anglo hop burst

[mr bond]

Well after reading plenty on the US brewboard and subsequent spin off threads on AHB I'm giving some serious consideration to doing a Hop burst ale with an English twist.
Thought I would run it past you guys to see if any ones done it in the UK or what thought s you may have on the subject.

The combo you see has no Goldings in it as I'm not really a fan(find em to perfumy and girly without any substance)heresy,i know.
Prefer my Fuggles and all its offspring.

So I am going to get 5 varieties of hops mixed to 100gms total .
20 gms each of

Target
Challenger .....both are NB progeny
Fuggles
Willamette
Cascade ......all 3 are fuggle pedigree and cascade will add that zing in the tail.

94% 2 row ale malt
5% crystal
1 choc/carafa II

wyeast 1968 yeast

Divide equally and add to wort in 5 minute increments from 20 min to flame out.

Comments?

Dave

[prolix]

thats going have some zing indeed I presume it is going to be a standard 23l length? What OG you looking at for bitter/malt balance? That is going to be up around 60+ IBU so nice strong ale to balance or you going for the smack around the face chew the hop raw effect?

[BigEd]

Well after reading plenty on the US brewboard

Uh oh, that was your first mistake.

Welcome to Jim's, Dave. IMO unless you are shooting for a specific target of beer style or clone hops are a very subjective choice. The so-called "hop bursting" technique has a devote following in the US especially with the brewers of American high ABV hop bomb type of beers. Those beers invariably make use of large amounts of the high alpha citrus C hop family. With that said I will make my subjective statement on the matter.

My first thought is that your combination may get a bit muddied. I'm not particularly fond of Target as I don't like their flavor. Challenger is a much better choice for my taste as I think it has far superior flavor to Target and also blends much better with other hops. As one of the few Yanks who can't stand Cascade hops or any of its' relatives I have serious reservations about mixing it with British noble hops like Fuggles. Apart from the fact that I don't care for them Cascades are an aggressive hop as far as flavor and aroma go and they may tend to bully the Fuggles and Willamette in the mix. If you like the Cascade it might be better to separate it from the mix and use it as a large volume late kettle addition. I realise this disrupts the whole hopbursting thing but this will let the Challenger/Fuggles provide their mellow flavor and allow the Cascade to contribute its' unique flavor & aroma qualities.

[mr bond]

Thanks for the feedback all.

I'm normally a 2,maybe 3 hop combo brewer as well,and 40 odd IBU is my max to date.

I am just curious about doing a Hop bomb type beer and thought rather than go down the "C" hop yankee path I would do it with an English twist as i love my brit ales.An IPA on steroids if you will.....

If its half decent I would also give a Euro noble hop blend bomber a go.

Experimenting is FUN