Keyworth Early

[charliemartin]

Hi,
I picked up some Keyworth Early hops from the Malt Miller recently and was wondering if anyone has any experience of using them. Description below:

7.9% Alpha
"This hop has been resurrected by the Charles Faram Hop Development Programme and was used to great effect in Quantum Brewing co.’s single hop beer.

An English hop that displays both lemon and grapefruit."

I might do a pale ale with a little caramalt and torrefied wheat. What do you think?

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[seymour]

That's extremely cool. I've only ever read about Keyworth Early in old beer-related books.

Here's what the United States Department of Agriculture hops resource says about them:

CULTIVAR: Keyworths Early
PEDIGREE: no information available
PRIMARY SITE: USDA-OSU Hop Research Farm, East Farm, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
ORIGIN: selected by Mr, Keyworth in the lat 1800s in England
DATE RECEIVED: spring 1981
METHOD RECEIVED: rhizomes
REFERENCES: Burgess, A.H. Hops. Leonard Hill Books, Interscience Publishers. New York, London. 1964. Neve, R.A. Hops. Chapman and Hall Publishers, London, New York. 1991
MATURITY: early
LEAF COLOR: light green
SEX: female
DISEASES: downy mildew: moderately suceptible, Verticillium wilt: resistant, Viruses: no information
VIGOR: fair to good
YIELD: poor in Corvallis test plots, fair to good in England
SIDE ARM LENGTH: 12 to 18 inches
ALPHA ACIDS: 8.6%
BETA ACIDS: 3.3%
COHUMULONE: 33%
STORAGE STABILITY: good, retained 72% of original alpha acids after 6 months room temperature storage
OIL: 1.39 ml/100 g. Humulene 22%; caryophyllene 7.2%; Myrcene 44.9%; Farnesene trace. H/C ratio = 3.04
MAJOR TRAITS: pleasant continental aroma
OTHER INFORMATION: Choice old English aroma hop but limited by low yield potential.

It's surprising to me how high the alpha acids, cohumulone and Myrcene oil are. We're led to believe those old English varieties were all low AA% by modern standards, but these stats look like a new boast-worthy variety. Considering it has "a pleasant Continental aroma", one must wonder why it got left behind. I guess the answer is simply it had a low yield agriculturally...

I think your grainbill sounds perfect, can't wait to hear how they perform for you!

[YeastWhisperer]

W.G. Keyworth developed his Early and Midseason cultivars at the East Malling Research Station in 1940s. The hop was bred from the American wild hop Humlus lupulus var. neomexicanus, which is the hop family to which NEO1, Amalia, and Multihead belong.

[seymour]

W.G. Keyworth developed his Early and Midseason cultivars at the East Malling Research Station in 1940s. The hop was bred from the American wild hop Humlus lupulus var. neomexicanus, which is the hop family to which NEO1, Amalia, and Multihead belong.

Ahhh....great info. Thanks, YeastWhisperer. That makes a lot of sense. I recently tasted Schlafly Hop Harvest Ale, Ratebeer 98%!, which was dry-hopped with a shitload of native neomexicanus hops. I gave it a 3.4 out of 5, but most people liked it better than I did, with an average of 3.73. Here's an excerpt of my rating,

...Hazy orange-ish amber colour, thin but persistent white head. The aromas were certainly unique, but very, very subtle. I’m going to describe some stuff, but I had to work hard to pick up on ’em. Overall, it wasn’t as strong as I’d hoped: green tea, honey, cantalope melon, juicy fruit gum, lemongrass, daisy family weeds like echinacea, dandelion, chicory, very faint tomato plant. Medium body, low carbonation, nice round mouthfeel, lingering fruity aftertaste. I’m a sucker for this mellow hop trial recipe, especially whenever it’s cask-conditioned, but to be honest I wanted to like this one a whole lot more...

I'm curious how the English-bred descendent differs. YeastWhisperer, have you tasted Keyworth Early?

[YeastWhisperer]

I'm curious how the English-bred descendent differs. YeastWhisperer, have you tasted Keyworth Early?

No, but it was on my radar to plant. The neomexicanus admixture should give the cultivar decent heat resistance.

By the way, did you know that Northern Brewer is 1/4th California Cluster? Northern Brewer's mother is Canterbury Golding. It's father (OB21) is Brewers Gold x OY1. OY1 came from the Russian River Valley in California. OY1 was donated by E.C. Horst (the West Cost hop broker who invented the hop picking machine).

[charliemartin]

Cheers guys,
Some interesting facts there. I've got an all Fuggles bitter up next then hope to do the pale ale with Keyworth hops. Thinking about 15, 10, 5 and FO additions, might add a small bittering addition of Target.

Cheers,
Charliemartin

[raiderman]

I bought a bag of this and came on tonight in the hope of guidance. Seymour a lot of hops from English breeding programmes were rejected because they smelt of cats piss something which since Citra is an advantage!

[DeGarre]

Looks like my next brew next week is going to be Keyworth Early. 1050° golden ale with Admiral to bitter, then KE at 20 and 5 minutes for 15 minute hop stand. S04 and 37 ibus. Simples.

[Clibit]

Caramalt and wheat in a pale works well for me.

[Eadweard]

Here's what I found on Keyworths:

http://edsbeer.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/c ... -hops.html

[raiderman]

Sounds like I'm right to go for a single hop. I think all pale with a tad carapils and I've got some flaked malted rye which is the sort of stuff Adnams are throwing into ghost ship so should give a little body and maltiness without adding colour

[YeastWhisperer]

I bought a bag of this and came on tonight in the hope of guidance. Seymour a lot of hops from English breeding programmes were rejected because they smelt of cats piss something which since Citra is an advantage!

A lot of American hops can have that feline fragrance. The compound that is responsible for the odor is known as 4-mercapto-4-methyl-pentan-2-one (4MMP). The compound can also smell like black currants. Chinook and Simcoe are well known for being "catty." The level of 4MMP found in catty hops is dependent on where the cultivars are grown.

With that said, catty as a term has lost its impact. Modern craft brewing has taken that minus and turned it into a plus. Today, most beer drinkers refer to the aroma as "pine" or "piney." However, to 4MMP sensitive beer drinkers, the compound still smells like a ripe litterbox.

[raiderman]

Exactly. My hope is that there are more disregarded old cultivars lying around that will suit modern tastes and give me something other than citra to brew with I'm going 4kg mo 200g carapils. 250 g flaked rye malt. All keg worth early. 20 g at 60m. 25 at 15m 15g at 10m20 g at 5m then 20 g at 80oC. Should be interesting

[Clibit]

Why are you stuck with Citra and nothing else? There are other fantastic aroma hops.

[raiderman]

It's the MSG of brewing. It can do no wrong. I can throw several hundred grams at a brew and drink it for breakfast It's just wonderful. I should try to kick the habit and I got some nz watpi iti so I'm not total lost!