[Andor]

I've recently decided to dedicate most of my brewing to German styles. I don't have much experience with German hops and they all seem to be subs and very similar based off of descriptions. Most of my brewing in the last 5 years has been English and American styles.


The Germans hops I have are
Mt hood
German tettanger
German perle

Are there any others worth getting? I'm looking to brew helles, Vienna lager, Dunkel, pils, alt, gose, Weiss

[JJeffers09]

Hallertau and hallertau blanc

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[mabrungard]

One of the old Hallertau strains will be fine, but Hallertau Blanc is not what I would call a German style hop. Its more an American hop with strong flavor and aroma characters that are not typical of traditional hops.

Spalt is another hop that I would recommend and Saaz can also be found in German beers, but its considered more of a Czech hop.

[Andor]

One of the old Hallertau strains will be fine, but Hallertau Blanc is not what I would call a German style hop. Its more an American hop with strong flavor and aroma characters that are not typical of traditional hops.

Spalt is another hop that I would recommend and Saaz can also be found in German beers, but its considered more of a Czech hop.

How far off is mt hood from the Hallertau strains. Also tettanger comes up as a spalt sub. That's where I get confused. I just want to hit all the bases without getting a bunch of hops that are very similar

[HoosierBrew]

One of the old Hallertau strains will be fine, but Hallertau Blanc is not what I would call a German style hop. Its more an American hop with strong flavor and aroma characters that are not typical of traditional hops.

Spalt is another hop that I would recommend and Saaz can also be found in German beers, but its considered more of a Czech hop.

How far off is mt hood from the Hallertau strains. Also tettanger comes up as a spalt sub. That's where I get confused. I just want to hit all the bases without getting a bunch of hops that are very similar

Mt Hood is a good hop and is an offshoot of Hallertau. But next to Hallertau Mittelfrueh there is a noticeable difference IMO (with Mittelfrueh being the best of the Hallertau varietals IMO). I always keep some on hand. Love Saaz, too. Saaz and Mittelfrueh are worth keeping around if you like European lagers, and are quite different from each other.


Edit -  Saaz is a Czech hop, but isn't out of place in some German lagers IMO, especially blended with Hallertau. IIRC Saaz is used in some German pilsners.

[erockrph]

This is slightly tangental, but I got some KILLER Sterling from Hop Heaven this year, with a strong Saaz like character. My last couple of lagers have really stood out because of that hop flavor.

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[Andor]

This is slightly tangental, but I got some KILLER Sterling from Hop Heaven this year, with a strong Saaz like character. My last couple of lagers have really stood out because of that hop flavor.

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I forgot I have a few ozs of sterling too from yvh. The aa's were much higher then I expected like 13-14aa if I remember right

[hopfenundmalz]

You need to know that many of the German hops are Hallertau Mittelfrüh derivatives breed for resistance to mildews that HM is susceptible to. Hallertau Tradition is one of those derivatives that has much of the HM character. Perle was breed from Northern Brewer, and can have a little minty character. I want to try Merkur as a bittering Hop. You can't go wrong with German Magnum for bittering.

Of the newer hops, they are very nice, but not traditional. Saphir came out some time ago, and it is used in some American Pilsner, and a few German beers. Mandarins Bavaria, Hallertau Blanc, Huell Melon, and Polaris are all newish and are more flavorful and fruity with a German base - except of Polaris which reminds me of wintergreen.

The US derivatives are good substitutes, and can be fresher. A blend of Mt. Hood and Liberty can get really close to Hallertau Mittelfrüh.

One thing to be aware of is that terroir is real in hops. Spalt and Tettnang are genetically the same as Saaz, but the growing conditions change the flavors. Same for European varieties grown in Yakima. A local brewery made a Mt. Hood Pilsner that was very citrusy with an unexpected strong orange pith flavor in the finish. I need to ask the brewer where the hops came from, I think he is using mostly MI grown hops now.

[JJeffers09]

Depends if we are including weissbier.

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[The Beerery]

Brewing 99% German styles,

I stock Mittelfrüh, Perle, Magnum, Saphir and Tradition. With the poor acid% of the hops they always get a hopshot, or magnum boost as too much kettle matter is a big turn off of mine. I always try to limit it at or under an ounce of hops.

[narcout]

This is slightly tangental, but I got some KILLER Sterling from Hop Heaven this year, with a strong Saaz like character.

That's good to hear, I just ordered a pound.  I haven't been too happy with the Saaz I have been getting recently.

[ynotbrusum]

I like exclusively Magnum for Bittering (generally FWH in my process), then Hallertauer, Hallertau Mittelfruh, Tettnanger, Spalt, Perle, and Saaz for flavor/late hop additions (typically at flameout, though occasionally at 10 minutes).  The Hallertauer hops have been really low in alpha acids recently (I seem to recall a few years back when they were consistently around 4-4.5% alpha acid).  Tettnanger seemed to head the other direction, oddly, as I had some 7%+ alpha last fall).

I have used Hallertauer as a lone hop, but it requires so much of it, that it can get pretty green in the wort.  Likewise, I will bitter a Czech Pilsner with all Saaz every once in a while - but run into the same issue, so I prefer a bit of Magnum for bittering, instead.

[hopfenundmalz]

A hop labeled Hallertau can be just about anything grown in the Hallertau region.

[blatz]

A hop labeled Hallertau can be just about anything grown in the Hallertau region.

isn't the first name the region and the second name the type? 

I always try to limit it at or under an ounce of hops.

so for instance, you brew pilsner with only 1oz of hops in the kettle?  wow I did not expect that.

back to the OP, about half of what I brew is german styles these days, and I stock Tettnang, HMF, and Magnum regularly.  lately, I've been playing around with others - Saphir was not enjoyable to me, and I just made my house Pils with some Spalt along with the usual HMF and Tett.

[The Beerery]

A hop labeled Hallertau can be just about anything grown in the Hallertau region.

isn't the first name the region and the second name the type? 

I always try to limit it at or under an ounce of hops.

so for instance, you brew pilsner with only 1oz of hops in the kettle?  wow I did not expect that.

back to the OP, about half of what I brew is german styles these days, and I stock Tettnang, HMF, and Magnum regularly.  lately, I've been playing around with others - Saphir was not enjoyable to me, and I just made my house Pils with some Spalt along with the usual HMF and Tett.

My last pils, (which is very out of the ordinary for me and had 45ibus) had 1.4oz of hops, with a 45 minute only addition.