Quick ques. re crystal hops and the BTP database

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billvelek
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Quick ques. re crystal hops and the BTP database

Post by billvelek »

Last minute plans to brew today, so I'm just now taking an inventory and planning a recipe. Loaned my brewing books to my son who is planning to get into brewing, so I have no reference material now. I just noticed that for 'crystal' hops, the BTP database lists an AA% of 3.2 and also states:

"Mild. 'Noble'. Used mainly for its aroma which is mild and pleasant." and then it says "Type: Bittering".

My package of 'crystal' likewise indicates a low AA% of just 3.5%, so it seems counter-intuitive to me that a hop with a relatively low AA% that has "aroma" listed as it's strong-point, would be classified only as "Bittering"; i.e., there are many hops in the database that are listed as used for all three purposes. Just thought I'd ask this now before I forget, since I just spotted it. Any thoughts on this? Is the BTP database correct?

By the way, I brewed a Roggenbier on Saturday, and I think that batch worked out very nicely with time and temps per BTP -- as close as I think I've ever gotten. I'm very pleased and am anxious to see how this turns out. Then we went to my son's lakehouse on Saturday night where we boiled some crawdads, corn, and potatoes -- yummm yummm -- and also put a big dent in my homebrew (about a case and a half), so I've got to rebuild my stocks. Now I've got to get back to my recipe planning and brewing.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
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ColoradoBrewer
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Post by ColoradoBrewer »

Hi Bill,
Although the noble hops have lower AA values there is no reason they can't be used for bittering. If you''re shooting for a high IBU beer you'd have to use more. There are in fact several beers that use 100% noble hops.

There's a thread running on another forum right now that is somewhat related to your question. In it someone is asking about a statement in Randy Mosher's book Radical Brewing where he says the use of 100% noble hops will result in bitterness that is not as harsh as using high AA hops.

BTW, BTP is in error if it has Crystal listed as a Noble hop. There are only four cultivars that are truly noble, Hallertau Mittlefruh, Tettnanger, Spalter, and Saaz.
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billvelek
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But what about ALSO using it for 'flavor' and 'aroma'

Post by billvelek »

Thanks, Colorado, for your reply. My point was not that it seemed odd to use it for bittering, but rather that the database suggests that it is ONLY for bittering, which seems odd considering BTP's additional comment about aroma. Now, BTP isn't quite that blunt -- i.e., it doesn't use the phrase "only for bittering" -- but by the same token, the BTP database lists several hops and specifically indicates that, for them, that they are the "type" used for aroma, flavor, AND bittering. I therefore thought that perhaps the Crystal is likewise a type to be used for more than just bittering.

Cheers.

Bill Velek
Visit www.tinyurl.com/bvelek - portal to my brewing sites: 3,100+ members on 'Grow-Hops', and 1,350+ brewers on my 'BrewingEquip' group.
Running BTP v1.5.3 on WinXP 2005 SP3 w/AMD Athlon 64@3800+, 1GigRam, Res 1024x768
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