Bravo hops in New England ipa

I never think trying a new hop is a bad idea. Save yourself some money. You probably drink enough commercially produced Citra beers anyway. The beauty of homebrewing is that you can produce beers that are different from commercial beers, IMO.

Although, a quick Google search returned this thread: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/opinions-on-bravo-hops.101228/

Maybe not what you're looking for.

 

Maybe. If you're looking for cheap NEIPA hops, I find Belma is a fairly underused one. It's extremely cheap from HopsDirect. I would recommend blending it with another hop; it's too subtle to lead. I like it with something like Comet for that catty citrus edge to balance it out.

 

Experimentation with purpose? Always a good idea.

Buying whatever is on clearance sale? Mmm...maybe not so much.

But don't let ME pee on your slide

 

I wouldn't call $12 a pound necessarily clearance. As long as these are recently harvested hops (no more than a year old), I see no issue.

 

#facepalm

I guess we'd rather play semantics. Ok then.

Peace out

 

As long as they are vacuum sealed and kept refrigerated, the only thing that you'll lose is bittering capacity. Your oils should be intact.

 

Bravo is a terrible hop IMO...super boring and used for bittering only (I actually threw away most of a pound after making a SMaSH with it because it was so uneventful). Comet is one of the least expensive quality IPA hops. Yakima Valley has them for $15 a pound http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/Comet16oz_p/hopscomet1-2016crop.htm

If you can afford to buy the hops for a specific style, then make a different style with less hops...easy answer. NE IPAs are overrated right now IMO, so why not make a clean West Coast IPA with like 5 oz of hops (1 at bitter, 2 at 10-15 and 2 at DH) instead of 13+oz in a typical NE IPA? This formula has made excellent IPAs for me for decades and if you want it cloudy, just dont fine it...then you can still call it NE if you want

 

I've used it in a few things I've done lately. Mostly as a bittering hop because it's super functional. And stays out of the way of the heavy lifting your late hop additions have to do.

 

They certainly don't need to be only those hops. I often use others with, dare I say, excellent results. NEIPAs are about process. The ingredients, like hops, are interchangeable.

 

Good plan, that. LOVES me some Amarillo in NEIPAs. Also like your inclusion of Cascade in your hop schedule. I find that the grapefruit character balances the tropical fruit very well.

 

One of my most consistently well received NEIPAs uses Bravo-Citra-Ekuanot. I specifically picked them because they are 3 of the highest hop oil content varieties...and since the hop oils are what contribute strongly to the flavors/aromas extracted during whirlpool/dryhopping...

If you also believe in biotransformation, Bravo has one of the higher contents of geraniol...which can biotransformed into compounds that make NEIPAs taste pretty OK.

Tl;Dr version: Try them.

 

On their own they aren't anything stellar but when mixed they can amplify certain aspects of other hops. They definitely can't replace Citra but combining them with Citra or Simcoe is a great option.