I have been brewing for a few years; my question is about bittering hops. If using a lower Alpha Acid hops (Cascade 6%AA .5oz 31% utilization = 11BU) or higher Alpha Acid (Nugget 12%AA .25oz 31% utilization = 11BU) at beginning of the boil, should give the same IBUs at the end of the boil, but will the taste be much difference, using the same grain bill (10Lbs Pale Malt).
Yeah, bittering hops are definitely not all created equal. You can use software to hit, for example, 40 IBU with any hop, but the quality of bitterness is not the same. There are hops like Magnum or Warrior that give a clean bitterness, ones like Columbus or Chinook that give a coarse IPA bitterness, and mild hops like noble hops that can be used for bittering but also give subtle spicy/floral character . Gotta experiment.
Yes, there probably will be a difference in flavor. My homebrew club did a hop addition experiment a couple of years ago, and even the beer with only a 60 minute addition had some hop flavor. I’m pretty sure we used Cascade, or if we didn’t, it was something similarly middle of the road, alphawise.
this has been debated… but in our experience the bitterness “flavor” should be different if you’re using different hops for your bittereing addtion… however in your example 11 ibus is pretty low so i have a feeling that no matter what hop you use for finished 11 IBUs will not matter if cascade or nugget, or anything else.
But if you’re making a PA or IPA at 50 60 70 + IBUs nuggets bitterness should taste different than galena should taste different than super alpha if they are all added at the same time in the boil to achieve a consistent IBU of say 60 IBUs.
experiment and you’ll see how different they can be.
^^^^ This