[William]

Planning on brewing with Sterling hops for split fermentation batch of beer. One with lager yeast the other with saison. I've never used sterling before. Going to bitter with magnum @60 (probably 0.5 oz) and was thinking a 15 (0.5oz) and 5 (1oz) minute additions with sterling. Shooting for between 25-30 IBU's. Using only vienna malt.

Any thoughts on how prominent the sterling flavor/aroma will be?

Would a 1 oz dry hop for each batch be too much?

I definitely want to take taste the hops but don't want them to be over powering. 

[Robert]

I've done beers with a hop schedule much like yours and found the hop character VERY delicate.  IME Sterling is subtle and mellow, as befits a "noble" clone, but not nearly as herbal as European Saaz-type hops. [FWIW if I did your amounts --  and I use Magnum a lot too --  don't think I'd hit 25-30.  But you know your system.]  Of course YMMV.

[William]

Thanks for the info Rob. Any thoughts on dry hopping? Think it would be worth it or don't bother with this variety?

[Robert]

Thanks for the info Rob. Any thoughts on dry hopping? Think it would be worth it or don't bother with this variety?

Try it and see for yourself, if you think you want dry hop character in your beer.  You said you don't want hops to be overpowering.  You're doing a split batch anyway, why not try it both ways and compare? I know it's different yeast, but you could probably still get an idea how the flavor plays out in dry hopping.  I honestly can't remember if I've dry hopped Sterling or not, but I have Saaz, and it definitely comes through.

[William]

Good idea. Thanks again for your input. No one in my homebrew club has any experience with these hops so I appreciate the help.