I'm currently growing Cascade, Fuggles, Northdown, First Gold (Prima Donna), Santium and Styrian Goldings. I have space for only 1 final variety and feel I'm short of an out-and-out bittering hop.
Seen loads of comments here and elsewhere with a lot said about Magnum but with strong representation for Warrior, Chinook, Galena and Nugget - and of course every other hop under the sun. These seem to be available in the UK as rhizomes with the possible exception of Warrior - not seen that so far.
I'm in North Yorkshire and on a heavy clay soil although I'm moving all my plants (I know - will no doubt result in a poor crop next year probably) into a newly created trench which I'm going to try and fill with a sandy loam mix. This area will also be used for growing veg and whilst I'll make sure that doesn't include the worse ones for mildew (peas etc) a bittering hop with a reasonable resilience would be sensible.
I mainly brew IPA's, APA's, Bitters and Porters but branch out now and again - my next brew will be my 40th all grain brew and I've tried most styles during that time. I suppose therefore it needs to be something that happily does the job without overly imparting flavour - this seems the reason why most go for Magnum.
As usual - all suggestions welcome.
Bittering Hop Rhizome Recommendation
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- Hollow Legs
- Posts: 374
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Re: Bittering Hop Rhizome Recommendation
I suppose the issue is knowing the aa% and calculating IBUs based on that. Plus bittering hops are cheap as chips - but I would recommend Admiral myself, high aa% and assertive bitterness, excellent storage, but also very nice as an aroma or dry hop particularly for big English IPAs.
- HTH1975
- Piss Artist
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Re: Bittering Hop Rhizome Recommendation
Challenger - good bittering potential and also nice for aroma if you want to use it that way. Makes a great ESB.
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- Hollow Legs
- Posts: 387
- Joined: Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:03 pm
- Location: Derbyshire, UK
Re: Bittering Hop Rhizome Recommendation
Challenger would be my choice too, if ever I venture into hop cultivation it would certainly be on the list.