in law and nephew the other day. Well liked and loved the "after taste" ... I spose that is the hops flavour to the great unwashed :chug: so the hops flavour must be there ... just not so obvious when I'm used to my IPA's, golden ales and chocolate stouts!


If I was to turn this into a "English" style Ale (or what I perceive to be and English style Ale) I would add a bit of crystal to get a little more colour and maltiness maybe back off on the bittering but definitely up the flavour and aroma hops quantities.

Overall good drinking beer and I would do it again (with mods) as I quite like it but it's also good for those relatives who aren't among beer-snobs (as they see me)


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## Ramps

Oh and I will post the recipe if anyone is interested


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## AJ80

Ramps said:


> Oh and I will post the recipe if anyone is interested


Please do mate - cheers for the tasting notes too.


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## Ramps

AJ
I'll give better tasting notes in a couple of weeks when it is really ready to drink 

thought I'd post the recipe on the recipes forum
so here it is:


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## seehuusen

I'm growing this rhizome too from Col & Britt. Helpful people BTW

The bine is charging ahead here in the QLD winter. Can't wait to do a smash with it


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## Spohaw

Any one else find these hops have an onion like smell to them ?


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## Poobah

I got a strong onion/garlic aroma from mine last year. I made a single hop beer with it and couldn't pick it up in the finished beer.


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## Grainer

got about 1kg of this thinking a saison would be appropriate


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## pilgrimspiss

Mine have a really strong earthy chocolate aroma!!


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## pilgrimspiss

Did a single hop dark ale last year...bloody beautiful. This year's crop nearly ready to pick.


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## Mardoo

I had a single hop ale brewed by Philistine last year. Great earthy, woody, dank-ish hop. Definitely on my list of hops to get.


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## Spohaw

Only got 22 gm off mine , I put it in the ground late , wasn't worried when I smelt them though 

Do you mean smelt like that in a brew or fresh hop Matty ? 

Can't get past the onion smell


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## Danscraftbeer

So as requested I'm adding my results of a one hopped red ale with Red Earth home grown hops.
Its on tap and conditioned enough. Not totally clear yet but its a good one. I was a little worried about the strange smell when they were drying. Kinda pungent like some kind of food with onions smell.
Also worried that there seems no reference to Alpha Acid levels of this breed so I took a stab in the dark at 6% AA.
I tell yu I pretty much hit the nail on the head with that guess and am stoked about that. How the fark did I guess that?
*So ~ 6% Alpha Acid it is for my Red Earth flowers.*

The beer turned out at least as good as I planned. I didn't go really heavy with the hops worried about their pungent character but none of that oniony smell that I was worried about is in the finished beer. Its malt forward as planned like a Porter or as I made it as a Red Ale with WLP004 Irish Ale yeast. As far as I can tell it fits the character description of Red Ale that I aimed for.
Little hop aroma but its there, little hop flavour but its there too. Just enough so its not too malt forward. Its a little hard for me to give it any detailed flamboyant descriptions like fruits,flowers, pine needles or whatever but will say I'm going to keep growing this each season and hopefully get more yield to play with in the future.

19lt Cubed

OG = 1.061
FG = 1.012
IBU = I would say its 27- 30 IBU against a bold malt flavour.
Color = 30 EBC
ABV = ~ 6.4%
Bitterness ratio = 0.460 IBU/SG

78.6% Golden Promise
13.9% Melanoiden
4.6% Dark Crystal
2.0% Acidulated
0.9% Carafa special ( added to the mash out for color coz I thought it looked too pale)


20g Red Earth - First Wort Hop 90min
60g Red Earth in the cube

Yeast WLP004 Irish Ale.


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## technobabble66

Danscraftbeer said:


> So as requested I'm adding my results of a one hopped red ale with Red Earth home grown hops.
> ...
> *So ~ 6% Alpha Acid it is for my Red Earth flowers.*
> 
> The beer turned out at least as good as I planned. ...
> Little hop aroma but its there, little hop flavour but its there too. Just enough so its not too malt forward. Its a little hard for me to give it any detailed flamboyant descriptions like fruits,flowers, pine needles or whatever but will say I'm going to keep growing this each season and hopefully get more yield to play with in the future.
> ....


Great to hear it worked out well, and thanks for remembering to report back 
I appreciate it can be hard to come up with a distinctive impression of a particular hops, especially some of those euro/UK types that blend more into the malts, etc. But are there any particular elements that _might_ be apparent? 
Is there any fruity element? 
or is it a bit more kinda like EKG (maybe sort of floral or nectar) that more boosts caramel elements, or Fuggles that subtly back up the (roasty-er) malt elements?
Any other hops it might be vaguely similar to?
No sweat if it's a struggle to verbalise it, just thought i'd fish for a few more indicators


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## Danscraftbeer

I really haven't analysed enough variety of hops to make a substitute comparison. Post #9 does better than I could do with the breeding parents in mind from a Columbus and crossed with Goldings derived male but accomplished in Western Australia has influence too. I do believe Global location has effect too which can lead to what they call (New World) undertones which I interpret as flavour of blended hop varieties in one hop. Best experience I can give on New World hop flavours is Mosaic. So its like a blend of Columbus, Goldings and a touch of Mosaic? That could get similar results maybe. As for descriptions of being Earthy its slight if any, and Woody? that's slight too. Slightly citrus fruit could be grapefruit. A unique blend really.
I've got 95 grams left to play with. I wont go so malt forward with the next beer might help distinguish it more. I may bitter with a neutral hop and all 95g Red Earth in the cube etc, or hop stand maybe. However it does work very well with this malty beer.


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## Apimyces

What curious looking hops! If anyone gets any seeds in theirs, I'd love to have some!


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