Mount Hood hops for German style lagers brewed elsewhere

A German hop grown in Oregon

Mount Hood was bred in Oregon from Hallertau Mittelfrüh stock and released in the late 1980s. Alpha acid is low, with supplier sheets usually in the 4 to 6% range. Its aroma is mild, with herbal, floral and spicy notes. Like Liberty and Crystal, it was developed so that American farms could supply a Hallertau style hop.

It is subtle, so it works best in beers with little else going on: helles, pils, Munich dunkel or a Märzen. Do not expect the finer polish of true Mittelfrüh. Do expect a clean, pleasant hop line from a variety that is easier to find.

Dosing in a 10 hl helles

For a 10 hl batch at about 20 IBU, with Mount Hood at 5% alpha and 28% utilisation:

• 60 minutes: about 1.0 kg gives roughly 14 IBU.
• 15 minutes: about 0.5 kg gives a further 2 or 3 IBU and some flavour.
• Whirlpool at 80 °C for 15 minutes: 0.5 kg for aroma, which adds a few more IBU to reach about 20.

That is a lot of pellet weight because the alpha is low. If you want a cleaner bitterness for less plant matter, bitter with a high alpha hop instead. Our guide to Perle covers a German option. Kazbek suits a Czech style.

Check the alpha every crop

Mount Hood alpha moves between crops, so a lot at 4% bought last year can differ from a 6% lot this year. The commonest cause of a bitter lager is an unadjusted alpha. Read the analysis for each lot, recalculate and, if you can, measure the finished beer for IBU.

Water, malt and yeast do the rest

A German style lager is a malt and yeast beer first. Soft water is the starting point, with residual alkalinity close to zero for a pale beer. If your supply is hard, blend with RO water. Use a good pilsner malt, a clean lager yeast and a mash schedule that suits the malt modification you have.

Water chemistry belongs here too. A target of roughly 50 mg/L calcium or a little more helps the mash and the yeast, but keep sulphate modest so the bitterness stays soft. A sulphate heavy profile that suits an IPA will make a helles taste harsh.

Malt matters as much as the hop. Pilsner malt gives a clean cracker note, Vienna a touch of toast and Munich malt the bread crust of a dunkel. Choose the hop last, to suit what the malt has already said.

Hop tea is a useful check when you taste. Steep a few pellets in hot water and smell the herbal and floral notes. They should sit quietly behind the malt. Hop tea has nothing to do with brewing with real tea, which we cover inbrewing with tea.

Heat control is where Indian lagers succeed or fail

German style lagers ferment at 8 to 13 °C. In a brewpub with tanks that cannot hold that range in May, the yeast produces more esters and sulphur compounds than the style allows. Check that glycol temperature, jacket coverage and chiller capacity can hold the profile with all tanks running. If they cannot, brew less lager in peak summer. Plan the lagering schedule for the cooler months.

Use a diacetyl rest at about 15 °C for two days at the end of fermentation, then cool at roughly 1 °C a day to lagering temperature.

Rice and maize in the grist

Many Indian lagers include rice or maize for lightness. That is fine for a pilsner. It departs from German tradition, but the hop line is unchanged. A thin beer makes bitterness read sharper, so trim the IBU target slightly and taste before you adjust again.

Storing the hop

Hops travel a long way to reach India. Ask the importer for storage details and the crop year, keep packs frozen and write the opening date on each. A herbal hop smelling of cheese has already lost what you came for.

Run a trial before the season starts. Brew two small batches of the same helles, one with Mount Hood and one with the traditional hop you use now. Taste them side by side with your team. Put out water and spit cups for anyone who prefers them. The result tells you whether the swap is good enough for your customers.

Common questions

Is Mount Hood a noble hop?

No. The noble varieties are old German and Czech landraces. Mount Hood was bred from Mittelfrüh and has a similar profile.

What alpha acid does Mount Hood have?

Supplier sheets usually put it at roughly 4 to 6%, but check the analysis for each lot because it moves between crops.

Can Mount Hood replace Hallertau in a lager?

In most beers, yes. It is slightly less refined. For a competition beer, run a side by side tasting first.

Does the hop matter more than temperature in a lager?

No. Fermentation temperature, yeast health and water affect a lager more than the choice between similar mild hops.