What effect do hops have on beer?

What are hops and what do they do to beer?

Hops are what makes beer taste wonderful!

At their most basic form, hops are the cone-shaped flower of the plant known as 'Humulus lupulus'. 

Hops may be added to the beer wort to impart a bitterness which balances the sweet malt flavour of beer.

Hops can be used to create a variety of tastes and to offer unique aromas which enhance the drinking experience. 

Beer makers of the last millennium recognized that hops were a crucial element of brewing good beer. It was the Germans who were amongst the first beer makers to recognize their needs. So much so, it became the law that only hops could be used in beer as opposed to another beer flavoring such as anise (aniseed), heather and rosewood. 

The beauty of the hops plant is that its varieties give different qualities to the beer, meaning there are so many opportunities for making brewing discoveries.

The climate and location of where the hops are grown help determine these qualities but most importantly, the alpha or beta acids of the hop cause the greatest contribution. 

Hops also offer the ability to act as a stability agent, preventing spoilage of the beer (hence Indian Pale Ales shipped to India from Great Britain were heavily hopped). Its properties allow the beer yeast to thrive over any other potential contaminants.

It also helps with head retention and acts as a natural clarifier agent.

Hops also contain oils which add to the flavour. Hops can be added at different points in the brewing process and the differing temperatures will also have an effect on those oils and flavour. 

A concept of a Jedi Knight brewing beer inside the belly of a giant worm

Hop associations with certain kinds of beers 

Certain kinds of hops are commonly associated with particular styles of beer or beer from certain regions.

Here's some common examples: 

• Pilsner beers have become nearly synonymous with the four popular 'noble hops' being the varieties of hop called Terrnanger, Spalt, Hallertauer and Saaz. Saaz hops in particular are associated with the brewing of lagers, most for the aroma that has become associated with the beer. Pilsner beers are known to traditionally come from the Czech Republic.
• The English Golding hop has become the signature hops of English ale. The Fuggle hop is another popular hop used for ale. 
• America has become a home for hop production and many new varieties from old favorites have been developed. American hops are recognized and appreciated all around the world for the bold, and often intense flavors they impart to beer. American hops are often described as being citrus-like, however that's a most rudimentary description.

Hops in pellet form

What form do hops come in for brewing?

Hops are traditionally distributed as pellets, plugs or whole leaf but they now can come in cyro hop form.

What hops should I use in my beer brewing? 

It of course depends on what kind of beer you are trying to make. If you are making beer clones or following recipes, you probably want to follow what other brewers have found to work well. 

Here's a list of some common hops that are often used by home brewers and ones I have used myself:

• Cascade: This is an extremely popular American hop. Known for its floral hop trait, it is often liked to a grapefruit. Cascade is known as a versatile hop variety that is popular for bittering, finishing and dry hopping of pale ale and American-style beers.
• Czech Saaz: as mentioned a popular hop for pilsner and lager style beers. Saaz offers a delicate, mild floral aroma.
• Green Bullet offers a traditional bittering quality and hop flavour. A Kauri-like giant of the New Zealand brewing industry this hop is closely associated with the world renowned Steinlager beer. Green bullets is best considered a bittering variety typically lager beers.
• Motueka Hops: Hey, I'm a Kiwi so why not promote a second Kiwi hops? The Moteuka hops comes from the region it is grown in, being the top of the South Island of New Zealand. Very suitable for more traditional style lagers, especially the increasingly popular Bohemian Pilsener
• Golding hops are good for bittering, finishing and dry hopping a range of ales

If you are a beginner brewer looking to use hops for the first time, we feel confident enough from our experience with using these hops that you won't go wrong -  as long as you match them to your intended style of beer.

We have a fond memory of a brew which used both cascade and green bullet hops to make a loosely approximate version of Steinlager.

It was a fine brew!

And so from that, you can take that it is OK to add different hops together to get different flavours and aromas!

When do I add hops to my beer?

Typically the beer wort is boiled with hops before it is cooled down to begin the fermentation process. The timings of when to add the hops in the boil can be critical as the different timings can cause the hops to work differently on the beer.

If you are making your own wort (as is, not using a beer kit) then it's best practice to follow a tried and true recipe, at least as you start out.

You can of course become more adventurous when you have a bit of confidence in your beer making skills!

If you're at that point you'll want to understand that the process is sometimes known as the “hop schedule”. A hop schedule will list the length of time that the hops should be in the boil, not the amount of time you should wait to add the hops.

This allows you to make your timings correctly. The rough guide is the longer you boil the hops, the more bitterness they will impart. The shorter you boil them, the more flavour will be added.

If you are using a simple beer kit, you have two choices when to add hops. You may add them when you bring all the ingredients of the kit together, or you can add them near the end of the fermentation process. The choice is yours, and in our experience, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference in the end result. 

Where can I buy quality hops?

Your local brewshop will typically have a wide selection but there are online stores everywhere, we recommend NZ's Brewshop but internationally you'll have some good luck buying on Amazon.

Extra for Experts:

• How to dry hop your beer
• How to add hops to the beer kit's wort
• Where to buy beer hops online
• Add oak chips to flavour beer
• Using Lupulin powder for brewing

Leave a Comment cascade, green bullet, hops, saaz

Black Rock Nut Brown Ale Beer Kit Review 2020

After my successful crack at a bohemian pilsner, I turned m y 'beer goggles' to Black Rock’s ‘Nut Brown Ale’ beer kit. 

Like WilliamsWarn beer kits, it also made in the famous New Zealand Speights Brewery.

The kit is pitched by Black Rock as a “malty, deep amber coloured beer with a balanced harmony of crystal malt and hops to create a notably clean taste with a malt accented flavour.”

So shall we see if what I brew gets anywhere near that carefully crafted piece of PR spin?

The preparation of this beer is very standard

Sanitize your gear thoroughly.

Add the kit and a beer enhancer. You will certainly need an enhancer else, your ale will be too thin and have a poor mouth feel.

After pre-hydrating it, I added the bog standard brewing yeast that comes with the kit. I understand that every yeast packet from the Black Rock contains the same yeast which they call ‘Premium Dry Brewing Yeast Sachet’.

I could have got a yeast that was more properly matched to make an ale (such as maybe the Nottingham) but I’m keen to see what the kit delivers.

And now I did something a little hypocritical.

While the Nut Brown Ale kit comes with green bullet and pacific gem hops, I added goldings hops to add a lil bit of delight. The key thing for this beer is that it should be fairly light on hops so as to not over bitter your beer.

Then I wrapped the fermenter in sheets and left it in the shed for 9 days where it bubbled away quite nicely.

Let’s talk about this kind of beer for a moment.

The Brown Ale style initially gained popularity in the down and dirty pubs of England, where beer guzzlers expressed a need for beer that was both flavorful and complex but at the same time mild enough to be a session beer.

Bottling day came and the beer was duly bottled.

And then I waited a whole two weeks before even trying my ale. For me that’s an eternity but this is what a patient beer brewer must do if he wants to make quality tasting beer.

So, how did the ale taste? Did it reach lofty heights of flavour as suggested by the PR spin?

I made a simple beer. 

It tasted earthy and brown. 

I can’t say that the goldings hops did anything amazing for the beer but they certainly helped leave a nice aftertaste on the tongue. One could certainly appreciate the malty flavour of the beer so the description of the product bears out somewhat.

The verdict: The Nut Brown Ale kit from Black Rock is a handy example of the beer. It’s not flash in the pan but for the home brewer that’s conscious that some beer kits can be ludicrously expensive, this particular kit gives good value for money.

Update: I have brewed several Nut Brown ales since this initial review and I can confirm that as I've become a better brewer, these ales have become even more drinkable. 

Check out the Black Rock range prices on Amazon.

Leave a Comment beer kit review, black rock, goldings, green bullet, nut brown ale, pacific gem

⇒ Steinlager Classic Clone Recipe

Steinlager clone recipe for homebrew beer

There's plenty of evidence around to suggest that Steinlager is one of the greatest beers that has ever been produced.

Despite the trend to craft beer drinking, Steinlager beer is holding it's own in the market.

Kind of...

This is due of course to a strong marketing campaign* by Lion Nathan - it's the official beer of the all conquering All Blacks, the fact it's a New Zealand household name and the fact that it's actually a good beer to drink.

It really is, beer snobs need not contribute their opinion!

If you've found this page, chances are we do not need to sell you on Steinlager being a good drinking beer - and if you want to clone it, here's a Steinlager clone recipe that might just help you get an approximation of what many consider to be one of New Zealand's finest beers.

And just so there's no confusion, we are talking about Steinlager Classic, the original Steinlager beer.

Not this "Pure' version of it they market these days and let's be clear - there's no way we are even going to consider a Steinlager Tokyo.

That is simply marketing a new beer for the sake of marketing a new beer.

It has no soul.

Steinlager Classic, now that is a beer that has tradition, aspiration, balls and of course great taste.

A beer that you can actually have a good crack at making a homebrew clone!

Hops used in Steinlager

The actual recipe for Steinlager is a closely held trade secret, so it's a bit of a guess what goes into it but well-educated taste buds have been able to offer some handy insight.

Steinlager is noted for its key ingredient of the so-called 'green bullet' hops. 

This hops is unique in that it was developed in New Zealand and it delivers a traditional bittering quality and hop flavor, ideal for lager making.

It's popularity has meant it's now a flagship hop within the New Zealand brewing industry.

So your Steinlager clone will at the least need bullet hops!

How to make a good clone of Steinlager beer

So there are two ways to make a Steinlager clone. One way is rough as guts, and the other is your more refined home brewing process...

Making a good Steinlager clone using a beer kit:

You will need the following ingredients:

• A can of lager beer malt
• Green Bullet hops
• Beer enhancer
• You could use the yeast that comes with your kit or try a Budvar Lager yeast.

Prepare according to the usual method of making beer with kits and dammit, Jim - make sure you sanitise your gear!

Cold storage of your lager will be very handy - leave it in the shed?

Extra for experts: If you are trying to make a Steinlager Pure clone (hey, it's your life), note that Pure uses Pacific Jade hops, Nelson Sauvin hops and possibly some green bullet too.

Steinlager clone recipe for more seasoned brewers

If you're into boiling your wort and getting the timings of the hop additions just perfect, here's some a Steinlager clone recipe that seems pretty handy.

It comes from a bloke called Timmy:

• 4.00 kg Pilsner, Malt Craft Export (Joe White) (3.2 EBC) Grain
• 0.25 kg Carahell (Weyermann) (25.6 EBC) Grain
• 0.15 kg Carafoam (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC) Grain
• 0.15 kg Wheat Malt, Malt Craft (Joe White) (3.5 EBC) Grain
• 60 min 20.00 gm Green Bullet [13.50 %] (60 min) Hops
• 10 min 15.00 gm Green Bullet [13.50 %] (10 min) Hops
• 10 min 25.00 gm Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (10 min) Hops
• 10 min 0.50 items Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
• 1 min 25.00 gm Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (1 min) Hops
• 1 packet Budvar Lager (Wyeast Labs #2000) Yeast-Lager

You'll have an estimated 1.056 original gravity and final gravity of 1.014 and approx 30 IBU.

There are other Steinlager clone recipes around but they are more or less the same as this one.

One or two seem to suggest that the beer contains Hallertau Hops but others have countered that was an older version of the beer.

Indeed, given the green bullet hops wasn't first produced until 1972 and that Steinlager has been around since the late 1950's, the beer drunk since at least 1972 has a different hops than what the originally beer started with - which is probably no biggie as it was in 1977 when Steinlager was crowned the world's best beer.

It also won the Les Amis du Vin Award (a beer competition of renown) again in '78 and '80 so it's the green bullet hops that helped win the world over.

This article has a sweet history of the beer as it became popular around the world.

* How about that poster eh? Classic sexist advertising from the 1980s.

Check out this Panhead supercharger clone recipe.

3 comments budvar, clone recipe, green bullet, home brew, steinlager

↠ Tips on how to properly brew a good lager

How to easily make a great lager home brew

You might have heard that it's hard to home brew a good lager.

You might have heard beer kit lagers can be unforgiving beers to make and any mistakes will ruin the beer.

It's almost ironic that the world's most popular beer style is apparently too hard to make.

But, is this really the case?

What if I told you it was easy to make a great tasting kit lager brew?

Would you believe me?

The proof is in the tasting of course. Let me show you the secrets and tips of making a delicious lager from a beer kit.

I've made some great lagers and I look back fondly on the batch I called 'J' and just how good it came out. I was basically trying to make a Steinlager clone and it was truly superb.

If this backyard brewer can easily make a great lasting lager, you can too.

Are you ready for the secret of easily making a good lager?

Stop reading all the online nonsense and JUST BREW IT.

That's all you have to do. It's that easy a tip.

JUST BREW IT.

But just in case you think I'm pulling your leg, here's some tricks and tips for brewing lagers (and hard seltzer brews too).

Don't rush in like a school boy

The key to making a good lager is patience.

Even if you think fermentation is complete, let your lager beer rest a few more days longer in the fermenter.

It's a chemical process after all. 

It's very common for lagers to exhibit sulfur-like characters during fermentation (hence part of the rationale for people saying lagers are hard to brew).

Leaving your beer to sit for a bit longer will allow such characteristics to fade and largely disappear - which leaves you with a great tasting and smelling lager.

In the cold, cold night

In conjunction with time, lagers need the cold to condition and mature.

It's a lesson the Nordic people discovered long ago - they put their beer in cold caves over the winter and found they came out well ... lagered!

Indeed, the word lager actually means storeroom or warehouse so you can see how the cave thing / naming of the style happened.

Ideally, once you have bottled your lager, leave it in a warmish place to carbonate for a few days. If it's TOO cold at this stage, you won't get bubbles in your beer!

Once carbonation takes place, feel free to put your beer bottles in the garden shed for a few weeks where it's nice an cold.

For this reason, it's often considered good timing to make your lager near the end of autumn or the start of winter.

Keeping your lager cold will result in the production of fewer esters and fusel alcohols, giving your beer a better taste balance.

Expert brewers often refrigerate their lager.

Consider using well known lager yeasts 

It's a trait of lager that certain yeasts tend to suit being lagered. Your larger kit will come with a standard yeast - if you're feeling adventurous, you might want to order the Lager Yeast WL833 - it's a popular yeast for lager brewing.

Match your hops to well known lager hops

Saaz hops, in particular, are associated with the brewing of lagers as well as the classic German hop, Hallertauer . We've discovered New Zealand derived Green Bullet hop is also very handy.

Read more on good hop matches to beer.

You need to be  super vigilant with your sanitization

Ales are more forgiving than lagers, it's true.

The taste of an ale can overpower some of the niggles of brewing like unwanted smells.

So, to avoid these happen to your lager beer, the best cure is prevention.

That means being meticulously clean during the brew and ensuring your equipment is sanitized.

The tip here? Sanitize, sanitize and sanitize.

Remember what the word lager means! 

It means basically to store.

So once you have bottled your beer, leave it to store for as long as you can.

Maybe even over the whole of winter, in a cold place.

At a minimum three weeks but it could be worth leaving your lager alone for a couple of months.

Summary - how to easily brew a lager:

• Leave your brew to ferment a little longer than you would and ale
• Select a tried and true lager yeast
• Match with appropriate hops
• Watch your temperatures, especially post bottling for carbonation and conditioning.

So these have been a few basic tips that will help you easily make a fine tasting lager beer.

Forget the hysteria that it's hard to make a lager and JUST DO IT!

Leave a Comment green bullet, hallertauer, home brew, hops, lager, saaz

↠ An experiment with a lager kit, riwaka hops and a bottle of Golden Syrup

I sniff around a couple of homebrew Facebook groups and every time a beginner pops up asking for a really simple beer recipe for using a kit, this dude pops up says something like:

"Mate, I've had some amazing brews with a lager, riwaka hops and golden syrup!"

I was like, hmmm. 

Would this really work?

I prodded the guy a little bit and he then added that he also would use a beer enhancer. 

Which makes sense as enhancers really do wonders for your beer's performance - both in body, taste and mouth feel. 

So, I put this idea to the test. 

I used the following ingredients for what I'm going to call the:

Golden Riwaka Lager recipe 

·      Black Rock's Lager Kit and standard yeast

·      One whole packet of Riwaka hops

·      One 300 ml bottle of golden syrup

·      One beer enhancer which contained dextrose and DME.

To clarify, golden syrup is treacle, not molasses, nor maple syrup. 

I prepared the brew as per standard beer practices - cleaning and sanitizing the fermenting drum with sodiumpercarbonate, using boiling water and making sure my stirring spoon was nice and clean.

I made my wort and then I dryhopped the whole packet of Riwaka hops pellets. Gosh, they smelled like beer heaven. At a pinch you could probably substitute some Saaz hops as Riwaka was born out of the Saaz variety but the point of this exercise is to try what the random dude on social media suggested...

I then wrapped the fermenter in some old sheets and left it in my man shed for a week. 

The first day I went in to check that fermentation was occurring, my nostrils were swamped with that delicious hops smell that had just enveloped the whole room and I could hear the airlock bubbling away quite happily. 

Winning. 

So, after one week the bubbling had died down to a slow occasional blip, so I decided to bottle. 

I've recently been doing a bit of a cheat when it comes to bottling my beer. Despite recommending it elsewhere on this site, I've become lazy in a sense. What I do after each bottle has been emptied of its liquid gold, I rinse it out at the kitchen bench, adding in some washing up soap and using the bottle brush as need be. 

The bottle then gets a spin in the dishwasher. My theory is the heat from the dishwasher kills any nasty germs that are lurking. Be clear though, it's not likely much hot water is getting into the bottles to help clean them, it's the heat that I am after. 

I then store the washed bottles in a 50-litre washing basket with a sheet over the top and use as required.

If I start to notice a few bottles tasting a little off, I know that it's time to do a proper sanitization where the bottles are soaked in sodium percarbonate for a couple of hours at a minimum. 

Phew, we wandered off the track there a bit!

Where was I?

Ah yes, bottling.

I batch primed the brew with 80 grams of sugar, capped the bottles and put them back in the shed for some alone time in the dark.

Now, I know that the seasonal warmth coming into summer is not really the ideal time for making a lager. Anyways, this patient brewer will wait and see how my Golden Riwaka Lager pans out.

-

So, it’s been a couple of weeks and I’ve had a chance to sample the batch.

I placed a bottle in the fridge overnight and sampled it with my dinner. 

Holy shit, I made a damn good beer. That random dude on social media has stumbled on an amazing combination of ingredients.

It's a little fruity as the hops are quite strong. It has a good mouthfeel for a kit lager. It feels fresh on the mouth and as a real summer beer vibe. 

It looks like the 80 grams of sugar was just right as the beer has a good amount of bubbles that continue to rise up in the glass. 

Given its nature, this beer is definitely best served cold. 

Would I brew this again? 

Most definitely but I would reduce the hop level, a whole bag of Riwaka felt like overkill but that's down to personal taste. The choice is yours.


---

I had another go along the same lines as the above. 

I was given a Cooper's Lager kit at Christmas - so I gave it a ferment - I used adjuncts of 300 mls of Golden Syrup and 200 mls of maple syrup in it as the fermentables. 

I didn't add any extra malt such as DME or beer enhancer.

I did add a small hand full of Green Bullet hops. 

So I brewed, fermented for a week and bottled. At week 2 of conditioning, I sampled my wares with a little bit of trepidation - sure enough, this was the driest beer I have ever made. It had no mouth feel - the distinct hops taste was there but it was massively overpowered by the dry taste of the beer. 

So I would consider this experiment a failure, however, like inventor Thomas Edison making the light bulb and finding 1000 ways to NOT make one, this process has confirmed that when making beer from a kit, you need to stick to the tried and true - and use something like a dry malt extract to ensure a good mouth feel and a brew that's not dominated by the sugars you added. 

Leave a Comment beer kits, golden syrup, green bullet, lager, recipe, riwaka

↠ Where can I buy beer hops online?

Where can I buy beer hops online?

If you know a thing or two about beer, you'll know that hops is so crucial to making good beer that the Germans made it the law for it to be an ingredient of beer.

You are of course free to make beer whatever way you like but you're probably going to want to buy hops for your home brew at some stage, especially as you begin to experiment with new tastes and flavours.

So there are two questions you should ask - what hops should I use in my beer and where can I purchase hops?

First we will talk about what hops to use in your beer. Certain kinds of hops are commonly associated with particular styles of beer or beer from certain regions.

It's really up to you, the power of buying and using hops is yours! (Did you read that in a Captain Planet voice?)

Here's some commonly used hops that you can buy:

• Pilsner beers have became nearly synonymous with the four so called 'noble hops'. These are varieties of hop called Terrnanger, Spalt, Hallertauer and Saaz. 
• Saaz hops are closely aligned with the brewing of lagers, mostly for the delicous aroma that has become associated with the beer. As an aside, pilsner beers are known as traditionally coming from the Czech Republic.
• If you're looking for hops that might help your beer taste a bit like the classic New Zealand beer, Steinlager, you might buy Green Bullet hops. 
• America, the land of the free beer drinker, has become a home for hop production and many new varieties from old favorites have been developed. American hops are recognized and appreciated all around the world for their bold, and often intense flavors they imbue in beer. American hops are often described as being citrus like, however that's a most elementary description. Cascade hops are a very popular choice.  Chinook is another popular 'north western' hop.
• The English Golding hop has become the signature hops of English ale.
• The Fuggle hop is another popular hop used for ale beer. 

That's all well and good but where can I buy hops? I need to purchase some saaz hops, man! Is it OK to buy hops online? Yes, Timmy, it sure is OK to buy hops online!

There's two ways to buy hops - in person or online. If you are going to do it in person, you need to find a local specialty beer brewing shop.

So get on to Google and have a snoop around or ask your mates at work, chances are they are homebrewers!

Or you can buy or hops online. There are a mega ton of sites out there but we reckon if you know what you want, just order hops from Amazon. There are plenty of reputable beer brewing equipment experts on there and between them, they have a large selection of the best hops to buy.

If you've bought some hops and are wondering how to use them, check out our guide.

2 comments cascade, chinook, goldings, green bullet, hops