Did anyone else re-up their membership or join the AHA and get 4 oz of Waimea? How are you going to use them? I'm not sure yet. Never used them before. If I go with ingredients on hand, I still have a 3 oz a piece of cascade, centennial, and nugget not yet committed to other beers. Regular IPA? That Belgian IPA I was thinking about earlier in the week, minus the Simcoe and Amarillo.?
It's a NZ hop, so I think I understand the kiwi imagery. Not sure where the blender comes into your nightmare, but boiling wort would be pretty horrifying. Maybe I should spare them the agony and use them in the whirl pool or dry hop.
Went online to re-up and saw they had a deal going. Appears to have been through the end of Feb as I don't see it. 4 oz of hops arrived in the mail yesterday. A little sleuthing confirms that. If you search for Waimea, this comes up https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/offers/february-17-waimea-hops/ Clearly states through Feb. I just happened to renew last week and was surprised to see it. Not well advertised I guess. I take it from the traffic this post is getting, I may be the only one here who got some.
That's kind of crappy, because my renew date is January and I was on the ball and renewed in time I don't get a reward?
I opted for the book, during the Dec./Jan??? offer...Wood and Beer, even though my membership isn't up until summer.
In case you were wondering, these hops would probably work in an NEIPA. I didn't think that's what I was brewing, but 1 oz in the whirlpool and 3 oz in the dryhop seems pretty NEIPA-ish.
The NZhops website is very informative if you haven't checked it out. Looks like it's one of the pinier hops from NZ, similar to Dr Rudi. Doesn't really seem to have many of the unique NZ qualities that a lot of the other great hops with interesting names from NZ. Havent brewed with if yet but been doing a bunch of research on NZ hops for a while and I ended up skipping over it as it doesn't seem as distinctly different as so many other NZ varieties.
When I think of piney hops, I think Chinook. I find these to be nothing like those. Piney does not come to mind. I'm grateful, because I would not want 4 oz. of late-hopped chinook. I do get the citrus -- tangerine. If I had to compare to a more familiar hop, I'd say Amarillo.
Good to know.. pine needles was a significant part of their description of it and that website seems to have some of the better descriptors especially for different taste/aroma compounds depending on when it's used. What temps did you use it at?
The whirlpool addition started at about 190 F. The dry hop came in near the end of fermentation (about 68F); a week later I dry hopped again, also at about 68, because I didn't feel I was getting enough hop. There was also a small amount of cascade and a moderate amount of centennial in the dry hop. However, those hops came from a local grower and seemed to lack pizazz. There is a lesson in there -- that hop pungency can vary within a hop variety. So maybe there are some Waimea crops or some years where piney happens more prominently.
I use wiamea for bittering, around 20ibu, in a light pale ale I make. I also use it as a smaller percentage of the hops used for flavor, aroma, and dry hop. It's a pretty powerful hop with a large amount of oils and AA. So I find its best to use sparingly, with hops that compliment it. Other New Zealand hops work well with it, my 2 favorites are Motueka and Wakatu.
