Seeking hersbrucker hops craft kit recipe

[PeterC1525230181]

Hi,

My daughter gave me some little hops plants for Xmas. It will be quite a while before I can harvest anything. They are hersbrucker.  On-line descriptions of their character are all over the place. I have the Coopers craft kit and have tried a few of their recipes and kits of the month and have downloaded the helpful Excel spreadsheet someone did for these. No recipe seems to use Hersbrucker.

I have bought 50g of Hersbrucker pellets to try. Can someone suggest a recipe that would show off their character? I am thinking something simple like adding them to a relatively bland base, perhaps the Bewitched Amber Ale can without doing much else, perhaps boiling half in some water (how long?) to add to the can and water to 8.5L, then use the other half to dry hop later? Just using the kit yeast? Please pile in with any suggestion!

[Beerlust]

Hi Peter.

Hersbrucker is a "Noble" hop developed & grown in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. You can certainly try it in any beer style, but it was primarily developed around Lager/Pilsner style beers. For that you'd need to be able to ferment the beer no higher than approx. 15°C.

If you have the ability to ferment at that temperature (or below) then the following Coopers DIY recipe is certainly suited.

Coopers DIY recipe: Heritage Lager

Just substitute the Hallertau & Tettnanger hop additions in the recipe listing for approx. 15-20gms of your Hersbrucker hops.

I hope that helps.

Lusty.

[PeterC1525230181]

2 hours ago, Beerlust said:

Hi Peter.

Hersbrucker is a "Noble" hop developed & grown in the Hallertau region of Bavaria, Germany. You can certainly try it in any beer style, but it was primarily developed around Lager/Pilsner style beers. For that you'd need to be able to ferment the beer no higher than approx. 15°C.

I could manage that in winter but not in the middle of summer. 

2 hours ago, Beerlust said:

If you have the ability to ferment at that temperature (or below) then the following Coopers DIY recipe is certainly suited.

Coopers DIY recipe: Heritage Lager

Just substitute the Hallertau & Tettnanger hop additions in the recipe listing for approx. 15-20gms of your Hersbrucker hops.

I hope that helps.

Thanks. I could try halving the recipe to use in my craft kit fermenter but I have not done that before.  

Any suggestions for using a craft kit can, or at they all too heavily hopped already to let the Hersbrucker show through?

2 hours ago, Beerlust said:

 

[Shamus O'Sean]

27 minutes ago, PeterC1525230181 said:

Any suggestions for using a craft kit can, or at they all too heavily hopped already to let the Hersbrucker show through?

Hi Peter

You are right.  All of the craft kits are well hopped already.  The Bewitched Amber has the lowest bitterness of the craft kits and yet, the only full sized cans more bitter than it are the Stout and the Brew A IPA.

You might have more luck thinking about using a whole Mexican Cerveza can in the craft kit with a smaller amount of Light Dry Malt.  Do some searching on the Forum for using full sized cans in the craft fermenter.  Like Lusty suggests above, just do a hop tea using say 25g of your Hersbrucker hops and add that to the fermenter before adding the can and LDM.

Cheers Shamus

[Beerlust]

Hi again Peter.

On 1/7/2019 at 9:20 PM, PeterC1525230181 said:

I could manage that in winter but not in the middle of summer. 

Thanks. I could try halving the recipe to use in my craft kit fermenter but I have not done that before. 

Given your circumstances, a Kolsch ale style beer seems quite suited. Very simple for you to make in the craft fermenter, but would require you to do a 60 minute boil to create your own bitterness & flavour from the Hersbrucker hops you wish to use.

Ingredients:

Light Dry Malt extract (or preferably Pilsner dry malt extract) 1kg
Maltodextrin 100gms *optional for better mouthfeel & head retention
Hersbrucker hops 30gms
US-05 yeast
Brewed to 8.5 litres
Ferment @ 18°C

Method:

Combine 500gms of the light malt extract with approx. 5-7 litres of water in a suitably sized pot on the stove & bring to the boil. Once at the boil & settled into a rolling boil add 15gms of Hersbrucker & continue to boil for 50mins. After 50mins, add the remaining Hersbrucker hops & continue to boil for a further 10mins. After the final 10mins has elapsed, turn off the burner & add the remaining 500gms of malt extract & the maltodexrin (if used), stir to combine evenly & then allow the pot to sit for a further 5mins.

After this time, place the pot in a sink & surround with cold water & allow to cool for a good 25-30mins. You can change the surrounding water out & replace with fresh cold water after approx. 10mins as this will help the wort cool more quickly. After the full 30mins has elapsed, strain the liquid into your fermenter & top up to the 8.5 litre mark with cold water. Check your temperature & pitch your yeast. Try to ferment the brew & maintain a temperature no higher than 20°C, & ideally around 18°C.

I hope that helps.

Lusty.

[PeterC1525230181]

Thanks for those suggestions. All noted and saved. My fermenter has just been filled with an unrelated recipe (Coopers 'Yellowfin IPA') but I'll try these when it is empty again.

Cheers,

Peter. 

[PaulW31]

Artisan Reserve is another recipe that uses Hersbrucker, along with Hallertau Tradition, and most likely Saaz in the European Lager brew can. I can recommend this one provided you've got the resources to lager your beer for a month or two.