English Hops

[Sadfield]

I'm struggling to imagine them putting leaf hops in the kettle. Bound to be extract i think.

The list of ingredients is a legal requirement, so they must use them. If they aren't going in the kettle, they must be dry hopping Carling.

Joking aside. 21Kg of pellets into the kettle. 22 minutes in.

 

[clib]

The list of ingredients is a legal requirement, so they must use them. If they aren't going in the kettle, they must be dry hopping Carling.

Joking aside. 21Kg of pellets into the kettle. 22 minutes in.

Surprising.

190000 pints = 108000 litres

21kg = 21000g

21000 ÷ 108000 = 0.194g per litre

Presumably for bittering.

Edit. If my late Friday night maths was right!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Whilst the majority of my beers already use English hops, I've decided to push it a bit further & do my tiny little bit to support the domestic industry.

The one overseas hop I'm struggling to replace is Saaz. I've started including a lager/pilsner in the rotation & think it's the one overseas hop there's not a domestic substitute for. Next time, I'm planning on reducing it's use by bittering with Admiral rather than Saaz but will have to see how that one pans out. Anybody got any suggestions? I'm not into clone brewing, but brew "in the style of..."

It's one of those classic debates - USians tend to take the view that alpha is alpha and it makes no difference what varieties provide it, but we tend to take a more nuanced view on this side of the pond (shock horror). Personally I wouldn't replace a low-alpha variety like Saaz with a high-alpha variety like Admiral/Magnum/CTZ etc, it just changes the character too much IMO - replace it with another low-alpha landrace like Fuggles or Golding. Mind you, it's getting increasingly expensive to use Saaz for bittering - I've heard of Saaz samples going as low as 1% alpha recently, and this year won't be a good one either for Czech alpha content.

Talking of which - vintages really matter for British hops. The heatwave meant 2022 UK hops were growing in weather more like Central Europe, so the likes of Fuggles had more of eg the lemoniness that you associate with their Styrian cousins. Conversely the dull August has really clobbered flavour development in 2023 UK hops, particularly in the early-maturing varieties which tends to include most of the more traditional ones. You still get alpha bitterness, just not much aroma. Conversely you might find that eg 2023 UK Cascade works better in lagers than 2022, just because it's more delicate and reigned in.

But the obvious two to try if I was you would be Keyworth's Early (not Midseason) if you want something more lemony, and Sovereign if you want something more traditionally floral/herbal - as a relatively new hop Sovereign deserves to be better known. Archer is also not a bad shout, and as has been mentioned Goldings.

The uk's best selling lager uses Pilgrim, apparently

That explains why my pilgrim smash ale was absolutely tasteless.

No it doesn't - just as the fact that Cloudwater use Pilgrim to bitter many of their beers, including the DIPA v3 (see the recipe linked in this) that has one of the highest Untappd ratings of any British beer, doesn't mean that you will suddenly start making Cloudwater-standard beers if you use it. Pilgrim is a bittering hop, it's just a source of alpha acid, albeit one that compared to Magnum has fewer food miles for British brewers. It is also very disease resistant, which means fewer pesticides in the countryside and fewer pesticides in your beer.

The only problem with Pilgrim is that it almost all ends up in the commercial market so is quite hard to find at homebrew level. I tried to find some recently and ended up with some from GEB which turned out to be 2019 (and was spelt "Piligrim" with three "i"s, which I guess is the phonetic spelling if you're Irish!!!! ) So you may find Admiral easier to get hold of as a high-alpha British hop.

But there is an element of use it or lose it - if you can't find these things at your preferred retailer, let them know you were looking for them and they may be able to get them in. Although the UK industry has had a really rough time in recent years, the tide does seems to be turning a little bit, but only if retailers are made aware that brewers are wanting more British hops.

 

[clib]

The only problem with Pilgrim is that it almost all ends up in the commercial market so is quite hard to find at homebrew level. I tried to find some recently and ended up with some from GEB which turned out to be 2019 (and was spelt "Piligrim" with three "i"s, which I guess is the phonetic spelling if you're Irish!!!! ) So you may find Admiral easier to get hold of as a high-alpha British hop.

But there is an element of use it or lose it - if you can't find these things at your preferred retailer, let them know you were looking for them and they may be able to get them in. Although the UK industry has had a really rough time in recent years, the tide does seems to be turning a little bit, but only if retailers are made aware that brewers are wanting more British hops.

The Homebrew Company has 2022 Pilgrim leaf and pellet. The Maltmiller has 2021 pellet. I never seem to have a problem getting them. And I remember a single hop Pilgrim beer I had a few pints of in the Nip and Tipple in Whalley Range a few years back that was delicious. Not just a bittering hop. IMO. Brook House says, "It is not too overpowering and has a very hoppy aroma, with notes of lemon, berry, pear and hints of spice."

 

[The Baron]

£4.30 inc del from CML.
I too believe some of the so called bittering hops are too under utilised, I made a all Admiral ale which was very nice and like Target too when used for flavour and aroma

 

[Sadfield]

This is probably more an issue of mindset rather than hop variety. If one believes a lager brewed without Saaz is inferior, then it will be. Of all the criticism of Carling, I don't think I've ever heard it being pinpointed to being the wrong hop.

 

[clib]

This is probably more an issue of mindset rather than hop variety. If one believes a lager brewed without Saaz is inferior, then it will be. Of all the criticism of Carling, I don't think I've ever heard it being pinpointed to being the wrong hop.

Might be down to the virtual absence of hop. A tiny amount, presumably at the start of the boil. But I agree that mindset could be a thing, and lots of different hops can work in a lager.

 

[Andrew Booth]

frankly my goto for hops and who seem to have the biggest amounts of different hops is Crossmyloof they are great not to mention the witty emails from Steven after you have ordered.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I recently brewed 2 smashes one with jester one with northern brewer, the Jester was very very tasty the northern brewer was also very good, i also like ekg, bramling cross, and use target a lot for bittering and late additions

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

I recently brewed 2 smashes one with jester one with northern brewer, the Jester was very very tasty the northern brewer was also very good, i also like ekg, bramling cross, and use target a lot for bittering and late additions

Would you mind sharing the recipe you used for the Jester SMaSH please?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Yeah no prob, Brewfather i use the same recipe i just swap the hops, i can,t remember the timings for the hops but i did use 100gr