35 replies to this topic

[zymot]

My next beer will be inspired by my status as a San Francisco Bay Area native.

 

More Beer carries a boutique malt from Admiral Malting. Admiral is a malthouse up the freeway from me in Alameda, CA. I am going to use their Maiden Voyage Pale Ale malt. More beer says "Maiden Voyage is a pale malt with light golden color, a robust earthy and sweet aroma, and subtle biscuity flavor." OK, I will go with that. Probably a single malt mash.

 

Yeast will be a California Common. I have had good results with that and it keeps the SF Bay Area connection going.

 

I do not know of any SF Bay Area oriented hops. Off the top of my head, Mt Hood is penciled in.

 

There are so many new hops have become available during my of 5-6 year pause of homebrewing. Any other hop(s) I should consider? No American citrus, I get enough citrus in my beer diet.

 

What about Nelson Sauvin hops? What I read about them sound interesting.

 

What say the ever so wise members of this Brews-Bros forum?

[Big Nake]

If you don't like 'fruity pebbles' hops that create a lot of citrus or you don't want to go that way, stay away from Amarillo, Citra, Galaxy and Mosaic.  Probably some others too.  There are lot of sites that will tell you what certain hops are like.  If you like "clean, herbal, floral" hops (Mt. Hood is a good example) then you would also like Crystal, Liberty, Loral, Santiam, Ultra, Glacier, Styrian Golding, Vanguard and a number of others.  The issue with the explosion of hops is that there are only so many batches for you to make and so many hops you can try.  Then someone will tell you that the hops you bought smell and taste like a hippie's armpit or else they smell like onion and garlic.  So either check out hop sites for descriptions or else head to a brewpub and taste someone else's craft beer and see what you like.  Simcoe is popular and more "woody" than fruity.  Nelson is supposed to have a sort of white wine character.  I used it a few times and moved on.  More responses are on the way...

[MyaCullen]

I second Glacier

[Big Nake]

I second Glacier

I just used it in a Blonde Ale today.  Really like that hop.  

[HVB]

Why not Northern Brewer?

I like Nelson but it is very different than most, it really does have a wine grape character.

I also want to add that a lot of Simcoe now seems to be fruity and less pine to my dismay.

[positiveContact]

Why not Northern Brewer?

I like Nelson but it is very different than most, it really does have a wine grape character.

I also want to add that a lot of Simcoe now seems to be fruity and less pine to my dismay.

 

I agree simcoe does seem less piney as of late.  I still like it though.

 

Nugget might also be a good option.

[Poptop]

I second Nugget and also Sterling for a more traditional approach to a Common.

[Big Nake]

Northern Brewer is another hop I used yesterday... really like NB.  I also agree with Nugget as a great bittering hop and Sterling is a hop that I always forget to mention in the "clean, herbal, floral" category.  In a beer with a West Coast Lager/Common/Steam yeast, Northern Brewer is often used.  

[zymot]

I am not trying to make a California Common/Steam style beer. I want a hop that will play nice with the malt and let the new "special" malt profile shine.

[HVB]

I am not trying to make a California Common/Steam style beer. I want a hop that will play nice with the malt and let the new "special" malt profile shine.

Sorry for the confusion. You stated SF beer, California Common Yeast  so it just screamed common to me.  With that said, Nelson to me would over power.  I think the Mt.Hood and Sterling make sense.  If you really just want some bitterness and let the malt do the rest, just do one addition of Magnum,Horizon,Apollo or something else high alpha and neutral at the beginning of the boil to get your bittering and call it good.

[LeftyMPfrmDE]

Sorry for the confusion. You stated SF beer, California Common Yeast so it just screamed common to me. With that said, Nelson to me would over power. I think the Mt.Hood and Sterling make sense. If you really just want some bitterness and let the malt do the rest, just do one addition of Magnum,Horizon,Apollo or something else high alpha and neutral at the beginning of the boil to get your bittering and call it good.

2nd this. Horizon has become my go-to bittering hop.

[djinkc]

All I can say is - no Fuggles

[Big Nake]

2nd this. Horizon has become my go-to bittering hop.

Agreed.  When I bitter an "ale", it's almost always with Nugget or Horizon.  You will get a bit more bang for your buck with Nugget because it's usually higher in alpha (14-16% is common) compared to Horizon which seems to fall into the 8-10% range.  Magnum is always good to have on hand as well but I typically use it in lagers.  Also, you can bitter with Northern Brewer... it's very clean.  That goes for Mt. Hood as well although it tends to be lower on the AA range too.  In related news, I just got an email from Hops Direct:  My one pound each of Mt. Hood and Northern Brewer are being delivered TODAY!! 

[zymot]

All I can say is - no Fuggles

 

+1

 

I know Denny is an antifugglite as well.

 

I used fuggles once, Never again. Willamette has fuggle origins, so I stay away from them as well.

[HVB]

+1

 

I know Denny is an antifugglite as well.

 

I used fuggles once, Never again. Willamette has fuggle origins, so I stay away from them as well.

That is a loss on your part.  Willamette is a very nice hop and pairs really well with Cascade.  It is nothing like fuggle at all.

[Big Nake]

That is a loss on your part.  Willamette is a very nice hop and pairs really well with Cascade.  It is nothing like fuggle at all.

Willamette + Cascade = Lagunitas IPA.  I agree that Willamette is nice.  

[djinkc]

+1

 

I know Denny is an antifugglite as well.

 

I used fuggles once, Never again. Willamette has fuggle origins, so I stay away from them as well.

 

I should qualify.  No fuggles unless you're brewing Quiet Storm Stout.  My one and only exception........

[neddles]

I like Fuggles and Willamette. But, as mentioned, they're quite different.

[MyaCullen]

Goldings or Willamette would both stay out of the way of your malt profile, so would Glacier, Legacy, Perle, Styrian Golding.

[Big Nake]

Goldings or Willamette would both stay out of the way of your malt profile, so would Glacier, Legacy, Perle, Styrian Golding.

EKG and Styrian Goldings are neutral and clean, agreed.  I also played with FIRST GOLD awhile back and I was excited to see them on that Hops Direct sales page... but they were sold out.  I remember using them a few times and really liking their character.

 

@Zymot:  You will never run out of hops to experiment with and you will also never run out of hop opinions.  But you don't really know what a hop is like until you brew with it.  I got into a bunch of new (to me) hops over the past couple of years:  Apollo, Azacca, Huell Melon, Lemon Drop, El Dorado, Ella, Nelson, Motueka and a bunch of others.  Some were good, others not so good.  What I eventually realized was that I probably already had all of my various tastes covered by hops that I already knew.  I don't like to be closed-minded but every batch of beer I made with new hops that I thought were so-so were batches where I didn't use a hop that I know I love (of which there are probably 100+ varieties).  So I got back to Cascade and Glacier and Santiam and Crystal, etc.  I don't need 50 varieties of fruity hops... Citra, Amarillo, Galaxy, etc. will do just fine.