Pioneer Hops

[markp]

Hi folks.....I've done a search, but couldn't really find what I was after.

I am planning for Saturday's brewday (got to use me new shiny ).
I have 100g of Pioneer hops that I am keen to try.....they smell absolutely lovely; really citrusy.

I'm going to brew a pale ale......something around 4.5% - 5% ABV and there will probably only be Marris Otter and some carapils in the grain bill.

Noticed some guys have brewed with Pioneer - what did the finished beer taste like? Do the citrusy notes transfer through in to the beer?

Does anyone think that I need a different hop for flavour and aroma?
I'd like to really try and assess the flavour of this hop, so my plan was to use the pioneer for both bittering and flavour/aroma.....but I don't want to ruin a 40 litre batch.

Any input greatfully received.

 

[markp]

Well, after the flood of replies I decided I had no option other than to 'take one for the team'

On Saturday I brewed this:

Pie'n'Ear Beer (pie'n'ear, pioneer......get it??....coat, taxi anyone??)
Brew Length 36 litres - special bitter - target OG 1048
Pale Malt Marris Otter - 5800g
Crystal Malt (200L) - 300g
Carapils - 200g
Pioneer hops - 9.22% AA
40g for 90 mins - 26.1 IBU
30g for 15 mins - 9.1 IBU
30g for 5 mins - 3.7 IBU

Yeast - SO4, I would have probably preferred to use Nottingham....note to self 'get organised'.

Post boil, I had collected 38 litres at 1049.....very happy with that as when I made Alemans Effin Imperial Stout a month or so ago I had a poor extraction and missed my target.

The schedule will hopefully give me a chance to evaluate this hop for both its bittering and aroma qualities. There doesn't seem to be much profile information anywhere about this particular hop.

I'll report back in a few weeks.

 

[markp]

Update for you guys.....I'm not really sure on this one tbh :wha:

So; brewed 3rd July.....racked to 2 cornies after 7 days.
7 days sat in the corny and then in to the fridge to chill......aux fines on Sat 17th and then isinglass on Sun 18th.
Transferred one of the cornys to another empty I had on Monday and then force carbed and put it back in to the 'fridge.

When I pour the beer I am getting a very strong hop bitterness aroma......one site refers to Pioneer as a Goldings replacement, but I would say they are nothing alike. The smell is quite pleasant but nowhere near as soft as Goldings.

Taste.....now this is where I'm getting really confused.
When I take the first drink of this brew, I am getting a very astringent, almost TCP like taste.
I say almost like TCP, becasue it's not quite there....but is, if you get me :wha: There is certainly a very strong, lingering bitterness there.
First thing I'm thinking is I've got some type of chlorine contamination.....but I am ultra careful (boarderline OCD :rofl: ) about campden use and cleaning and rinsing.
Smell the beer again......hoppy, oranges, spice.......mint tones.
On the second mouthful, the TCP taste is not there anymore, but a very intense hoppiness.

I hope the medicinal taste is just the greeness of the beer and this will mellow over the next couple of weeks.

My first impression and instinct is that pioneer will make a good bittering hop....but it needs something softer layered on top. Something like fuggles or goldings would work well I feel.

More to come as we get further down the corny.

I'd welcome any comments.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Try Simcoe, they've got a nice citrus aroma.

BB

 

[markp]

Well, about 30 litres of this is going down the sink tonight when I get home :cry:

The phenolic taint is still there and not only that; after pouring a pint, when the head recedes the foam starts to form some small globules. It just isn't attractive, and put that with the phenolic taste it just has to go.

Drank a little of it last night......still think the Pioneer needs something there to soften it out.

The phenolic taste I think has been casued by over sparging or sparging at too high a temperature. There is a problem with the PID on my HLT that I need to sort this weekend.
Not sure about the globules....any chance this may have been caused by aux. finings and isinglass??

Anyway, it's been relegated to drain cleaner :lol:

 

[wardj73]

I'm relatively new to brewing, but have done a couple of brews with pioneer as a bittering hop and fuggles to finish, and they turned out pretty nice, so I reckon you're right! I bought the pioneer just because it was cheap, but it smells fantastic. I will be wary about using it without the fuggles in the future given your experience though.