Can you brew with less hops?

[Rob25]

Hi all!

A friend and I are new to brewing and are looking to brew the below recipe; a passionfruit golden ale.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/435416/passionfruit-golden-ale

It calls for significantly less than 100g of each type of hop, but everywhere I can find only sells hops by the 100g and they're fairly expensive! This recipe calls for Chinook, Citra and Galaxy hops. Would it be possible to just use one type of hop instead of 3? Would this ruin the beer? Just trying to cut them costs, currently the hops double the price of the recipe!

Cheers in advance for the advice :)

 

[MonkeyMick]

Crossmyloof sells hops in 25g bags, if that's any help. Seem to be quite reasonable too, with quick delivery.

 

[Banbeer]

Use what you need, seal and freeze the rest for another brew or two

 

[Martin O]

You can create custom recipes on malt miller so you can order the exact quantity of hops/grains you need, galaxy is generally expensive though. You could just use one hop but it will turn out fairly different to the original recipe, I have brewed using only citra in the past and it turned out well.

 

[DavidDetroit]

Good suggestions.
You can use a single hop but should choose a recipe then that is a single hop recipe by design. Really, you could do one hop in your recipe above but it wouldn't come out as intended though it would still probably be good.
The different hops at different intervals offer bitterness and aroma value.

 

[Hoddy]

Use all of the balance in the dry hop. Don’t be a girl. Throw them in, you’ll thank me later.

 

[RichK]

If you use one type of hop instead of 3, then you'll get something different from the original intention.

I often adjust a recipe so that the hops used are a multiple of 25 or 33 as I'm under pressure to reduce the number of half used packs in the freezer (I'm now limited to what I can fit in one medium tupperware box). Similarly, that will give you something different from the original intention but maybe a bit closer.

For example, I suspect I'm not the only person who likes the occasional bottle of Punk IPA? However, I find it a little over the top. So I have my own variation where it's all toned down a little.

The other alternative is to follow Hoddy & just throw the balance in as a dry hop & go for it :)

 

[Dexter101]

Crossmyloof are good for standard 25g or 50g packs of hops. I try to plan 2 brews at the same time so that I can use up what I have bought other wise you end up with lots of loose ends you don't ever use.

 

[johncrobinson]

Medival ale as i understand it was brewed with NO hops.
I belive they used a range of other commonly found plants for bittering.

 

[An Ankoù]

Hi all!

A friend and I are new to brewing and are looking to brew the below recipe; a passionfruit golden ale.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/435416/passionfruit-golden-ale

It calls for significantly less than 100g of each type of hop, but everywhere I can find only sells hops by the 100g and they're fairly expensive! This recipe calls for Chinook, Citra and Galaxy hops. Would it be possible to just use one type of hop instead of 3? Would this ruin the beer? Just trying to cut them costs, currently the hops double the price of the recipe!

Cheers in advance for the advice :)

Just looked at your recipe. All of those hops are good to keep in stock as you'll be using them over and over again if you like that kind of beer. If you want to get the price down, order your favourite from Get'erbrewed by the kilo. They come in 2x 500g packs and work out very reasonable indeed.

 

[dwhite60]

I've got some Centennial in the freezer over two years old. I take out what I need then seal the bag and back in the freezer. I have not noticed any lessening of bittering power or off flavors. They still smell great.


All the Best,
D. White

 

[Rob25]

Thanks for the advice all. Went with Crossmyloof, they sell in small quantities and their delivery is so quick! Hopefully their ingredients will be good too!

 

[Rich Moyes]

Hi all

with regards to freezing hops; is there any need to defrost what you need? or simply throw them in frozen and they'll do their job?

cheers

 

[RichK]

Hi all

with regards to freezing hops; is there any need to defrost what you need? or simply throw them in frozen and they'll do their job?

cheers

I'll weigh them out frozen into small tupperware type containers, usually whilst mashing so I'm not hurried & have start/middle/end lined up (& labelled) ready to go. They've probably defrosted by the time they go into the boil but wouldn't worry if they weren't.

 

[The Baron]

just be aware frozen hops will weigh more than normal dried hops so you may have to allow for this apart from that I can not see a problem using them straight from the freezer

 

[lancon]

just be aware frozen hops will weigh more than normal dried hops so you may have to allow for this apart from that I can not see a problem using them straight from the freezer

Why will they be heavier?

 

[The Baron]

I would think the water crystals that form by normal freezing would make them weigh slightly heavier probably negligible on smaller amounts but could need some adjustments on larger amounts

 

[johncrobinson]

At a guess frozen hops should be fine.The only caution i might add is due to celluar disruption caused by the freezing they may be stronger than you expect.
My mother discovoured this when making raspberry jam.She won a few awards for her "frozen" jam,Not like she ever let on though.!!!!!!

 

[lancon]

Could it be pointed out the dried hops have very little water in them.

 

[johncrobinson]

re lancon:> True.