Help with hop alternatives

[Monkhouse]

Hi I’m hoping to do this (attached) imperial recipe soon but cannot find warrior hops anywhere. Can someone recommend me a good substitute? Also would I be better off getting whole or hop pellets? The recipe states 39g but would this weight be the same with pellets and whole hops?
Cheers
Dave

 

[An Ankoù]

Crossmyloof have got warrior hops.
I doubt you'll get whole cone hops. You'd need to use about 10% more at the bittering stage if you did.

 

[Sadfield]

What hops have you got?

 

[WonkyDonkey]

Hi I’m hoping to do this (attached) imperial recipe soon but cannot find warrior hops anywhere. Can someone recommend me a good substitute? Also would I be better off getting whole or hop pellets? The recipe states 39g but would this weight be the same with pellets and whole hops?
Cheers
Dave

As AA said above, CML have Warrior in stock.

One thing to be wary of is that the recipe calls for 37g of Warrior at 16%AA or 20.8AAU. This is calculated as 20.8AAU / 16AA = 1.3oz as we are dealing with Imperial units. 1.3 * 28.35g = 37g thereabouts.

CML's Warrior is 11.7%AA, therefore to get the same bittering effect you should use: (20.8AAU / 11.7AA) * 28.35g = 50g

Handily they come in 50g bags!

 

[phildo79]

They are just bittering hops in this recipe so you can use any hop. Probably best to use one high in alpha acids so you don't have to use as much. Personally, I use CTZ at 15.5AA for all my bittering. Well, until the 1kg bag runs out. Had it for years and it only cost me about £17. Use a brewing calculator to determine the appropriate amount needed. I recommend the SMPH model. Been using it for the last 3 or 4 brews and everything has turned out well.

https://jphosom.github.io/alchemyoverlord/

 

[Empty bottle]

I bought 450g of magnum pellets from cross my loof for £11 inc delivery last week, just slightly less alpha acid than warrior but if its only for bittering then that's a decent price and will make plenty of brews.

 

[Robin54]

If you google "Hop Substitutions" you will get a chart you can down load and print off - easy as that

 

[phildo79]

If you google "Hop Substitutions" you will get a chart you can down load and print off - easy as that

Yes but in this instance, trying to achieve the accurate amount of IBUs is more important.

I have used warrior twice and was very unhappy with both brews. Not a fan and would not use it again. In fact, I think I have used a sub hop when a recipe has called for it.

 

[Braumeister]

I bought 450g of magnum pellets from cross my loof for £11 inc delivery last week, just slightly less alpha acid than warrior but if its only for bittering then that's a decent price and will make plenty of brews.

Wow that’s incredibly cheap compared to the 100g bags I’ve been buying. Didn’t realise it’s so much cheaper to buy in that volume.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

Yes, CML incorporate their postage costs into their prices so ordering larger amounts of their grain, hops and yeast better shows what great value their products are.

 

[sifty]

Beer maverick website has a hop comparison wizard that is really useful. Has a cool chart function that I find gives best comparison of characteristics...

 

[dcbrookes]

I have used quite a lot of Warrior in the past - I would suggest Summit or Columbus / Tomahawk / Zeus as a good alternative.

 

[Empty bottle]

Wow that’s incredibly cheap compared to the 100g bags I’ve been buying. Didn’t realise it’s so much cheaper to buy in that volume.

Yes it is much better value to buy bigger bags rather than buying 100g all the time. Same with their yeast you can get 100g for £8 so 80p for 10 sachets rather than pay 3-4 quid for a single sachet.

 

[Monkhouse]

What hops have you got?

Nothing at all atm

 

[Monkhouse]

Should I just use hop pellets then instead of whole hops?

 

[Sadfield]

Nothing at all atm

I'd do what @WonkyDonkey suggested. 50g of Warriot pellets from CML.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Should I just use hop pellets then instead of whole hops?

There's not a lot of difference. Pellets are easier to measure and store and are certainly easier when dry hopping. Whole hops can act as a filter bed to filter out hot/cold break when you transfer to the fermenter to remove trub. Some people say the whole hops have a slightly fresher taste because they haven't been all mashed up, but I would say that's negligible at best.

I recently changed from whole hops to pellets because they are easier to store in the freezer, and easier to clean up out of the kettle after the boil. I've noticed no difference in the actual beer as a result.

If I remember correctly, you need 10% more (by weight) whole hops when compared with pellets.

 

[Monkhouse]

Thanks for all the replies. One other thing , I’m planning on using 3 packs of Nottingham dry yeast for this beer. I’ve never used Nottingham before, the last imperial I did was 22litres at 8.5% and I just used 2x S-04 which worked great. Is 3 packs of Nottingham going to cut it for this stone imperial do you think?

 

[Sadfield]

Lallemands pitch rate calculator says 18.9g.

https://www.lallemandbrewing.com/en/canada/brewers-corner/brewing-tools/pitching-rate-calculator/

 

[Monkhouse]

Wow so less than 2 packs? Is Nottingham really that powerful?