Introduction

Unlike using malts where there are a number of methods: e.g. all-grain, partial mash and extract, and strategies within methods: infusion mash, step mash, decoction mash, when it comes to hops we are all in the same pot. No matter how you created your basic wort all brewers are faced with identical hopping strategy problems. For any given beer style you have to consider the bitterness, flavour, and bouquet (commonly caller hop aroma) that are appropriate for the style. All beers have at least some hop bitterness (although that may be hard to believe with most piss-water industrial lagers) but a number of styles do not require flavour or set it at a low level and this is also true for bouquet. Since flavour and aroma are intimately connected we usually use the phrase “hop character” to mean the combined affects of flavour and bouquet.

Hoping Strategies

In terms of hop presence beers fall into three broad groups: 1) hop bitterness only with no hop flavour or bouquet e.g. Dry stout, 2) beers with low hop flavour and light bouquet, e.g. Oktoberfest and Scottish Ales, and 3) beers defined by hop presence being bitter with lots of flavour and aroma, e.g. IPA and American Pale Ales. Some classic styles of beers are very narrowly defined and will fall into only one of these categories, e.g. Dry Stout where hop flavour and aroma are never acceptable, whereas others can occupy all three groups e.g. British Bitters where beers can be just bitter with no hop character through to beers that are blazingly hoppy with hop flavour and aroma steaming out of the pint glass. No one interpretation of bitter is inherently better or more traditional.

Group 1 – Hop bitterness only

In this group of beers we can have styles ranging from very bitter due to hops, e.g. British Bitters, bitter due to a combination of hops and dark malt e.g. Dry Stout, and beers that have low bitterness with either lots of malt character e.g. Bocks or low malt character, e.g. American Lagers.

For all these types of beers there is basically a single hopping strategy. That is a single hop addition for 60 minutes. Some early homebrew publications suggested that the 60 minute addition was for bitterness only. The reasoning was that having boiled for 60 minutes all the hop resins would have evaporated, and hence they would not contribute to hop character. Therefore, the variety of hop chosen was felt to make no difference. Experience over the past decade has proven otherwise; you are well advised to choose a hop whose flavour you would enjoy if it were being used as a character hop. Sixty minute hops additions do provide a background flavour – usually too subtle to overtly detect, but none-the-less important on the palate. So choose a nice tasting hop like Kent Goldings for these styles of Bitters or Mt. Hood for American Lagers rather than say a bland Cluster.

Group 2- Low, just noticeable hop character

These beers almost always tend to be malt dominated. Hop bitterness can be very low, as in Scotch Ales where there is just enough hops to make the beer not cloying, to more commonly well balanced, such as Oktoberfests where the beer is well balanced with a drying finish and a hop character that you just notice as being slightly spicy. It is always a challenge to get the hop character just right for these types of beers. There are two basic strategies. Most commonly brewers put something like 75-85% of their total hop bitterness in at 60 minutes and then put the remaining 15-25% in at 20 minutes. The latter being just to give a bit of character. I prefer another approach and that is to make a single hop addition for 45 minutes. Since you want some character from this addition you can go ahead and split the addition between two hops or you can use a single variety. If you are splitting your hops between 60 and 20 minutes you might as well stick with a single variety because the amount of hops being tossed in for 20 minutes is very small and will need some of the residual flavour from the bittering addition to be affective. However, getting variety into hop additions is not the main reason I use the 45- minute strategy. I’ve simply found this to be the most effective method for getting that subtle but noticeable hop character into these types of beers.

Group 3 – Hop head beers

For this group of beers there is pretty much only one way to go. And that is hops all the way through: bitter, flavour and nose. No beer tastes right having lots of hop bouquet and flavour and being low on bitterness. In fact most people feel a bit cheated if they get a big hop nose and then there is no follow up. Beer judges in competition are very hard on that type of presentation. For these types of beers there is a classic hopping pattern that always works well. Spilt your hops up with 60-65% of the total bitterness going in for 60 minutes and 35-40% going in for 20 minutes. That combination assures a good balance between bitterness and plenty of hop flavour. Calculate your total bitterness based on these two hop additions. Then if you are making a European lager throw in 28-42 grams for the last five minutes or if you are making an ale then dry hop in the secondary with a similar amount. Actually I dry hop my lagers as well as my ales but purists insist on late hopping their lagers. It does give a softer approach that is more classic and commercial, but I like my Euro lagers to have lots of in your face hop bouquet. It’s your call. Either way do not worry about the contribution of this addition to calculated bitterness. Late hopping can give a perception of bitterness but it actually isn’t there.

Calculating Hop Bitterness

The only real way to measure hop bitterness in beer is in a food science chem. lab. Since most of us don’t have access to such facilities we do it by guessing – commonly called “calculating hop bitterness.” There are probably at least a dozen ways to calculate IBUs in beer. Frankly despite the proliferation of hop formulas produced by all sorts of beer geek gurus I find that a simple formula published by Jackie Rager way back in 1990 to still be the best. I’ve actually had one of my beers tested in a food science lab and the predicted IBUs where pretty darn close to what was measured.

According to Rager only two factors have significant effects on bitterness, length of boil and density of wort.

1. The longer the boil the greater the % utilization of alpha acids and thus the higher the IBUs. Boils longer than 60 minutes produce no greater % utilization. Jackie has a table broken down into 5 minute intervals but as you can see from my discussion above you only need to know three numbers: 60 minutes = 30%, 45 minutes = 27% and 20 minutes = 10%.
2. The greater the original gravity the less efficient the extraction. This is only of concern for beers above 1.050. Rager has developed a fudge factor formula that applies to beers above 1.050. In practical terms it has no affect until beers get above 1.060.

To use the formula, you as the brewer have to make a creative decision and decide how many IBUs to put into the beer and what the breakdown will be for the various hops. Use the BCJP guidelines to get basic IBU information and a sense of how much hop flavour you are looking for. Put the beer into one of the groups defined above. The formula will tell you how many grams or oz you need of each hop to hit that target.

grams = [ liters x (1+gravity adjustment) x IBU x .001 ] ÷ [ % Utilization x % Alpha acid ]

oz = [ U.S gal x (1+gravity adjustment) x IBU ] ÷ [ % Utiliz x % Alpha acid x 7462 ]

60 min = .3
45 min = .27
20 min = .1

Gravity adjustment = [ O.G. – 0.05 ] ÷ 0.2

Yes, these are the simple formulas! If you want to take into account your elevation above sea level and the age of your grandmother when she had her first kid there are formulas to help you along. For the rest of us, stick with Jackie.

Let’s do a 5 U.S. gallon India Pale Ale. Given the groups above that means we will be using a group three hopping strategy. That means two boiling hop additions, one at 60 min and one at 20 min and a third addition in the secondary. Lets just throw in one variety at each time, although in practice you can divide the IBUs between several varieties. We’ll have an O.G. of 1.070 and a total hop bitterness of 60 IBU (chosen using BJCP style guides). All 5 gallon carboys actually hold 5.25 US gallons so I calculate to have a full carboy of beer in my secondary (that is I actually make 5.25 US gallons of wort).

1. We are above 1.050 so we need to calculate a gravity adjustment. Remove the 1 from your O.G number e.g. 1.070 becomes .070
   G.A. = (0.070 – 0.05) ÷ 0.2 = 0.1
   Now add 1.0 to this number to get your GA = 1.1
2. Split the hop bitterness into a 60 minute and a 20 minute addition. Use 2/3 – 1/3 split. So 40 IBU bitterness at 60 min and 20 IBU bitterness at 20 min.
3. Choose your hops. How about Centennial at 10% AA and Cascade at 5%? Convert these to decimal - 0.1 and 0.05 respectively.
4. Do the math – for Centennial at 60 minutes.
   Oz = ( 5.25 x 1.1 x 40 ) ÷ ( 0.3 x 0.1 x 7462 ) = 231 ÷ 224 = 1.03 oz = 29 gms
   For Cascade at 20 minutes.
   Oz = ( 5.25 x 1.1 x 20 ) ÷ ( 0.1 x 0.05 x 7462 ) = 115 ÷ 37 = 3.1 oz = 88 gms
5. Dry hop with 1.5 oz using some combination of these two hops.

Notes: 1) There is no way to calculate hop bouquet. General guidelines are 1.5 oz –42 gms for high aroma, 1.0 oz – 28 gms for medium, 0.5 oz-14 gms for low. This assumes you are using high resin hops such as Cascade, Centennial, Bramling Cross, Mt. Hood or Santiam. 2) Be sure to boil your wort for 15-20 minutes before your first hop addition. This assures that hot break has occurred. Otherwise this break will remove some of the hops from the boil and reduce your IBUs.

Hop Combinations

Having gone through all the technical stuff now we get to the artistic, the non-quantifiable combinations of characters that work together to create wonderful hop character. Certain combinations of hops just seem to work wonderfully together. Some of these lead to absolutely classic profiles while others simply lead to great tasting beers that won’t fit into a well-defined category. Below is a highly opinionated rendition of some awesome hop combos.

American Ales

Centennial-Cascade. For American Ales it’s hard to beat the classic combination of Centennial and Cascade. I recommend using Centennial for bittering and a mix of Centennial and Cascade for character. Great for IPAs, American Pale Ales, American Amber Ales, American Browns and American style Porters.

Centennial-Cascade-Mt. Hood. Although a classic lager hop, Mt. Hood adds a nice spicy complexity to the mix. Substitute for about 1/3 of your Cascade. Works especially well for really hoppy beers like IPAs, American Pale Ales and American Brown Ales.

Cascade. Being the definitive North American hop, using Cascade throughout works just fine for all American Ales. It’s distinct citrusy signature defines all American ales and by using it exclusively you guarantee that you’ll be making a statement.

British Ales

Kent Goldings-Bramling Cross. These two floral hops just seem to feed off of each other when put together. Great for British style IPAs, Pale Ales and Bitters – any Brit. beer that has definitive hop character.

Bramling Cross- By itself Bramling Cross gives a pungent floral-herbal character. It can stand alone just fine in any bitter but becomes a bit one dimensional for complex beers like ESBs, Pale Ales and IPAs. By itself it is absolutely wonderful for Group 2 Ales because its low co-humulone content puts it into the noble hop category. These hops have a soft character that blends exceptionally well with rich malts and yet Bramling has enough punch to make itself known at a 45 minute addition.

Bastard Ales-IPAs

For this article I’m calling beers that don’t fit any national boundaries Bastard Ales.

Bramling Cross-Cascade. The combination of the floral and citrus qualities of these two classics is just unbeatable. It’s a perfect Anglo-American marriage. But it won’t fit any BJCP style except for IPAs. For a fine drinking ale not going into competition this is a perfect homebrew combination. However for competition what I do is mix in something like 10-20% of the countervailing hop just for complexity. Cascade is more aggressive so use it at the lower level and use Bramling at the higher. So for example, in an American Pale Ale you can mix in about 20% Bramling.

Bramling-Cascade-Mt. Hood. Hell while we’re at it why not go all the way and bring in the German Americans? While too muddied for Bitters this combination is fantastic in really big hoppy beers like IPAs and American Style BarleyWines.

Euro Lagers-Classic American Pils

Santiam-Mt. Hood. This is an American powerhouse combo that just knocks the socks off of any traditional European Pils duo. Santiam is a tetraploid cross between Hallertauer and Tettnanger. It has oodles of spiciness coupled with a deep earthiness. Mt. Hood is a North American Hallertauer, very much in the Old World style, but often being literally fresher and always with a crisper, palate. It is intensely spicy. While either hop can stand alone, when used in combination they are awesome. Santiam is an excellent bittering hop with lots of flavour to lay down a dynamite palette. Then use Mt. Hood as your flavour and dry hop to intensify the spicy character. Use for all pale German Lagers and for Classic American Pils.

Sterling-European Saaz. Sterling is an American version of Saaz and quite true to the style. The big advantage is that it is about 2-2.5 times as bitter as Saaz while still retaining a lot of flavour. Use Sterling as your bitter base and then dump in loads of European Saaz for flavour and late hopping. This will give you a classic Bohemian Pils character. (Note: American Saaz is generally too candy-like and is not a good substitute for Euro Saaz. If you cannot get real Euro Saaz stick with Sterling.)

Sterling-Santiam. Gives a great combination of spicy herbal character and deep earthiness. Great for German lagers defined by their hop character.

Santiam. Used by itself as a 45 minute hop addition this wicked hop makes itself subtly known in Amber and Dark lagers and in Boks. Being a combination of Hallertauer and Tettnanger you get both classic Germanic hops in one package. This also lends itself well to being the only hop for multiple additions in all German Pils.

Good Reads

Garetz, M. 1994. Using hops. The complete guide to hops for the craft brewer. HopTech. California. 222 pp.

Rager, J. 1990. Calculating hop bitterness in beer. Zymurgy 13(4): 53-54.

Zymurgy 1990 13(4) Hops and Beer. Special Issue.

Zymurgy 1997 20(4) The Classic Guide to Hops. Special Issue.

HopUnion website http://www.hopunion.com/ click on “information about hops”
This website is a gold mine of information about hops. It includes a 56 page PDF document describing every type of commercially available hop in the world. Anyone planning to take the BJCP exam would be advised to take a look at the basic hop information available on this website. No, you don’t have to memorize the 56 pages. (just 48 of them ☺)