Southern Cross

[Stuster]

I thought I'd sneak the HOTW poll in before Anzac Day and I thought Southern Cross was an appropriate hop for the day. A fairly new New Zealand variety, the info below comes from here.

So what can you tell us about this hop? How do you use them - bittering, flavour, aroma? What kind of beers did you use them in? What hop combinations are they good for? Are there any commercial beers available here using this hop? Any other tips for using this hop?

Tell us all you know so we can all make the best beer we can. :chug:

A triploid cross between the New Zealand variety Smoothcone and a 1950s' research variety bred from a crossing of an early North American type known as the Cali (short for Californian) with the ubiquitous English Fuggle. Released from New Zealands HortResearch hop breeding programme at Riwaka in 1994.

The aroma is characterised by a heady mix of lemon peel and pine needles layered beneath the clean spiciness which typifies this New Zealand alpha selection. The Southern Cross has an excellent essential oil profile and low Cohumulone while producing consistent levels of Alpha acid.

Used for first addition bittering this hop has no pretence at substitution for noble type. A kettle variety of the highest order Southern Cross imparts a soft bitterness with a subtle resinous quality. The essential oil component is such that it can deliver a delicate balance of citrus and spice when added toward the end of boil. Generally selected for its consistency in mainstream Lagers this hop has also ventured into the craft market as a reliable Brewpub mainstay.

HPLC & Oil Composition (Measured within 6 months of harvest, stored at 0 C)
Alpha Acids 11.0 - 14.0 %
Beta Acids 5.0 6.0 %
Cohumulone 25.0 - 28 % of Alpha Acids
Total Oil 1.2 ml oil per 100 gram cone weight
Concentration 86 uL Oil/gram Alpha
Myrcene 31.8 %
Humulene 20.8 %
Caryophyllene 6.7 %
Farnasene 7.3 %
Citrus-Piney Fraction 6.9 %
Floral Estery Fraction 2.7 % (Linalool 1.2 %)
Xanthohumol 0.7 %
Other 10.6 %
Applications:

High Alpha Acids and Total Oil matched with low Cohumulone find this extraordinary hop several applications, single or dual-purpose. Difficult for us to list a substitute as there is really nothing quite like the New Zealand Southern Cross available on the world market. A testament to our successful breeding programme

 

[Ross]

I feel guilty that this is a hop I've never used on it's own, so can't add any additional information.
I made a hopburst recently using it & the aroma was lovely out the packet.

I will put it near the top of my single hopped summer ales though & will post back to the thread with my comments...

Cheers Ross

 

[jaytee]

And I feel guilty that I've never used it

But, I've been looking for a hop for a California Common.
I have a smack pack of Wyeast California lager in the fridge and I'd been eying John Palmers #4 Shay recipe on howtobrew, lamenting my knowledge of northern brewer and a bit a bit at sea for a substitute.

I've seen Chinnok listed as a substitute and that's 'spicy, piney, and grapefruity'
Southern Cross' 'lemon peel and pine needles layered beneath the clean spiciness' doesn't sound too far off, whaddaya reckon ?

 

[Ross]

Southern Cross' 'lemon peel and pine needles layered beneath the clean spiciness' doesn't sound too far off, whaddaya reckon ?

Go for it :super:

 

[Stuster]

Like Ross, I've only used this one in combination with other things, so haven't really got a handle on this hop itself. I'd have thought it'd do ok in a Cal. common, jaytee, but I know there are others who have used this hop (Jazman?) so maybe they'll be able to comment on that later.

 

[BoilerBoy]

I thought along these same lines and made a california common using Sothern Cross a few months back.

A kind of "Kiwi Steam" beer ik you like, only I used late additions of Hallertauh Aroma as well so I cant exclusively comment on the southern cross only to say the beer slid down well.

Cheers
BB

 

[brendanos]

Have some in the freezer ready to hit the kettle, as soon as I decide what it's going in. I'm thinking maybe an extremely bitter hopburst IIPA alongside Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, Willamette and Sauvin. Also tossing around the idea of splitting a batch of summer/blonde ale in the near future, hopping half with Simcoe, the other half with Southern Cross, with Horizon in both for bitterness.

Surely someone's used this hop on it's own...?

 

[Jazman]

ok i love this hope i would say its a good sub for northern brewer

i have used in bittering my apas and a few lagers as well

as i it has a piney or woody if u can call it taste

aslo i have done a germa pils with it a bit out of style but came fine i used 2 additions 60 mins and 10 mins but i did make this beer around 36 ibu and was a tad harsh but a bit of time it mellowed out and it got 4th in sabsossa 2005 only missing 3rd buy a point or so

i also used it in last years xmas case in an export type lager mixed with pacific hal since i counldt find my tettnanger i just used southern cross with
it with bittering and arom additions which i found turned out ok
i also think it would do well bittering english ales as well i still have more experinting to do with this hop but i do like the results i have had with it




but

 

[jaytee]

Surely someone's used this hop on it's own...?

Next weekends california common, my first look at this style - John Palmers #4 Shay - as a partial mash.

 

[Brewer_010]

ok i love this hope i would say its a good sub for northern brewer

i have used in bittering my apas and a few lagers as well

as i it has a piney or woody if u can call it taste

aslo i have done a germa pils with it a bit out of style but came fine i used 2 additions 60 mins and 10 mins but i did make this beer around 36 ibu and was a tad harsh but a bit of time it mellowed out and it got 4th in sabsossa 2005 only missing 3rd buy a point or so

i also used it in last years xmas case in an export type lager mixed with pacific hal since i counldt find my tettnanger i just used southern cross with
it with bittering and arom additions which i found turned out ok
i also think it would do well bittering english ales as well i still have more experinting to do with this hop but i do like the results i have had with it
but

I've got a packet of this that I am going to use in an ESB extract recipe next month. I'll be using Sthn cross exclusively to 40 IBUs with half of the IBUs coming at 60 and 30 mins with a good dose of aroma hops at flameout.
I liked the description of 'soft bitterness' and citrus aroma - the cohumulone looks low so that should hopefully be ok....if not too bad, I'll drink it anyway

 

[Kai]

I've never used it, but have tasted it in Mildura Brewery's desert lager fresh off tap where it was used to very good effect.

It's distinctive and fairly unique and I'd like to try it in a brew someday. I wouldn't call chinook a substitute from my experience, but that's only limited to home grow 'nook.

 

[beerguide]

I know its an older thread, but the guy up the road from me typically uses this hop in the following recipe which he is trying to convince me to put down when I have a spare fermenter.

The IBU's seem a little high to me for my liking, but having never used this hop myself I can't say. The flavour of his drop which has been bottle conditioned tasted quite nice though.

Ingredients:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.9 EBC) Grain 89.29 %
0.30 kg Vienna Malt (6.9 EBC) Grain 5.36 %
0.30 kg Wheat Malt (Barrett Burston) (3.0 EBC) Grain 5.36 %
10.00 gm Southern Cross [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 13.5 IBU
20.00 gm Southern Cross [13.00 %] (30 min) Hops 20.7 IBU
20.00 gm Southern Cross [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops 9.8 IBU
40.00 gm Southern Cross [13.00 %] (0 min) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

He pitched with s-23 I believe from memory, although I think s-189 might go down better for this style.

Im just about to order the grains from Craftbrewer so I'll report back in a few weeks with the results of my attempt if anyone is interested.

 

[Samuel Adams]

Got a 100g bag of this from a mate on his NZ trip & I'm wondering if any of the above peeps (or anyone else) can provide their feedback on the hop.

Cheers !

edit found some good info in these threads;

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/76554-southern-cross-2013-141%AA-test-batch/

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38355-nz-southern-cross-hops/

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/21783-nz-southern-cross/

Can't hurt to have them linked in the hop descriptions thread.