I placed an order at YVH over the weekend and I ordered Sterling, Liberty and Crystal. I had Crystal in the brewery years ago but it’s been awhile. It’s related to Hallertau Mittelfruh, Brewer’s Gold and half-sister to Liberty and Mt. Hood… all of which sounds lovely to me. It occurs to me that I used to order hops from just about any outlet including homebrew supply places that may or may not handle the hops well. I feel like I got some questionable Crystal hops from someplace and it turned me off of them. Who here uses them on a regular basis and what is your take on them? I’m becoming a big fan of “US Nobles” (if you accept that description) and it would be nice to bring Crystal back into the mix. I think they’re arriving today and I plan to create a recipe that puts the Crystal on display. For the past two years or so I only buy hops from YCH por YVH or Hop Heaven and it’s made a nice difference here.
I’ve used them quite a bit to make beers like Rogue’s Brutal Bitter
Nice hops I recently used Crystal hops at flameout for a Cream Ale. It’s in the keg and has a nice citrus flavor very happy with this beer. Crystal hops goes well with Citra in a IPA at flameout and dry hopped.
I have used Crystal a few times and never could taste much. I am not sure if I was doing something wrong or what happened.
I love them, and I’ve often wondered why they get overlooked.
I have never [yet] used them alone, but every time I pair them with something else citrusy, or with another ‘noblesque’ (like Saphir or Adeena) they’ve really magnified the result as a great complement. I get the nicest subtle lemony tones from them.
Thanks guys. I forgot to mention that somewhere in their lineage is some Cascade too which I thought was unusual but that could explain the lemony/citrus thing. These hops just arrived and the Crystal hops are 3%. Sheesh. I might make some kind of an amber lager and bitter with something like Horizon or Northern Brewer and then add some Crystal with 15 mins left and then again with 1-2 minutes left. They should have a good opportunity to shine this way. If I get some citrus, it would not be out of place, IMO.
I know I used them once - I think in a lager as finishing hops. Nothing remarkable sticks in my memory, but nothing bad, either. It might go well with 34/70 in terms of a light lemony character, or with one of the even more clean lager yeasts, like Diamond, S-189, or Novalager or clean ale yeasts like BRY-97 or US-05 - where it might stand out enough to be noticed…just thinking out loud at this point. Cheers and let us know how it goes.
I just drew this up. I have 2124 Bohemian working for me at the moment and I might make this for my next batch…
Interesting with the 1% Special B - I wonder if it will lend a discernible note. But, hey, why not give it a go? Brew On!
I like to use it in small percentages to get come color… mostly red. The beer itself won’t be RED because it’s only 2 ounces of Special B but I do like it and here it will just push the color and depth of the beer a little bit.
I like ScallyWag’s suggestion to combine Crystal with other hops to accentuate the good qualities of the partner hops.
I have never tried that. Maybe using solo Crystal is why I found them boring.
I opened the bag tonight to get a good whiff of these hops. They seem very fresh (2022 harvest) and aromatic and I get a good amount of fresh, sharp & herbal character along with a very slight dank and resinous citrus character. It’s like the hops are 1/8th Cascade or something (and maybe they are). They smell very good and using them here in an amber lager seems good because I find it to be a wide-open style where a lot of different things could be included without it being out of place. Afterwards I got them into a vac-sealed bag to protect them. Looking forward to using them and seeing how the beer comes out.
I have a pound I was given but haven’t broken into yet. I’m also a big fan of the domestic noble/noble-ish hops. I’m using mount hood and sterling a lot these days–partially because I grow both–but I like their character. They aren’t as delicate as noble hops but that isn’t a problem for the beers I brew. I often blend them with more aggressive hops like cascade or chinook. I enjoy those blends even if all those hops have a slightly dated feel to them. What’s old can be new again.
My nose must suck as much as my palette. When I smell a bag of hops they all smell the same to me. They smell like hops. I get different results in the beer once brewed but the smell in the packaging is usually ’hops’.
If you compare two different varieties, I bet you might detect a difference. I find that something like Citra compared to something like Magnum are quite different, especially for good quality & properly stored hops.
I am kind of like BB on this. I don’t notice many differences. I would say I notice “very strong Citrus” and “not citrusy”. I definitly noticed that when I switched to the smaller hops dealers away from the big home brew suppliers or LHBS that I noticed way stronger aroma.
Agree with Eric on a side by side comparison…though I do wonder if I’d pass a triangle test!
I’d also add that picking out freshness is another benefit to giving hops a whiff first. I’ve tossed a few bags of hops because they didn’t pop like they should…and one bag that smelled like onions. 
I don’t know if my sense of smell is great but when I open Liberty or Sterling the character is fresh, herbal and “smooth” if that makes sense. Cascade is the original citrusy hop, right? I typically don’t get citrus from the neutral hops I use like Mt. Hood, Sterling, Liberty, Northern Brewer, any German noble hop, Ultra, Santiam, Vanguard, etc. The Crystal I huffed last night had some slight Cascade action going. I also agree with Megary on checking the hops both visually and aroma-wise prior to use. What you smell from the bag COULD be what you smell in your glass of beer. I remember someone saying that bags of hops can be purged with a gas that might have that onion/garlic smell. I think I have experienced that smell too. I have had hops seem completely dead (no aroma) and dry, some that were no longer dark green, some with stinky gym-sock aroma and other unsavory things. I have gotten much more snobby about my hops. Hop Snob. Maybe I’ll put that on a T-shirt. :D Cheers Beerheads.
Crystal has that American hop expression on top of its noble hop lineage. I’ve used them in the past and liked the beers made with them
A couple of weeks back we stopped at Dodge City KS to break up the drive. Went to the brewery in town not expecting much. They hap a Pre Prohibition Pilsner so I had to try that. It was wonderful, almost drank like a German beer. We talked to one of the owners about the beer, and he enjoyed the compliments. I said I didn’t pick up Cluster Hops in it. He smiled and said he had been making it for years all Cluster. This time he said he used 5% (IIRC) Crystal with the Cluster and it changed it to the better. I was very surprised. Now I want to try that in a CAP.
I love hearing stories like that. I could see some Crystal pushing that beer in a better direction. Also, it’s a pretty damn good brewer who can make a beer made with Cluster hops drink like a German beer. 