What Hop?

[Stove]

Hey guys,
As i move to more complex flavours in beers etc and away from straight Kits, I plan on starting by douing kits and bits- adding to kits to get better tastes.
Then later I'll do more extracts, Partials, and then to BIAB I reckon.
First Q for all the Hopheads out there- Which Hops would you start with in adding to kits for flavour/aroma?
I'd love to have a bloody library of hops to try, but that isn't in the budget at present.

 

[manticle]

Hey guys,
As i move to more complex flavours in beers etc and away from straight Kits, I plan on starting by douing kits and bits- adding to kits to get better tastes.
Then later I'll do more extracts, Partials, and then to BIAB I reckon.
First Q for all the Hopheads out there- Which Hops would you start with in adding to kits for flavour/aroma?
I'd love to have a bloody library of hops to try, but that isn't in the budget at present.

It entirely depends on the style of beer you're aiming for and how to style you wish to be. The answers are so variable.

To keep it simple go for English hops for dark ales, bitters, stouts etc, Noble hops for lagers, wheats etc, American hops or Australian for pale ales (although English will work fine too). Use only one hop variety to start until you get an understanding of what each brings to the mix. A lot of the New Zealand hops get good reports - haven't tried any yet myself but probably worth a look.

Obviously you can vary it up using any hop you like in any brew you like but getting an understanding of how the styles and hops work together is a good starting point.

Let us know your preferred or planned brews.

 

[bum]

Depends. Which kits are you planning on using?

You're going to get a lot of people telling you Amarillo. Which is a pretty great starting point if you like the fruity side of things. But perhaps you'll be more of a noble hop man. You're going to have to narrow it down so you can get the most useful answer - otherwise all you're going to get is the answer to the question "Which hop do you like the best?"

And hops aren't that expensive, really. They keep for ages in the freezer so you probably can afford to get a few more varieties than you think.

[EDIT: Manticle, you're going to have to stop this annoying habit you have of giving better advice more quickly than me. It is quite unbecoming.]

 

[manticle]

When I was new to all this (not that long ago) I asked a question about matching hops to beer styles and some very helpful people provided great links. You can find them here: http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...c=30088&hl=

Also this: http://www.learntobrew.com/page/1fbcf/Shop...yles_Chart.html

@bum: Sorry.

 

[Stove]

OK.
Knew I should have made myself clearer (almost trolling to leave it so open) But am at work so shouldn't be on anyway
At present I am making mainly lager style beers (not true lagers- QLD is too hot to brew that cold at present) and the brew I have down at the moment is a wheat beer.
But I'm planning on more pale ale style beers in future (the best commercial beer I've ever had was a NZ beer called "Epic" Pale ale, which was a hoppy bugger thats for sure)
Does that narrow it down at all?

 

[bum]

I believe that Epic's pale ale is all Cascade. Cascade will be good in most APAs if that is what you're wanting to make.

Lots of blokes here use Cascade in their kit faux-lagers to good result.

 

[manticle]

Well those hop guides (present in the links) should help you out as they will describe the profile.

Lagers traditionally do well with noble hops like hallertau and saaz. You want something with subtlety. Likewise with wheats which are traditionally very lowly hopped (although nothing to say you can't do the opposite and try a highly hopped hefe).

American hops tend to be fruity and high in aa, noble hops tend to be more floral, spicy or grassy and are lower in aa. English hops tend to be a bit more earthy.

That's a really, really general summary and not definitive but it may give you some idea of where to start. Personally I'd get one noble, one English and one american so you have a point of comparison but if you can truly only afford one and you want pales and lagers then pick either an american or a noble.

 

[Stove]

That link you posted of the other thread was a goodie Manticle,
However the brewrats link to hops profile no longer works.
Fishing around the site I found an up-to-date link

Looking through , I definitely think Cascade is my first purchase.
Ta muchly

 

[manticle]

Brewrats.org seems to have moved to skotrat.com.

Here is the page: http://www.skotrat.com/go/default/brewing-...specifications/

Also not sure if you found these which were linked to that thread by CityMorgue2:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&id=24772

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&id=24771

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&id=24773