Hops you WILL NOT bitter with

El Dorado.

 

Citra, El Dorado, Amarillo, Simcoe, Equinox, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, and any other expensive hop I can't grow myself.

 

None. They're all good, IMO. I even find myself sometimes bittering with the aromatic, high alpha hops. They add much bitterness in the late additions so you don't need a big 60 min addition. Easier to divert a quarter oz of simcoe from the flameout addition to 60 min addition than it is to open up a new pack of magnum and use a quarter oz. These are the sorts of decisions you might make if you only buy 1 oz packs of hops and hate the idea of letting them sit around in opened packages for months. My recipes generally sum up to even oz of hops for this reason.

 

I can't remember the last time I actually used a bittering hop. Hard to beat nugget tho when I did. Also hard to say that a certain bittering hop is to blame when so many other variables exist.

 

Sorachi Ace - worst lemon pledge flavor ever

 

Any hop that isn't hopshot

 

Citra simco Amarillo galexy mosaic

 

A couple caveats to the above post I made.

1. There can be carryover flavor, and if that doesn't work in your beer, it is not a good choice. @ryane 's Sorachi Ace would be an example. But generally, I think if something is in your recipe as a flavor-aroma hop, you can use it for bittering.
2. If you need a big bittering charge, low alpha hops may not be a good choice, because you need a lot more. May make your beers seem more vegetal than you want.

 

Chinook and Columbus are rough bittering hops at 60 for me. I don't mind using them later in the boil.

Most of the time my bittering addition is at 30 minutes and the same hop is used later in the boil. So that eliminates several hops that are good bittering hops at 60, but would produce a flavor I don't like at 30, such as Magnum.

Sometimes I do use a high AA% 60 minute bittering hop and tend to reach for Summit, Apollo or Nugget.

 

I just don't give any hops a long boil anymore, but I'm not into high IBU brews anyway. Most of my hop additions come at the 20 minute or after point. I still go with high alphas like Nugget and Columbus at that point for both bittering and flavor/aroma. Both Nugget and Columbus work great for me as single hops when used as late additions.

 

I'll use anything but if hops are relatively expensive it's usually because they taste and smell nice, so I'm not going to waste them as a bittering addition. I'm too tight for that

 

There are some styles where you don't want any late hop flavor, but some carryover from a single bittering addition are welcome. Alts, many stouts/porters, browns, etc. I tend to reach for low alpha hops when bittering lighter beers as well, even though 1/4 to 1/2oz of whatever bittering hop I bought for the year would be more efficient.

 

On homebrewtalk.com there was a long discussion of summit putting out a nasty onion taste if used early in the boil. I am not brave enough to verify. I do like summit as a dry hop though.

 

I agree on both points. Carryover can be great for the right beer, and I think low alpha as bittering is fine as long as you are not shooting for high IBUs. Most of my APAs and all of my IPAs use high alpha bittering, but I generally avoid them in just about every other style I brew.

 

I buy bittering hops in bulk so I can save my noble and flavor hops for the late additions.

 

Chinook. Way too harsh to me.

(but I generally only use warrior for bittering)

 

Lambic Hops

 

I've never had a problem with onion and Summit when used early in the boil (60-30), but Summit late in the boil is onion and garlic city for me. Since the raw hops smell like onion, I've never used them for dry hopping.