Why use flavor hops for bittering?

[Epimetheus]

Does it make any difference in taste if you boil for 60 minutes Warrior vs. Cascade for the equivalent bittering level?

Some recipes call for boiling Cascade or Fuggles or other flavor and aroma hops for 60 minutes. If boiling over 30 minutes wipes all the flavor, it seems to make sense to use a little bit of high alpha rather than more, and more costly, aroma hops.

 

[unionrdr]

I've had recipe kits like that. I guess the amount/quality of bittering makes the difference in some beers? That's my take on it anyway...

 

[Yooper]

Does it make any difference in taste if you boil for 60 minutes Warrior vs. Cascade for the equivalent bittering level?

Some recipes call for boiling Cascade or Fuggles or other flavor and aroma hops for 60 minutes. If boiling over 30 minutes wipes all the flavor, it seems to make sense to use a little bit of high alpha rather than more, and more costly, aroma hops.

It really depends on the recipe and the hops.

What I mean is that sure, most of the flavor is gone from the hops with a long boil. But not all. It doesn't totally lose all of the hop's flavor and character. Some hops varieties, like chinook, keep a bit of resiny harshness to them and would be great for an IPA but not a German lager, regardless of the IBUs.

Noble hops, even though low AAUs, provide a much smoother bitterness with a "finer" type of hops flavor. It's hard to describe, but you'll know it when you taste it.

English hops still tend to maintain their "English" flavor, without any citrus character or harshness.

As a result, I tend to use a higher AAU but neutral flavored hop variety, like magnum. It's very clean in flavor with a smooth bitterness, probably due to its German origins, so it works in most beers I do.

 

[bethebrew]

At under $12 a lb. for this years Cascade leaf hops, how much cheaper do you want? It's 8.5% AA, not bad. I like Amarillo full boil, and Amarillo period and would add some Cascade early and late as well.

http://www.hopsdirect.com/cascauslf/

 

[Epimetheus]

Thank you. Now I understand it can be subtle but noticable. i gotta improve my palate.

Cost - It's not Cascade in particular. Other hops, too. (hopsdirect is on my list for next month)

 

[bethebrew]

Thank you. Now I understand it can be subtle but noticable. i gotta improve my palate.

Cost - It's not Cascade in particular. Other hops, too. (hopsdirect is on my list for next month)

My problem is I have about 8 lbs. of hops in sealed bags from Hops Direct, yet I want more! Gotta resist the urge, and go old and big IPAs.

 

[Brickwalker]

I bought a lb of spalt hops from hopsshack for dirt cheap before I knew that I didn't like them. I brewed an Octoberfest with them and found out I couldn't stand them. The label on the hops said "1% ALpha Acid". I almost threw the rest of them away but I decided to use them for bittering in a kolsch thinking I wouldn't taste them anyway. Long story longer I ended up using 2oz per 5 gal @60min (because of low aau) and it came out tasting like a freaking spalt bomb. And I hate that spalt flavor, so maybe I'm a bit sensitive to it. Now Im wondering if the label was wrong. This was the first time I really noticed the character added by the bittering hops. Generally I use magnum, galena, and Columbus for bittering. The first two of which are known as lending "clean" bitterness, which is maybe why in the past I haven't noticed any real distinct flavor from my bittering additions.

Lesson I learned: I hate spalt hops, and at least some bittering hops add their own character/flavor to the beer (maybe some more than others) not just general bitterness.

Would like to do a SMaSH experiment doing side by side batches with only bittering additions, to taste difference in bittering character. Anyone done this?