Tell me why I need to stock more than one bittering hop.

Everyone has their own preference. I stopped using magnum because the bitterness was too sharp. I think it’s fine in an IPA or Pale Ale, but in a Helles or even a German Pils, it just had an unpleasant bite to it. I now use German Tradition in most lagers for bittering, it has AA @ 5-6%.

In all fairness, I may have gotten a batch of bad hops, who knows? But for now Magnum is confined to IPA’s and PA’s, which kind of sucks because you need so little to hit your IBU’s.
 
HighVoltageMan! said:
Everyone has their own preference. I stopped using magnum because the bitterness was too sharp. I think it’s fine in an IPA or Pale Ale, but in a Helles or even a German Pils, it just had an unpleasant bite to it. I now use German Tradition in most lagers for bittering, it has AA @ 5-6%.

In all fairness, I may have gotten a batch of bad hops, who knows? But for now Magnum is confined to IPA’s and PA’s, which kind of sucks because you need so little to hit your IBU’s.
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That is exactly the opposite of how I would describe Magnum. I find it so smooth, so neutral, so easy to control.
But who knows, maybe we all just perceive things differently. And compare to German Tradition, it probably is much sharper. Very interesting.
 
HighVoltageMan! said:
It may have been a bad batch of hops. I did do multiple brews with it. I might try it again.
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That's the beauty of this thread topic "noticing a discernable difference using different hops for bittering".
Your beer is that consistent and you brew that recipie that often that you can taste an irregularity.
Credit to you and I believe it!
Honestly I bitter with magnum because it seems like the thing to do:D.

When I first started brewing I used to look at the AA% in hops then their price and buy them for bittering thinking high Alpha Acid percentage = less hops needed @60min for bittering. Pacific Gem was one I used https://www.hopslist.com/hops/bittering-hops/pacific-gem/
I think the hombrew shop couldn't sell them and the AA% was high I didn't mind the bitterness in them that I can remember but I didn't have a lot to go by.

My Mild I brewed yesterday was 18g fuggles at 30 mins they had a mint like herbal aroma.
And the BFC brew will be Azacca at 30 mins
Now this is supposed to still contribute flavour and aroma I'm led to believe.
 
Trialben said:
That's the beauty of this thread topic "noticing a discernable difference using different hops for bittering".
Your beer is that consistent and you brew that recipie that often that you can taste an irregularity.
Credit to you and I believe it!
Honestly I bitter with magnum because it seems like the thing to do:D.

When I first started brewing I used to look at the AA% in hops then their price and buy them for bittering thinking high Alpha Acid percentage = less hops needed @60min for bittering. Pacific Gem was one I used https://www.hopslist.com/hops/bittering-hops/pacific-gem/
I think the hombrew shop couldn't sell them and the AA% was high I didn't mind the bitterness in them that I can remember but I didn't have a lot to go by.

My Mild I brewed yesterday was 18g fuggles at 30 mins they had a mint like herbal aroma.
And the BFC brew will be Azacca at 30 mins
Now this is supposed to still contribute flavour and aroma I'm led to believe.
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30 minute boils will turn this topic on its head! Certainly gives you a lot more to think about when choosing a bittering hop as opposed to 60 minutes.

And for the record, I don’t want anyone thinking that I am saying Magnum is the greatest bittering hop of all time and you all should be using it or your crazy. All I’m saying is that it works for me. I’ve gotten comfortable using it (maybe too comfortable) and haven’t yet found a reason to change. There are plenty of great hops to use at the top of the boil and I’m sure everyone has their favorite.
 
Amen I apologise for my potential thread derailment.
60min v 30 min yes for another day as well as 60 v 30 min mash boils;);).

Enjoying the discorse Continue on...
 
Megary said:
30 minute boils will turn this topic on its head! Certainly gives you a lot more to think about when choosing a bittering hop as opposed to 60 minutes.

And for the record, I don’t want anyone thinking that I am saying Magnum is the greatest bittering hop of all time and you all should be using it or your crazy. All I’m saying is that it works for me. I’ve gotten comfortable using it (maybe too comfortable) and haven’t yet found a reason to change. There are plenty of great hops to use at the top of the boil and I’m sure everyone has their favorite.
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We all are going to use what works for us, and that is OK. Long lost member Bob357 was a fan of Magnum for bittering, but even more so a fan of Warrior. It was because of him that I bought a pack of Warrior when the lhbs was out of Magnum.
 
I only use Magnum. I considered trying warrior, but never tried it. I like Magnum, so I will probably just stick with that.

In short, I can't tell you why you should stock two bittering hops:rolleyes:
 
Highest alpha hop I got is Galena.
Would that one do for bittering for all beer styles?
 
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