Good afternoon
One of my biggest weaknesses as a homebrewer is what hops to use and how much. I think it would be a great reference to see what hops people use for different styles of beer. If you wish to participate, please use the following format.
Style: (IPA, Stout, Wit, etc)
Hop Name:
Amount: (oz)
Time: (First wort, minutes, flame out, dry hop, etc)
Type: (Whole Leaf, pellet, fresh, etc)
Is there any other info that would be helpful? Are there any books on hops that you recommend?
Hop Union is a good place to start-has a lot of the information you are looking for, and useful for getting an idea of what hop varieties you are not familiar with are like.
http://www.hopunion.com/hop-varieties/
Belgian hops are always great for me…not sure if that really helps but just want to share that
This is pretty much the new Bible when it comes to hops. Worth every penny and then some.
Really enjoyed that book too, learned a lot but also made me feel like I knew less. Seems lots of success brewers making great hoppy beers but use hops tons of different ways with lots of different philosophies about their approach. The only consistent thing I’ve seen in good hoppy beers is adding quite a bit of them late (whirlpool), nearly all dry hop too but the approach in how dry hopping is done varies as well.
I’m amazed you’re not buried in responses to this question yet.This is probably the one are where breweres can carry on all day long, about their favorite hops and all the great IPAs they’ve brewed.Since that hasn’t happened yet,I’ll humbly submit a response.There has been growing trend in recent years towards experimenting with single hop varieties for a beer,even with a single malt.I’d strongly recommend you to take that approach for a while in your brewing to see what all the different hops really taste and smell like.Go with a noble hop like Hallertauer or a classic English variety like EK Goldings,or go with one of the new generation varieties,and just keep exploring them.I recently went with a newer German Hallertau derivative with high AA content,called Herkules,for bittering in one of my pale ales.I can’t recommend that one highly enough.It wasn’t the only hop in the beer,but I’m pretty confident in saying that it produced a really nice smooth bitterness for the other hops to lay on top of,and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it as the only hop in a beer.I’ve also heard of Simcoe being used in a single hop beer,with good results-Bell’s Hopslam,specifically.Even old,world classic beers are known for using only one hop.Pilsner Urquell is a godd example there-it only uses Saaz hops in all stages.
I guess what I’m trying to get across here is that “hop profiles”-meaning the flavors and aromas obtained from combining different hops-are not as important as the characteristics obtained from single hops.You could experiment all your life with different combinations of hops,and never get a complete and proper understanding of what each hop really does.And if you don’t know that,it’s pretty hard to combine hops with other hops with any real knowledgable expectation of what you should get.One other important underlying principle that’s gone unmentioned so far also is the need to keep the grain bill simple when you’re experimenting with hops.It doesn’t help to overwhelm your hops with a ton of specialty malts,or even with a really funky yeast,for that matter.Pick a yeast with a relatively neutral character,and keep the grain bill to maybe 3 grains total,preferably on the lighter side in the color scheme,unless you’re going for an IBA or something like that.
You get the point.Just pick a hop that sounds appealing to you and get brewing.Don’t overthink it.
[quote=“deliusism1”]
I guess what I’m trying to get across here is that “hop profiles”-meaning the flavors and aromas obtained from combining different hops-are not as important as the characteristics obtained from single hops.You could experiment all your life with different combinations of hops,and never get a complete and proper understanding of what each hop really does.[/quote]
I totally agree with that. Although you can get a loose idea from smelling the hop before use. Single hop beers is a great way to learn. Unfortunately, more often than not, those single hop beers are perceived as uninteresting.
Out of curiosity… Why no spacing after punctuation?
This is almost like asking what my favorite song is. Too many good ones to have a favorite and it depends on what I’m in the mood for. 
Style: (IPA)
Hop Name: Amarillo, Centennial, and Simcoe
Amount: (a lotta ozs)
Time: (15 min and later additions, flame out, dry hop, and experimenting with whirlpooling)
Type: (pellet)
For bittering I always use warrior.
Truthfully I’m really still have a lot to learn about hopping my IPAs. Also as an honorable mention, i also like nelson sauvin. A local brewery uses it for their IPA and i really have grown to like it.
That’s true, that really is the perception.
But it’s one I really don’t totally understand or agree with since some of the very best brews I’ve had over the years have been single hop brews, or ones made with a combination of only two varieties.
After trying just about every variety under the sun (which is ongoing, since new varieties are beeing introduced quite frequently), I found that my favorites are still two very old traditional varieties.
Opinions do differ widely on this subject, but I’ve found beers with overly complicated hop bills and hopping schedules to quite often be a muddle, rather than exhibiting the ‘complexity’ that is often touted. Many homebrewers go for complicated and oftenn random combinations merely because ‘they can’. The sheer variety of hops available these days is unprecedented compared to the early 1970s when I did my first brews (when the choice was either cheesy smelly generic compressed bricks, or, by the mid/late 70s, Cascade pellets.)
I think it’s just one of those topics that is dependent upon one’s own personal tastes and perception.
But I do totally agree that doing a series of single hop brews (in a consistent wort from a relatively simple grain bill) is the best way to let your own senses experience what a given hop variety offers. Remember that your perception will very often be different from what you read in the forums, since everyone’s tastebuds are unique. And (to me anyway) this hobby is very much above all else about brewing to ones personal tastes.
Same here. I guess when I was reading this topic I had American IPA in my mind. Even with my AIPA’s I prefer keeping the varieties limited to 2-3 varieties. Most of my maltier styles are single hop beers and are great.
