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

[Megary]

I have been using Magnum to bitter almost every beer, Stouts, IPAs English Bitters, Saisons, the occasional lager, you name it. I like the bitterness it drops: not harsh, not overly crisp, nice and smooth, very neutral, gets along well with the later additions. When I order hops, I load up on Magnum to cover all my bittering needs. Pretty simple and effective.

Or am I getting lazy?

I suppose some hops like Bravo and Nugget can be useful as dual-purpose options. And maybe some beer styles might benefit from a different type of bitterness. I just can't see it.

Convince me that I need to use something other than Magnum to bitter. Or don't convince me.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Sounds like you've convinced yourself

 

[Minbari]

Even with bittering, different hops bring different tastes to the table.

 

[Sunfire96]

If you're doing 60+ minute boils I can't imagine it would make that much difference. Especially in the malty dark beers that you make.

You could always buy a few different bittering hops and do the same recipe with each, just to see

 

[Megary]

Sounds like you've convinced yourself

Maybe I have, but I might be missing something that makes sense for a particular style. Maybe Chinook or CTZ would bring a more appropriate firmer bite to an IPA. Maybe I should use Hallertau Mittelfrüh for anything German, or EKG for Bitters.

I don't know. I've never really perceived much other than bitterness from a 60 minute addition, but maybe I am missing something because I only use Magnum.

 

[Megary]

Even with bittering, different hops bring different tastes to the table.

Please explain because I've never noticed a taste from any 60-minute bittering hop addition. Or maybe I have, and I didn't realize it. Again, I almost always use Magnum, and it's pretty neutral. But if other hops used at the top of the boil are imparting a taste into the finished beer, I'm all ears. I do think different hops can bring a different type of bitterness...to me, Chinook is definitely firmer, almost harsh when compared to Magnum. But that might play better in an IPA.

 

[Minbari]

I mean, this is my thoughts on it. Why would anyone use anything but the highest apha-acid hops that cost the least, if it made no difference?

Never done A vs B comparison myself.

 

[Josh Hughes]

When I make a German lager, same malt bill and yeast and use Hallertau at 60 min magnum they taste different. Depends on what taste you like. 25 ibu of Hallertau is a nice flavor to me

 

[Donoroto]

Not all bittering hops taste exactly the same, but I will propose that they are awfully damn similar.

Aroma hops are a completely different story.

I definitely second your use of magnum hops for bittering exclusively. The only time I would do something different is when I have another hop and using it exclusively is just more convenient. One hop bag to open instead of 2 or more.

 

[Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews]

Why not? I'd just roll with what you have. Hell I use Cluster for bittering in, probably 85% of my beer. Magnum would certainly be fine.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

I use German Magnum a lot and while I like it for most things, I still use others.
I like Warrior in most of my IPA's
Chinook leaves a little more resinous bite so I will use that in a west coast IPA.
I try to stay origin specific when brewing as I feel it works, and the nuance's of a style may be imparted from the products used when the beers were developed.
For example, English and American pale ale malts are radically different. They're both 2 row, right? Not so much.
Wrapping up, I say that using one hop for bittering will work and is convenient, but you may be missing out on little things that may take a beer to the next level.
Good luck,
Brian

 

[Blackmuse]

I have been using Magnum to bitter almost every beer, Stouts, IPAs English Bitters, Saisons, the occasional lager, you name it. I like the bitterness it drops: not harsh, not overly crisp, nice and smooth, very neutral, gets along well with the later additions. When I order hops, I load up on Magnum to cover all my bittering needs. Pretty simple and effective.

I have been finding myself doing the same thing! Lol. Sometimes I use something different for bittering but only if I'm using it later in the boil as well and it has a high enough alpha acid to compete with Magnum. For me it boils down to my desire to have as little hop matter left over in the kettle as possible!

 

[Herm brews]

I like to use Magnum for bittering, but I have also used Warrior, Chinook, Columbus (CTZ), Northern Brewer and others. For example, the American Wheat Beer that I put forth for the quarterly community brew is bittered with Azacca. I am not certain that I can sense/taste any difference, but I like to experiment with a variety of hops, malt and yeast. Whatever you do as a home brewer is acceptable, since you are brewing first for yourself (at least that is the way I see it).

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yup I exclusively bitter with magnum too only on rare occasion will keep a noble hop for bittering in lager beer.
Weather or not I can taste a difference I'm not sure.
Great thread topic @Megary sometimes we just get comfortable with some brewing practices and don't stop to question them.


I'll be sticking with Herms bittering hop Azacca i did double think it though but I've reduced boil to 30mins where I believe there will still be a noticeable impact aroma wise from this addition even though i no chill anyway.

 

[Zambi]

I don't think I have real bittering hops.
Highest aa is Galena at 12.5%.
Bought that to do a beer with rice.
Next up is Hallertau blanc at 9.1 %
Bought that when I thought all Hallertau was the same

 

[dmtaylor]

I would just like to thank the OP for asking a question that pretty much nobody has ever asked. It would make for interesting experiments to compare several beers bittered with different hops to find out what the differences are, if any. Magnum is great, but... could something else be better? I honestly don't know.

Personally, I grow so much of my own hops that 9 times out of 10, I use my homegrown hops. After growing and using them for about the past 15 years, I *know* what their alpha acid is, within about 0.2%. And it's easy to figure out. After about the third batch, you'll know what the alpha is. Or fourth batch at most.

 

[Daniel Parshley]

I've used Cascade, Warrior, Simcoe, Fuggle, CZT, and probably others for bittering, but never Magnum. Now I have to put it on my try list. I like the 30 minute boil with 10 minute and shutoff additions more and more.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I should add @Megary a lot of main stream Australian lager beer XXXX I know for sure use Pride of Ringwood as their bittering hops I've used it once way back in the day these days I see Super Pride advertised as a high Alpha Acid version.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...gQFnoECAMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2X2sz_Ph5GICwYOjq5Ypzn

Anyhow obviously that hop imparts a distinct taste in these beers that another bittering hop wouldn't or would they maybe it's because it's a cheep native hop so commercialy it makes sense.

 

[Ward Chillington]

I'm with Brian's thought...

Wrapping up, I say that using one hop for bittering will work and is convenient, but you may be missing out on little things that may take a beer to the next level.
Good luck,

You don't want to be the spouse that was wondering what life might be like if they DID NOT marry their high school sweetheart.....

 

[Megary]

One time, I bittered a Blonde Ale with Galaxy and thought, hmm, something is different here. The beer had a sharper bite to it for the amount of IBU’s calculated. Could have been a mis-measurement, could have been the package was mis-labeled, could have been the malt wasn’t there to balance the taste, could have been a lot of things. I kind of wrote it off, but it has finally come around in my mind again.

So are we just chasing IBU’s at the top of the boil or are we after something more than that? I think the answer is “something more”, but only sometimes, maybe. If that makes any sense.

For most beers I think following the common logic of using anything high AA to keep hop material in the kettle low is the right idea.

But I get that there is an almost zen like beauty in designing a recipe for say, a Dark Mild and seeing EKG, Fuggles, EKG in the hops schedule. I’ve done it myself many times. But am I’m kidding myself if I think I might tell a difference in the finished beer if I would have bittered with Magnum instead?

Experiments would be nice, but my brewhouse and brewlife just aren’t built that way.

Am I missing another level in my beers because I use Magnum almost exclusively to bitter? “Probably maybe” is the best answer I can come up with. Maybe my tastes simply prefer Magnum as the early addition. Or, just as likely, I might be too damn stubborn and lazy to try something else out and see. Anyway, fun discussion.

Cheers!