To Hop And Not To Hop "that Is The Question"

[keef12345]

Im new to brewing and have had dozens of questions answered on this forum due to the brewers. Thankyou.

I really enjoy Pale Ale/Brown Ales/Lagers/stouts/olds/blondes.

There are so many different hops on the market. Different brands etc. And so many ways to add them.
Can you guys sort the charfe from the header??? And explain good hops from average hops.
No I understand that beer comes down to personal choice and when adding hops its a personal task...
Im not knowing which path to walk down in the way of hop usage...

My next beer I want to make is a Porter. I want the beer to stay australian so i thought about pride of ringwood.

Has anyone got some suggestions to using Hops. As im not much of an expert using them. I'm not a great fan of bitter tasting beer so bitter hops are out. :beer:

 

[SJW]

WOW dude, Dont let Darren read this post.
Anyway, U hit de nail on de head when u said "that beer comes down to personal choice and when adding hops its a personal task..."
It is just a case of using the general hops from the region/country to suit the beer style u are brewing. I have been doing AG for about 5 years now and I must say that I dont think I will live long enough to try every type of hop in every style of beer I brew. So for English Bitters stick with the English hops ie Goldings, Target, Northdown, ect. For the German Lagers use German Hop ie NB, Hallertauer, Magnum ect. and for APA's you wont do better than Amarillo and Cascade.
Brewing good beer is hard enough without messing with what hops made these beers great in the first place. So stick with these rules and save yourself one headache as there is other areas of your brewing that you could be chopping and changing to improve your beer.
That said there are no rules when brewing beer. And some of my best beers were back doing partials and just making what I would consider huge mistakes now.
So just have a go, but if you dont want to be too out there yet, stick with the basics and try to make beers to style and that would be my advice.

Steve

ps. Your from Newy! Where abouts? Drop in to my hut some time for a sampler!

 

[65bellett]

I brewed kit and a kilo for about 7 years and one day I discovered hop bags and it all changed. I stayed with K+K for a while using 1 and some times 2 Pride of Ringwood hop bags with every brew. Stouts, Bitters, Porters even a CervezaI put them in every thing. Since discovering this site and having 1000's of experts on hand to help I have stopped brewing kits and brewing partials and even given up the all mighty hop tea bag for hop pellets. I now usually check out standard sort of recipes that people have tryed and use the hops they reccomend. It has given me a new appreciation for all the different types of Hops available and I even drink a few different styles now that I hadn't in the past.

I am still not game enough to start formulating my own recipes and calculating alpha acid units but just going to the LHBS and finding what will go with my current brew is turning out really good for me. I really reccomend trying a few different hops. I used Willamette hops in my last Porter and it was a cracker. If you use something different write a post and tell us how it went.

 

[MHB]

I'll second SJW on the hop selection, when you are starting out choose the classic hop for the style.

Hops add 3 things to beer: Bitterness, Hop Taste and Hop Aroma

As a K&K brewer you are generally relying on the kit maker to provide the bitterness.

Hop Taste is used to add a bite to the beer - generally to balance the sweetness from all or high malt content (like a kg of Dry Malt or 1-1.5 Kg of Liquid Malt Extract.
To get a good Taste additions steep/simmer the hops in boiling water for 10-15 minutes. It won't matter if you use loose pellets in a coffee plunger, a tea infuser ball or tea bags.

Hop Aroma gives as the name suggests a hop smell, as aroma components are volatile, it is better to add them to the cool wort, just before pitching the yeast, or into the rack if you are racking your beers.
I find tea bags work best for "Dry Hopping" (just tossing the hops in).

Just remember its all about balance; a rule of thumb
Lots of malt/darker beers - more taste hops, less aroma hops

Less malt/light delicate beers -less taste, more aroma hops.

Unless you are making American style hop monsters then you get to be your hop merchant's best friend because you suddenly want all the hops you can get your hands on.

Enjoy

MHB

 

[keef12345]

WOW dude, Dont let Darren read this post.
Anyway, U hit de nail on de head when u said "that beer comes down to personal choice and when adding hops its a personal task..."
It is just a case of using the general hops from the region/country to suit the beer style u are brewing. I have been doing AG for about 5 years now and I must say that I dont think I will live long enough to try every type of hop in every style of beer I brew. So for English Bitters stick with the English hops ie Goldings, Target, Northdown, ect. For the German Lagers use German Hop ie NB, Hallertauer, Magnum ect. and for APA's you wont do better than Amarillo and Cascade.
Brewing good beer is hard enough without messing with what hops made these beers great in the first place. So stick with these rules and save yourself one headache as there is other areas of your brewing that you could be chopping and changing to improve your beer.
That said there are no rules when brewing beer. And some of my best beers were back doing partials and just making what I would consider huge mistakes now.
So just have a go, but if you dont want to be too out there yet, stick with the basics and try to make beers to style and that would be my advice.

Steve

ps. Your from Newy! Where abouts? Drop in to my hut some time for a sampler!

got some cluster hops for a coopers IPA mix I started it smells great.....best regards

 

[Sammus]

..U hit de nail on de head when u said "that beer comes down to personal choice and when adding hops its a personal task..."
<snip>
...for APA's you wont do better than Amarillo and Cascade...

Your nearly contradicting yourself there :beer: