which german noble hop goes with hull melon hop?

[Rudy's Brewhouse]

Greetings everybody,

I was just wondering if anybody had any favorite german noble hops to pair with hull melon. I'm going to brew a cream ale and want to kiss it with a little hull melon. I'm trying to avoid buying all 4 to compare. I appreciate any opionions/advice! cheers!

russ

 

[GFHomebrew]

Mandarina Bavaria not really "Noble" though.
Na sorry can't help you but hopefully more experienced brewers may help.

Have you tried doctor Google...

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Depends on what you're trying to do. Why have you settled on Noble hops? Typically they are a little spicy and herb like. If your just looking to pick up some bittering, than add a very small amount of Magnum to get to 12-14 IBU's (1 hour) to the boil. It depends on how you want to use the Hull Melon hop.

If you want to see the flavor and aroma of the Hull Melon stand out, a flame out addition of 3-4 ounces or even a 170F whirlpool for 10-20 minutes and a small 60 minute Magnum addtion would work. The magnum will give you a nice firm, smooth bitterness and not get in the way of the Hull Melon. Usually the hop you want to show case is rarely used to bitter the beer because the flavors and aromas are lost in the boil. Remember that even a flame-out or whirlpool addition will add some bitterness, so the more hops that are added at the end will reduce the amount of the 1 hour addition.

Otherwise, TrialBen's suggestion of Madarina would be fine too.

 

[oliver]

A delicate style like cream ale, i'd typically use ONLY a noble at bittering and also use the same hop i bittered with for aroma at 5 minutes left. I always choose Hallertau Mittelfruh, i think it's the best choice. Liberty is a good choice, it's like the American version of Mittelfruh.. Beyond that, Tettnang, German Select (Spalt), and Hersbrucker would be all be nice choices... Looking at other varieties but still similar, Saaz and Styrian would be a good choice also. Toss an ounce of one of those hops at 60 minutes, and an ounce of Melon at 5 minutes or later.

 

[J A]

There's no reason you need to use more than one hop in a Cream Ale. As Oliver says, it's very typical to use mostly bittering hops at 60 and maybe a little something late for the impression of aroma. It's become more fashionable to use styles like Lagers and Cream Ales to show off subtle hop flavors, so your notion of using the Huell Melon is sound but you don't need to pair it with anything to make it work well.
The only real reason to use different hops is to use a higher-alpha hops that's more efficient and less expensive for bittering. At the homebrew scale. Or maybe sometimes the aroma hop of choice can lead to harsh bittering like El Dorado Mosaic or Citra. Huell Melon isn't harsh and you don't need a lot of IBUs so neither of those motivations exist in this case.
That said, I've used plain Hallertau for bittering in conjunction with Hallertau Blanc for aroma additions and it worked out great. If you really just want to buy more hops, that's the way I'd go.