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Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:35 pm
by Jeltz69
Thinking of brewing a lager soon, has anyone used Herkules hops for a lager? (Given that a few of us have some) Or if not any opinions on whether they are suitable?

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:17 pm
by I_used_to_brew
My initial reaction would have been no, I'd have based that on them being a high alpha hop. Did a bit of searching around and found http://homebrew.stackexchange.com/quest ... a-pilsener so it's a maybe, but you would add them very late and even then probably not much.

I've been using them happily in all sorts of 'pale ales' as the battering hop, I like them.

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2015 7:42 pm
by steve crawshaw
I have just used them in a czech amber as bittering

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/ ... h-neck-oil

came out very nice.

I think as roger says, they would be best as a bittering hop. Saaz or hallertaur late in the boil for aroma would be preferred.

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:55 am
by Jeltz69
Thanks, pretty much what I thought but nice to have it confirmed.

I agree they are great for bittering, very happy with them in that respect.

Just wondering if I could get away with not buying 100g of Saaz, when I'm only going to use about 40g, however it looks like I can use the rest up in a pale ale.

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:19 pm
by I_used_to_brew
I have Saaz in the freezer, you can have whatever you want.

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:02 pm
by EckersKlein
Ariel and I used 50g of Herk for 60m of boil in a hoppy lager we brewed back in February, we found it to be very nice to work with. A nice clean bitterness without any goofy flavors, which seemed to work well with the general lager theme.

We've used it since in much more reasonable quantities just as a replacement for Hallertau, and it does the trick in that capacity too. Using a hop with that much AA even convinced us to do our first IBU calculation too.

-Eric

Re: Herkules hops for a lager?

Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 3:06 pm
by Jeltz69
RogerP wrote:I have Saaz in the freezer, you can have whatever you want.
Thanks I'll get in touch closer to brewing it and see if you have some left. I know I said soon but really I meant when the weather turns colder, so hopefully not too soon.