Hops

Different hops have different bitterness and aroma characteristics. For home brewers there is a method which will give an approximation of the bitterness transferred into the beer during the boil stage of brewing. The more hops you add, the higher the alpha acid content of the hop and the longer its boiled for, the more bitter the beer.

The units of bitterness we use are EBUs or European Bitterness Units.

There is a simple formula for determining the weight of hops in grams required to brew to a specified EBU value. This formula assumes a 20% hop utilisation. Some brewers may better this utilisation so adjustments may be necessary.

EBU REQUIRED x BREW LENGTH IN LITRES
ALPHA ACID OF CHOSEN HOPS x 2

EXAMPLE: You decide to brew 25 litres of Bitter at EBU 45 using East Kent Goldings with an alpha acid content of 7.6%. The calculation is as follows.

The calculation is as follows

(45 x 25) / (7.6 x 2) = 74 grams.

The following is a list of the hops available today at Brew-It-Yourself

All are available in 100 gm packs. Click the one you like for more details or see descriptions below.

Northern Brewer (Germany) - Alpha Acid 10.0 - 11.0%

Perle (Germany) - Alpha Acid 5.5 - 8.5%

W.G.V. - Whitbread Golding Variety (UK) - Alpha Acid 5.0 - 8.0%

Saaz (Czech) Republic Alpha Acid 2.0 - 5.0%

Worcester Goldings (UK) - Alpha Acid 5.0 - 7.0%

East Kent Goldings (UK) Alpha Acid 5.0 - 7.0%