2016 Challenger harvest: unusually high alpha (12.25%)

[foxbat]

I just received some 2016 Challenger hops from Brew UK and noticed that the alpha is 12.25%, way out of the normal range 6.5-8.5%. Has anyone tried brewing with the 2016 harvest yet and if so did you scale back your recipe accordingly or if not did you notice more bitterness than usual?

 

[Simonh82]

If you are using them for bittering then I would adjust your recipe.

If you use them late in the boil then it may not make much difference, unless you are using a large quantity.

 

[trueblue]

I just received some 2016 Challenger hops from Brew UK and noticed that the alpha is 12.25%, way out of the normal range 6.5-8.5%. Has anyone tried brewing with the 2016 harvest yet and if so did you scale back your recipe accordingly or if not did you notice more bitterness than usual?

Bought some of these from the maltmiller a while back. Best challenger I have used, and I have been brewing with it since it first came to the home brew trade in the 1980's, my favorite hop. Yes scale back.

 

[Gunge]

Bought some of these from the maltmiller a while back. Best challenger I have used, and I have been brewing with it since it first came to the home brew trade in the 1980's, my favorite hop. Yes scale back.

Challenger is the best hop in the known universe, so a 'turbo charged' version can only be a Good Thing. I'll have me some of those.

 

[foxbat]

Bought some of these from the maltmiller a while back. Best challenger I have used, and I have been brewing with it since it first came to the home brew trade in the 1980's, my favorite hop. Yes scale back.

That's what I was hoping to hear. I was looking at the packet thinking it had to be a misprint but instead it sounds like they're going to be the best batch yet.

 

[Crystal_Ball]

I got some Amarillo from them earlier in the year which had 3.8% on the packaging which I thought was low. I checked the website and it should have been 8.3% and they confirmed it was a printing error. Maybe this is the case for the challenger you have?

 

[Gunge]

I got some Amarillo from them earlier in the year which had 3.8% on the packaging which I thought was low. I checked the website and it should have been 8.3% and they confirmed it was a printing error. Maybe this is the case for the challenger you have?

By that reckoning the Challenger should really have been 25.12%! Almost as high as those extreme Polaris hops I once bought!

 

[foxbat]

I got some Amarillo from them earlier in the year which had 3.8% on the packaging which I thought was low. I checked the website and it should have been 8.3% and they confirmed it was a printing error. Maybe this is the case for the challenger you have?

I just pinged them an email and got a quick reply that there's no printing error and the alpha is 12.25%. I've got an ESB in mind for these hops and am now very much looking forward to it.