Comments on: Can You Use Unknown Hops?

By: dr wort

dr wort — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:19:38 +0000

Guess on bittering? There are plenty of Beer Recipe Calculators out there. I rememebr doing calculations on paper. Dr george Fix used to teach a class on Hop additions. 70-25-5 were the percent of hops for three different additons. Wow! I did I remember that? Of course, IBU calculations were fairly easy.

By: Jared

Jared — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:24:18 +0000

@Doc

I know Vanguard isn’t a typical lager hop, but it would work.

I still guess on bittering, but many homebrewers are getting more scientific about hop additions.

By: Dr Wort

Dr Wort — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:45:03 +0000

@ Jared

In the olden days they just went of bitterness by personal taste and guessing the amounts added.

I love Vangard, but Jacl said he wants to make lagers so I picked more lager type hops. Spalt, Liberty are good too.

Ignore the cranky Dr Wort…… he’s just for show… he means no harm

By: Jack R.

Jack R. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:49:46 +0000

thanks for the list(s)

By: Jared

Jared — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:17:56 +0000

@ Doc

You can bitter with other herbs, but the consideration of how much bitterness that herb will actually impart comes into play still.

@JR

Sterling will hold up well in storage and is fairly disease/pest resistant. Saaz is another good choice but apparently can be prone to viral issues. Both cultivars are easily attainable in the US. If you could get your hands on Select or Tradition then I’d highly recomend those ones.

Doc Worts list is also good (he left it while I was writing this)

I would add Spalt, Hersbrucker, Styrian Golding, Liberty, Santiam, and Vanguard to the list as well

There are dwarf varieties of hops out there, but I’m not sure about availability or wether they’d be suitable to lagers. Your best bet would be install a lattice and train them so that they don’t need the full height.

By: Dr Wort

Dr Wort — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:01:22 +0000

@Jack

Hallertaur/Mt Hood/Crystal/Sterling/Saaz/Tettnanger…..

By: Jack R.

Jack R. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:27:50 +0000

@DrW – then you could use bitter fruit and create a double: Fruit Gruit beer. This may have a meaning in Cockney rhyming slang.

@et al – I prefer lagers over ales. If I were going to grow a single variety of hops for future home brewing what is recommended?
What should my second choice be?
And a third?

Are the dwarf varieties, 10 vis 18 feet, recommended or to be avoided?
thanks

By: Dr Wort

Dr Wort — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:03:59 +0000

You can bitter a beer with ANY edible bittering agent. Rosemary, Oregano, Wormwood, etc. aka a Gruit.

By: Jack R.

Jack R. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:48:14 +0000

I have noticed two breweries
- Fort George, Astoria
- Lucky Labrador, Portland
invited people to contribute their backgarden hops to commercial brew(s). People were also invited with or without bines to help pick the cones from the bine.

Venti’s have a keg from each aforementioned brewing cos. awaiting a suitable tap.

===
Unrelated but Venti’s Cafe just tap a 1/6th barrel of Leavenworth – Freisan Pilsner.
I reckon it will not last many days

By: Señor Brew™

Señor Brew™ — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:50:56 +0000

A lot of “wild” hops are the Cluster variety.