Which Bittering Hop

[milob40]

just trying to settle on a few base hops (bulk) for my brews, am i right in assuming a fairly neutral bittering hop would be magnum.
high aa so using less qty to bitter would give less flavour where as if i bitter with say amarillo with low aa i need twice as much but this imparts more flavour as in the dr smurtos recipe.
still gettin my head around the different ale styles , apa ipa etc.
hps in freezer atm are:
summer saaz
amarillo
cascade
galaxy
tetnang
halletau
por
cluster
ek goldings.
been using por or cluster as a bittering hop for lagers and galaxy , cascade, amarillo for ales.
tetnang halletau summer saaz goldings for flavour/aroma lagers.
am i on the right track here? i'm brewing ales and lagers.
feel free to add hop suggestions. :unsure:

 

[O'Henry]

Magnum, Horizon and Simcoe are good for bittering.

 

[mje1980]

I like galena, though really anything over 10% will work fine. I can't pick up any taste contribution from any 60 minute addition, so i just buy 450g of a high alpha hop ( like galena ) and use them for all my 60 min additions. I have just bought a kilo of 14% super pride, so i dare say the next 18 months -2 years it'll be my new bittering hop!!

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Galaxy, Amarillo and Cascade are great flavour hops. I'd be looking at an early bittering addition and making an APA with those three, by a nice whack addition at about 10 minutes. My house ale is 1 x 30 minute bittering addition to 15IBU and the other 15 IBU is made up of 10 minute additions of whatever American Style hops (Nelson Sauvin, Citra, Galaxy, Amarillo, Cascade) I have on hand.

But, if I was doing an English Style Pale Ale, EKG or something like that would be good.

A lot of those hops you've listed are dual purpose hops - so you could use them for either. Or you could get a soft bitterness by using a lower AA% hop - sure a little more hops needed, but if you want a soft bitterness to get a beer in style, then it would work well.

Don't forget when you say "Ales" - there are so many styles of ale that you can try - APA, AAA, AIPA, IIPA, English Pale Ale, Brown Ale, Dark Ale to name some. Get hold of BJCP guidelines, and althought still limited in my opinion, it still lists many different styles and what is the hallmark of each of those styles.

Goomba

 

[Bribie G]

I reckon you can't go past German Magnum for bittering. Apparently it's the second most grown hop in Germany and is a good backgrounder for the more bitter German Styles such as Northern Pils. However if used judiciously it's good in general lagers and even APAs and UK bitters.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Like Bribie - I've use a similar German hop - Smaragd as a bittering hop (at 8%, slightly lower) - excellent and soft bitterness - used as a sole 60 minute addition for a german lager, with a little dry hopped. If you are buying in 90g lots from craftbrewer, it is a good base for a cheap lager or lager-esque ale.

Goomba

 

[manticle]

Contrary to some, I only ever use hops in bittering that I'd be happy to taste in the final beer. That means I tend to use the same for bittering and flavour or at least ones appropriate to the style (eg First Gold in a UK bitter).

While later hopping will probably mask a bittering hop and I won't claim to be able to pick the bittering hop of anyone else's beer, I do find that single addition beers still have hop flavour.

If I had to pick a neutral bittering hop, it would be Northern Brewer.

 

[QldKev]

Another Magnum for bittering fan here, also I think SuperAlpha is such a great clen bittering hop.

QldKev

 

[stux]

I tend to use Northern Brewer as I actually like it's flavour, and it's grown in Hallertau

 

[Nick JD]

Isohops are a very clean bittering hop.

 

[big78sam]

I use Horizon. G&G recommended it to me and I've never looked back. Although the AA% was only 9% on my last lot so I might look at something over 10 next time to save a bit of money and see if I notice the difference.