Hop Of The Week 1/11/06 - Northern Brewer

[Stuster]

This week it's the multi-purpose hop, Northern Brewer. Here's some info on them, from Brewrats.

German Hallertauer Northern Brewer
One of the original medium to high alpha hops, bred in England and later grown also in Belgium, Spain, and Germany

Characteristics
Aroma: Medium-strong with some wild American tones

Acid Composition
Alpha Acid: 7.0 - 9.0% w/w
Beta Acids: 3.0 - 4.0% w/w
Co-Humulone: 27 - 31% of alpha acids

Oil Composition
Total Oil: 1.2 - 1.8 mls/100 grams
Myrcene: 30 - 35% of whole oil
Humulene: 25 - 31% of whole oil
Caryophyllene: 8 - 12% of whole oil
Farnesene: <0.1% of whole oil

General Trade Perception
A true dual-purpose hop containing moderate amounts of alpha acids combined with an acceptable aroma profile.

Other Information
Although declining in area in England, this variety is one of the main higher alpha hops in Germany.

This is for the German variety of Northern Brewer. There are also UK and US varieties. I am unsure of which one is most commonly available here.

So, what do you do with this hop? :unsure: Bittering, flavour, aroma? Pellets, plugs or flowers? Are there differences between the German, UK and US varieties? What styles do you use this hop in? What other hops do they combine well/badly with? Anything the new brewer should know about these hops? Tell us all you know about them.

 

[neonmeate]

i find them quite minty/mentholy. work well for bittering in anything but i've only really used them for flavour in big fat stouts etc.

 

[Stuster]

I used them as the only hop in a California Common and liked them a lot. Minty is exactly the word I would use too. I think it was tdh who said he really liked the US Northern Brewer. I've got some US Northern Brewer on order and it'll be interesting to see how different they are.

 

[colinw]

This is one of my all-time favourite hops. It gives the beer a kind of woody/resiny character, sometimes with a hint of orange.

Northern Brewer for bittering + EKG for flavour & aroma in a pale ale is great.

Northern Brewer + EKG, bittering addition only, to 40+ IBUs, made by far the best stout I have so far brewed. This stout came 2nd in its class, with a gold medal, in the 2005 BABB annual comp - pipped by half a point by what turned out to be the champion beer of the comp. I haven't been able to make another stout as good as this - keep fiddling with the recipe and nothing has come close to the original batch.

Both recipes attached.

View attachment 58_pale_ale.html

View attachment 62_stout.html

 

[Voosher]

I love this hop for bittering especially. I find it pretty neutral and suitable for almost anything.
I've also used it as a bittering hop to balance other hops. I had a batch of Simcoe which were overtly piney even as a 60m addition but using 50/50 Simcoe and Northern Brewer was fantastic.
I did the same with Chinook and Northern Brewer and was very happy with that as well.
I've actually only used US Northern Brewer but I have some Hallertau NB's which will go into a Californian Common for a side by side taste test with the US version soon.
Thus far I've underused it as a flavour and aroma hop so not much to add yet on that front.

 

[Screwtop]

When it comes to bittering hops this is my absolute favorite, love the mellow bitterness, not the kind of sharp or severe bitterness which turns your ears backwards.

 

[AngelTearsOnMyTongue]

Well you live and learn. I use NB often. Probably my choice of bittering hop. However,IU haveno idea whether it is US, UK or even German Hallertau. In fact I never even realised it was related or comparable to a hallertau. In fact my most brewed beer is a larger in which I use NB for bittering and Hallertau (again, I am unsure of the variety although I do have some hersbrucker (?) plugs) for aroma. I really love this Lager and would say I like to have it available in large quantities as my "Bread and butter" beer. (Mmmmm, now theres a good name for a brew.)

Basically I enjoy a pretty bitter beer, but this NB/Hal combination seems to give a less astringent bitterness and delicately fragranced lager than an Aussie Cluster/POR combination.

Not sure if its the German variety, but I love it!!! Cant wait to get some of my own to grow.

ATOMT

 

[Kai]

German Northern Brewer is one of my most commonly used bittering hops, though for a clean neutral high alpha bittering hop Hallertau Magnum has replaced it as my staple.

Early this year I brewed a pale ale with all DE Northern Brewer to get an idea of its flavour profile, 95% trad ale, 5% caramalt, OG 1.040, 30 IBU, NB bittering and 1g/L NB at 5 minutes, US-56. It came out quite minty on the flavour, I wasn't keen on it in such a light beer but it made a good session ale.

US Northern Brewer I have found leans more to woody than minty, I have used it once with 2112 in a steam beer that turned out fantastic and very close to anchor steam. Unfortunately the hop flavour vanished in the few bottles that achieved a few month's age.

 

[Pumpy]

I use Northern Brewer for bittering an English bitter

Nice

Pumpy

 

[chillamacgilla73]

IMO a reliable all round bittering hop that has never let me down. I am yet to use them for flavour or aroma additions but it is on the horizon. I have only used German pellets and am running low so I will give plugs a go and see how they compare.

 

[warrenlw63]

Used to be my bittering hop of choice but has been usurped by Target. I just find the bitterness of Target to be a little cleaner. :beerbang:

As for NB as an aroma hop? Only used it late in a Steam Beer. Would probably be a bit of an aquired taste for other styles.

Warren -

 

[tdh]

Angel wrote >However,IU haveno idea whether it is US, UK or even German Hallertau. In fact I never even realised it was related or comparable to a hallertau<

Angel, Hallertau Northern Brewer only means they are grown in the Hallertau valley, not related to the Hallertau noble hop.

I've used both (US and FRG varieties) for bittering and the US version is the sole hop in the Grumpy's Goldrush Steam Beer that I make twice a year. They have great earthy/woody character and are at the top of my list with FRG NB having a 'sweeter' aroma.

tdh

 

[KoNG]

Great hop for bittering.. i like it with APA's especially. The profile it gives works well with cascade and amarillo for me.
(want to give Northdown a try too)
But will agree with Warren in regards to Target, as i now use that for english bitters.

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

Praise all round. I have only used in stout and IPA, both of which were great.

Kai - your conclusion would be not to use it in lighter styles, or not to use it as flavour/aroma? How does it compete with Perle, in your books?

 

[Kai]

I haven't used perle much so can't really comment, but my personal preference would be not using DE northern brewer in lighter batches for flavour/aroma.

 

[Snow]

I like NB for bittering and have used it many times in British bitters and even APAs. However, where it really comes to the fore is in a California Common (or Steam beer). It marries really well with the San Fran lager yeast and provides a clean, woody/earthy flavour.

Cheers - Snow

 

[blackbock]

I recently made AndrewQLD's Coopers Sparkling clone using only German NB as the bittering hop (60 min).

It is a fantastic hop, well capable of replacing something like POR or Cluster in this situation. Unless you are looking for real floral or citrus flavours I think fresh NB would do well as a single hop IPA or even in some German Pils styles (sorry Duff, I know you would disagree with that one)

I advise anyone to have some on hand at all times, might even replace my beloved Green Bullet for a fallback bittering hop... :unsure:

 

[Bizier]

I really agree with above post.

I think NB is a marvellous sub for POR. Even though I respect good ol' POR, I much prefer the characters from NB.

It is also pretty hard to go wrong with where you use it in the boil. Though, that said, my worst ever recipe was a Belgian style ale dry-hopped with loads of NB. The beer was utterly out of balance and the hop contributions wrestled with the yeast phenols.

I love it as a hop that is not too floral or fruity, so you can still say 'hops' without making a beer that is easily mistaken for tropical fruit punch.

 

[argon]

Used US Northern Brewer for the first time in a Janet's Brown ABA. While I enjoy the beer, I have noted, as have others the presence of mintiness. I only used NB at 60mins but the mint is quite strong. Had me thinking it was some weird fermentation off flavour before looking into the ingredient profiles. Not sure I'll be using it again if this is what I get out of 60g @ 60 in 40L knockout.

Edit: recipe in my sig as Cleveland Steamer ABA

Edit 2: just had a look again at the recipe and I cube hopped it too. That'd be the culprit. Won't be doing that again.

 

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Argon,

After tasting yours at Babbs had a look at JB recipe and it only had 1 oz at 15 minutes! I assumed you used the same amount and if so it sticks out like the dogs preverbials!