Hop Advice Which Ones Eh?

[scoundrel]

Im brewing up a Belgian ale from a kit obviously, and im throwing in a dark crystal malt (morgans brand), ive got a decent yeast ( fermentis safbrew t-58) and now i just need some advice on what hops to use?

 

[Supra-Jim]

What type of Belgian are your proposing to make? Am i right in guessing a dark ale?

Maybe some Hallertaurer, this seems to be a pretty common feature in a few Belgian recipes i have seen getting around.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[scoundrel]

yeah dark ale, and i can dry hop them to wards the end as well? and how long before if im going to bulk prime?

 

[Supra-Jim]

Dry hopping, after the main fermentation has died down, allow for around 4 to 7 days contact time.

Is the belgian ale kit already pre-hopped? If so you may find adding more hops may overpower the flavour of the final product. In my experience the thing that separates Belgian brews is the funky phenols/flavours coming from the yeasts.

The liquid yeasts are really good and very worthwhile adding to belgian brews (IMO dry yeasts have their place, but to get those cool belgian flavours you need a liquid yeast).

Dry hopping will add mainly aroma and a little flavour, but this may overpower the other flavours.

Try searching for a few belgian dark ale recipes and look for the common ingrediants (hop types and amounts) and use this as a basis for your recipe.

:icon_cheers:

 

[scoundrel]

cheers for the help.

 

[ford-ute]

I would advise against dry hopping your kit (it just my personal choice from experance) i have dry hopped with Hallertaurer and it had a very very very very very very grassy hoppy flavour that almost competely over powered the beer flavor all you could taste was the hop

that said for your own research you could give it a go ( one mas trash is another mans treasure) but i would start with very small amounts of hops to start with and then build up from there

 

[PostModern]

Styrian Goldings are common in Belgians, but I don't think dry hopping is.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Or EKG's.

Agree with PoMo, don't dry hop it.

One more thing I would recommend, use a good liquid Belgian yeast and ferment at 22-24C.

C&B
TDA