Hey guys, I'm planning to brew a low abv hoppy American wheat on Sunday and was going to use Amarillo and Wakatu hops as all late additions and for dry hopping. Unfortunately, my local shop is out of Wakatu. In doing some research I came across Wai-iti as a possible replacement. As of now, I'm thinking about a 2:1 ratio of Wai-iti to Amarillo. Have any of you used Wai-iti, and if yes, what are your thoughts about it pairing with Amarillo? In your experience, what flavor/aroma characteristics does this hop bring to the table? Any input is much appreciated. Brian
I think it would be a great pairing but I don't think it's very much like wakatu. I'm pretty sure last time I used wakatu I got vanilla and lime character. Wai iti is more straight forward citrus imo, and fairly subtle if I remember right
Awesome, thanks for the info. From what I've read, there is a lime descriptor used for Wai-ti as well, that's definitely what I'm hoping to get out of it. Because it's more subtle, hopefully using more if it will make it more expressive, guess I'll find out. Thanks again.
Just curious; where did you get your wai-iti hops? I brewed a beer last year with wai-iti (that I got from moorebeer.com), and I'd like to brew it again, but I cannot find them anywhere online in the US. Everyone seems to be out of it.
Morebeers website says they bought most of the wai-iti hops available in the us. I was looking for some new Zealand hops for my next beer but several varieties seem to be out of stock. I checked nzhops.co.nz and it says the 2017 harvest just came in in April. I have an email ail out to farmhouse supplies to see if they know when they will be available but I would guess a new harvest should be hitting the markets soon.
Interesting you started this thread just as I bottled an IPA using Wai-iti for dry hopping. From the hop growers website: I'm hoping for the peaches and apricot. I dry hopped it with Rakau hops, which is said to have passion fruit, apricot and peach. I also whirlpooled with Amarillo, so I hope this combo works out. While bottling, it did have a clear apricot/melon flavor, but that was only a week ago, so after 3+ weeks of conditioning, I can give a verdict of how it tastes. I live in Germany and bought them on a whim from a local homebrew website.
The blurb on morebeer, regarding buying most of the US supply of Wai-iti, has been there for at least a year. Whether it's been there longer, I'm not sure. Good to hear that the harvest just came in; I wasn't sure when the harvest normally happened. Anyway, I guess that means we'll start seeing them here in a couple months. Hopefully sooner, though, as I have an event coming up in couple months, for which I'd like to brew my NZ-hopped pale ale.
Both morebeer and farmhouse supply has informed me it will be a while before the hops are processed dried and pelletized. Something on the order of 6 months. So for now I'm picking a different variety.
Bummer on the 6 months thing. I was lucky, though. I actually found a place that had some, so I bought enough for a couple of batches of my NZ-hopped pale.
...an update on the sale of Wai-iti... I just checked 2 of the sites I usually get my hops in Germany and yea! they're still on sale. https://www.hopfen-der-welt.de/pellets-typ-90/neuseeland/wai-iti/
My hopped up wheat is currently being dry hopped in the keg, will be taste testing it this weekend and will report back. So far, I'm loving the aromas of the Wai-ti, lots of lemon/lime citrusy notes.
