Huell Melon hops and their honeydew melon aroma

A melon hop from Bavaria

Huell Melon was released by the Hüll hop research centre in Bavaria in 2012, alongside Mandarina Bavaria and Hallertau Blanc. All three came out of a breeding programme aimed at fruit forward hops for craft brewers. All three have the American hop Cascade in their family.

The name gives the game away. Fresh pellets smell of honeydew melon, with strawberry and a little apricot behind it. Alpha acid is moderate, usually around 7%, enough to contribute some bitterness but not enough to make it an efficient bittering hop.

A soft aroma needs a quiet beer

Melon is a gentle aroma. It does not cut through roast, caramel or a heavy clove yeast. It also gets pushed aside by louder hops: put Huell Melon in a blend with Citra or Simcoe and you will mostly taste Citra or Simcoe.

It shines in beers with a light base and a clean fermentation:

• Pale ales and session beers around 4 to 5% ABV on pale malt.
• Wheat beers fermented with a neutral yeast.
• Hoppy lagers and Kölsch style beers, where the yeast leaves little fruit of its own.
• Hop water, where there is no beer at all to compete with it.

Where to add it

Like most aroma hops, Huell Melon loses its character in a long boil. Use it in the last five minutes, in a whirlpool around 80 °C or as a dry hop. The dry hop gives the clearest melon. In a 20 litre pale ale, 30 g in the whirlpool and 60 to 80 g as a dry hop is a reasonable first attempt, which works out at 3 to 4 g per litre for the dry hop.

Plan the bitterness with a small 60 minute addition of a clean hop, around 20 to 25 IBU for a pale ale. That gives the beer a backbone and lets the melon sit on top. A very bitter beer tends to mask soft fruit aromas, so do not chase a high IBU here.

Huell Melon in hop water

Hop water is carbonated water flavoured with hops, with no alcohol and no malt. Because there is nothing else in the glass, soft hops like Huell Melon show off well. A light dose, typically around 1 g per litre or less, steeped in water heated to about 80 °C or added cold, then chilled and carbonated, gives a clean melon aroma.

Food safety matters because there is no alcohol to help. Use clean water, sanitised equipment and keep the finished product cold. Many brewers also lower the pH a little with food grade acid. Our guide to choosing hops for hop water covers which varieties work and how to dose them.

Why your melon might disappear

The usual reasons are age, oxygen and warmth. Old pellets kept warm lose their oils and pick up a cheesy smell. Oxygen picked up during the dry hop or transfer dulls the fruit in days. Warm storage of the finished beer does the same over weeks.

In much of India room temperature in summer is high enough to strip the fruit from a hoppy beer within a few weeks. Keep hops frozen until use, dry hop with as little air contact as you can manage and keep the finished beer cold. A hop as subtle as this one punishes any shortcut in handling.

Learning from a single hop

Brewing with one hop at a time is the best way to learn what each one really does. Huell Melon makes a good teacher because its aroma is so specific. If you can smell melon, the hop survived. If you smell grass, cheese or nothing, something in the process went wrong. Working out which step it was is exactly the kind of problem hop chemistry helps you answer.

Pick a yeast that stays out of the way

A yeast that throws a lot of banana, clove or pear esters will compete with the melon. For a pale ale, a clean American style ale strain fermented around 18 to 20 °C keeps the yeast quiet. For a lager, a clean lager strain at 10 to 12 °C does the same job more thoroughly. Warm, fast fermentations push esters up and blur soft hop aromas, so control temperature in the first three days, when most of the flavour is set.

Your first Huell Melon beer

Brew a 20 litre single hop pale ale on pale malt at about 4.5% ABV. Bitter to 20 IBU with a neutral hop, then use Huell Melon only in the whirlpool and dry hop. Taste a fresh pellet before you brew and taste the beer a week after packaging. Write down how much melon made it from the bag to the glass. Then compare it with a fruit hop like Idaho 7 brewed the same way.

Common questions

What does Huell Melon taste like?

Ripe honeydew melon with strawberry and a little apricot. It is a soft, gentle aroma.

Can I bitter with Huell Melon?

You can, with alpha around 7%, but it is better saved for late additions. A small charge of a clean bittering hop does the job more efficiently.

Is Huell Melon good for hop water?

Yes. With no malt or alcohol to compete, its melon aroma comes through clearly at doses around 1 g per litre or less.