Malt Miller Suprise Hops - What I got.

[Gax]

So I was just browsing websites, as you do, looking at bits and bobs and discovered malt miller will send you random hops for like 3 quid a bag and well. I couldn't help myself and ordered 5, and some rye malt.

I got :

Apollo
Olicana
Motueka
Sabro
El Dorado

I'm a new brewer and only heard of one of these before.
Let's workshop some beers to make with some of these!

:)

 

[jof]

There are several online resources about hops so you can look them up.
What I would look for is if they are bittering, flavour or general purpose.
What beer styles are they used in.
What other hops are closely related (e.g. what can they be swapped with) - that should give you a bigger range of beer styles than just looking at the individual variety.

If you brew more traditional beer, then you will probably get at least a couple of brews out of each one.
But if you're an American hop juice drinker, then you might as well just throw the whole lot in a single dry hop and hope for the worse

 

[The Baron]

Motueka, Sabro and El Dorado all go in American IPA styles even Apollo at a push the Olicana is a one of the newer English style hops so good for a Pale or Golden Ale.

 

[Gax]

There are several online resources about hops so you can look them up.
What I would look for is if they are bittering, flavour or general purpose.
What beer styles are they used in.
What other hops are closely related (e.g. what can they be swapped with) - that should give you a bigger range of beer styles than just looking at the individual variety.

If you brew more traditional beer, then you will probably get at least a couple of brews out of each one.
But if you're an American hop juice drinker, then you might as well just throw the whole lot in a single dry hop and hope for the worse

I dont usually go for the big hop bomb beers. I had this one from a brewery in atlanta called hophash where they used the resin cleaned out of pelletizer machines and jesus christ...yuck. Its been one of the things I've liked since moving to the UK. I also know there are resources I can look at for info, and i will. I just also like chatting with people about this stuff.

Motueka, Sabro and El Dorado all go in American IPA styles even Apollo at a push the Olicana is a one of the newer English style hops so good for a Pale or Golden Ale.

Good info mate. I've been wanting to plan a good pale or golden!

 

[jof]

In that case you have enough to make 'almost smashes' using something like magnum for bittering & your selected hop for flavour & aroma.
Then you can see what each one is like.

(Or if you have a particular hatred of certain styles & have ended up with those hops, just use them for bittering - I'm looking at you citra)

 

[Gax]

In that case you have enough to make 'almost smashes' using something like magnum for bittering & your selected hop for flavour & aroma.
Then you can see what each one is like.

(Or if you have a particular hatred of certain styles & have ended up with those hops, just use them for bittering - I'm looking at you citra)

That's a good shout dude. I can pick up some magnum or sommat and do a little hop study xD.
I'm also not a huge citra fan. Don't worry, you're amongst a friend. Lol.
I got the random ones for the express purpose of just trying things. I used to really enjoy mystery basket challenges when I was a proper chef doing competitions and this felt a bit like that.

 

[DocAnna]

Sabro is juicy deliciousness , I'd forgotten about it but it makes a great dry hop for an IPA or a late aroma stand as per @The Baron . I haven't used it for since 2021 but that's a great reminder of how good it was. Also used in an NEIPA but that sounds like not so much your thing.

 

[Gax]

Sabro is juicy deliciousness , I'd forgotten about it but it makes a great dry hop for an IPA or a late aroma stand as per @The Baron . I haven't used it for since 2021 but that's a great reminder of how good it was. Also used in an NEIPA but that sounds like not so much your thing.

I'll probably end up using it in a hopstand capacity. I don't have the facilities at the minute to dry hop stuff, which I do want to try at some point later.
Not a big fan of neipa, nah. I'm really excited to mess with these though! Need to get some more yeasties. I'm wondering if I can shoehorn one of these into the American light lager I'm gonna brew next week? Hmm.

 

[jof]

I would think most of them would work in an 'American Lite Lager' (see what I did there)

I was originally thinking how could I use them in a porter or bitter.
We all have our own preferences, so just have a go & see how it turns out.

 

[Gax]

I WAS ALSO THINKING PORTER! I have this pre prohibition porter concept i want to brew at some point i was wondering if i could use one of these in.

 

[DocAnna]

I'll probably end up using it in a hopstand capacity. I don't have the facilities at the minute to dry hop stuff, which I do want to try at some point later.
Not a big fan of neipa, nah. I'm really excited to mess with these though! Need to get some more yeasties. I'm wondering if I can shoehorn one of these into the American light lager I'm gonna brew next week? Hmm.

Dry hopping at its simplest is cracking open the lid and chucking a handful in... it works just fine loose. Personally I'd only use a bag for dry hopping if wanting to remove them prior to racking off for bottling/kegging.

 

[Twostage]

Motueka is really nice in a smash. I made a New Zealand PA which is popular with anyone I’ve given a bottle to.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Apollo
Olicana
Motueka
Sabro
El Dorado

I'm a new brewer and only heard of one of these before.

Motueka's great, it makes a nice saison or NZ Pilsner for the summer.

My main comment on all of the others is that they can be a bit one-dimensional, and benefit from being blended rather than one their own. Except for Sabro which has this coconutty pina-colada thing going on which can be a bit overwhelming if you have too much of it and so wants blending for that reason. Of all of them Sabro is probably best suited to a dark beer, but it would be a modern American porter, heading towards dark IPA.

They're all best suited to pale-ish, kinda-hoppy beers, whether you want to call them APAs or new-world bitters or whatever.

 

[Davvy]

Apollo is a good bittering hop at 60 mins for IPA's as it is pretty high in Alpha Acids, so you can be very economical in use. I have also had it in as a dry hop , and it gave me grapefruit notes , which in my opinion really needed to be mellowed with an addition of another type of hop......

 

[Gax]

Really good feedback friends! Very kind of you guys. I've got some ideas and ima speak to my local club guys as well.
Much love.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Sabro is great in dark beers.

Here’s my gold medal winning American Stout recipe that uses Sabro: https://londonamateurbrewers.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Hard_Top

Motueka is also quite versatile. A friend made a great Belgian/Trappist Single with it and Wyeast 3787.

 

[Gax]

Sabro is great in dark beers.

Here’s my gold medal winning American Stout recipe that uses Sabro: https://londonamateurbrewers.co.uk/wiki/index.php/Hard_Top

Motueka is also quite versatile. A friend made a great Belgian/Trappist Single with it and Wyeast 3787.

Aw man. That's really kind of you. I'll have a look and maybe try and clone it when I get confident enough to try a dark beer.

 

[samale]

I have ordered some hops and selected 4 mystery hops. Hopefully it will give me a bit of inspiration to brew something different

 

[Brew_DD2]

I have ordered some hops and selected 4 mystery hops. Hopefully it will give me a bit of inspiration to brew something different

The mystery hops are good fun. Usually get a good mixture and some stuff you'd likely not usually gravitate towards.

 

[Gax]

Preach!