Citra hop

gary

Recently been given a 100g bag of citra hops ,any ideas of of what i could put it in say lager ,bitter ?

HBO_Staff

The Citra hops with their heavily fruity characteristics make them well suited to fruit ales, some IPA's, Belgian Blonde and Triples, and also lighter brews, with their citrus and tropical aromas, Brewferm have Blonde and Triple, or you could experiment with any lighter lager whcih you fancy adding a fruity twist to

 

billybobs

Lot's of questions (sorry). How can hops be used to enhance a beer/ale kit? I've heard mention about making a sort of hop tea - what's that about and how's it done? When are best times to introduce the hops during the brewing process - during initial fermentation or secondary in the barrel?

 

HBO_Staff

That's a good question and well timed, as we have literally just added a new line to the range yesterday which may be of interest to you, and there is also a brand new range of beer kits being released this month called 'Festival' which has hop pellets included in each style and will be very popular. Many people make standard home brew kits and just follow the manufacturers instructions which gets great results, but as they get more confident and would like to alter the taste of a kit to suit their own taste, they look at ways to modify them. For best results if not using a premium kit you should always upgrade to a brew enhancer, but to add a more particular hop taste, whilst hopped spraymalts are available, adding either dried hops or hop pellets to the wort will give it a fresh new flavour. There are two main different ways, there is either 'dry hopping' or making a 'hop tea' which is then added to the brew. Dry hopping is basically placing some dried hops in a muslin bag and then placing them into the wort for a few days to allow them to infuse hop flavours into the brew. The muslin bag can then be removed when wanted so it doesn't get too strong in flavour. A hop tea can be made using hops infused in hot water until it makes a 'tea', this is then poured into the wort and brew as normal. We have hops in various forms, dried, and hop pellets, pellets can also be supplied in a teabag. A dry hopping and hop tea guide from the website is here; http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/pages/hop-tea-and-dry-hopping

Depending on which type of hops you use will depend on the flavour it will impart, some hops are generally thought more suited to certain styles of beer, we have a guide on the hop listings as to which could be suited to different beers, but it is personal preference and experimentation. Generally hops are introduced in the initial primary fermentation stage, and allowed to infuse for a few days. The longer they are left in the stronger the flavour they will give, if using pre-packed such as the hop finishing pellets then the manufacturers supply recommended instructions for infusing.

Adding hops is a great way to customise your brew, so we recommend experimenting. The new Festival premium beer kit range comes with hop pellets for adding to the brew, chosen to compliment the flavour of each style, and will give a great fresh taste. Our competition is giving away some of these kits once they are released to celebrate the launch. The York Brewery beer kits also come with hop pellets as used by the brewery and are regarded as some of the best kits on the market; http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/collections/all/products/york-brewery-beer-kit-terrier-bitter

billybobs

Many thanks for the comprehensive reply. I'll certainly have a go and experiment with hops in my brews and perhaps post a comment or two on the results I get.