Favorite German Pilsner Hop Combos

[Nick_D]

[Owenbräu]

I started MH because of the antioxidant properties. From tasting my mash samples, I found the hop flavor was quite nice.

[Smellyglove]

How many g/l do people usually use?

My reference is 1g/l @ 15 minutes, then add magnum for bittering. I feel I need to bump it get get more of a northern german style.

[Owenbräu]

I like that rate for pilsner. I find 0.2-0.4 g/L is adequate for malty styles.

[Weizenberg]

Unless a lab analysis is available, the exact figures are not known. However, current established practices usually achieve results within desired ballparks. As one goes lower in the scale, differences can become much more prominent. Thus, to a certain extent, answering your question I would say that a certain amount of trial and error applies in finding one's subjective optima.

[Smellyglove]

[Techbrau]

I find that the flavor and aroma I get from hop additions at various times depends a lot on the boil vigor. With a low boil-off (~6%), late hop additions (15 min or later) get overwhelming pretty fast, and add a vegetal note that I don't really like. I prefer 20ish minutes for a strong hop aroma, whereas 30 minutes seems to get me something a bit more in line with commercial examples. I have a feeling that the discrepancy between my experience and a commercial system is the fact that at large scale the wort spends an extra 30+ minutes at high temperature post-boil during the whirlpool, whereas I chill pretty fast.

If you're boiling off a small amount of liquid, like 6% over 60-70 minutes, try adding 2/3 of your total alpha acids at 60 and 1/3 at 30. You can also do something like 1/2 at 70, 1/4 at 45, 1/4 at 30, or 1/2 at 60, 1/4 at 40, 1/4 at 20, etc. 30 ish IBUs for pils is about right.

I think using high AA% varieties for bittering (like Perle or magnum) is a good idea. You want to cut down the total hop matter in the boil to as little as possible. For flavor and aroma you will need to experiment and find what you like. Lately I've been enjoying Tradition for that role.

[Smellyglove]

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[Smellyglove]

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[Smellyglove]