Best base hop for Irish dry stout?

[kimosabby]

Ladies and gents,

as ever a quick question, what's the best base hop for a dry irish stout? I've previosuly used East Kent Goldings but that was with a John Palmer "Mill Run Stout" which was a more fully flavoured brew including crystal and choc malt which I won't be using on this one

thanks

Kimosabby

 

[The Baron]

any British bittering hop would do i.e Challenger Target Admiral etc

 

[kimosabby]

Is there any specifics with those 3 which bring something to the party or is it fairly academic in an Irish stout

 

[The Baron]

To be honest the hopping of Irish stout does not generally bring anything to the party as the hops are generally used just for bitterness and so as the hop flavour does not overpower the stout, the roasted barley etc are the taste.
However you can try and hop it up if you want to in that case I would use Challenger but be careful of over bittering it if you decide to hop it up which would give it a typical british ale/bitter slant

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use Target

 

[Horners]

Plus 1 for target. Here is my go to dry stout recipe.

<iframe width="100%" height="500px" src="Hornby's Genius - Beer Recipe - Brewer's Friend" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

[kimosabby]

thanks for all that gents; ive still got the rest of the East Coast Goldings so will use them to finish them off; ill try Target on one next one after this

 

[kimosabby]

Plus 1 for target. Here is my go to dry stout recipe.

<iframe width="100%" height="500px" src="Hornby's Genius - Beer Recipe - Brewer's Friend" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Quick question on this Horners; the John Palmer receipe says get rid of crystal for the Irish Dry; what does the crystal bring to the party in a stout

thanks

 

[An Ankoù]

If I were looking for something special in a dry Irish stout, I'd go for Bullion.

 

[kimosabby]

If I were looking for something special in a dry Irish stout, I'd go for Bullion.

not heard of it; whats its MO

 

[The Baron]

No Bullion is a hop with dark fruit and spice flavours suitable for bittering and dark ales IMO

 

[Horners]

Quick question on this Horners; the John Palmer receipe says get rid of crystal for the Irish Dry; what does the crystal bring to the party in a stout

thanks

Well Ive never tried it without as since came up with the recipe done it a couple of times and its always been good.I guess using a crystal helps to balance against the roastiness of the roasted barley which can be quite astringent,

 

[Davvy]

My last two brews have had in equal amounts Target and Admiral, and for me they only seem to give neutral bitterness, and the malt provides the majority of flavour.....
Having tried both in bitter recipe's and being underwhelmed with lack of "Traditional English" notes, I really was only using them to get rid of them in the stout...but it seems to work out fine for me.

 

[moto748]

I can only agree with the consensus. I have three or four stout recipes I brew regularly, and the hops are generally Target or Challenger, sometimes with a bit of Centennial or Fuggles. But, as noted, I don't think hops are as critical in this type of beer.

 

[An Ankoù]

I have a 100g pack festering in some dark recess of my fridge and I bought it because I understand that Guinness used to use it to the exclusion of all else. Then, some time around the 60s, things changed. Well, lot's has changed with Guinness not least that I used to love it and now I can only drink the stronger, bottled versions.
Time I put the Bullion to its allotted purpose, methinks.

 

[kimosabby]

checked out the Bullion not everywhere does it; will give it a go as I have a dark secret for stout

 

[MmmBeer]

Stout is a style where choice of bittering hop isn't that critical, HOWEVER I always feel that a harsher bittering hop is better than a neutral one like Magnum. I have used Target and Colombus, but there are many others that would work well.

 

[kimosabby]

one of the best things about homebrewing is that everytime a question gets answered another two new quetsions open up :)

 

[An Ankoù]

checked out the Bullion not everywhere does it; will give it a go as I have a dark secret for stout

I see CML have got some.

 

[An Ankoù]

Stout is a style where choice of bittering hop isn't that critical, HOWEVER I always feel that a harsher bittering hop is better than a neutral one like Magnum. I have used Target and Colombus, but there are many others that would work well.

If you want something really rough, go for Pacific Gem. Nice dark fruit flavour, but takes a bit of mellowing out.