Northern Brewer hops for woody bitterness in steam beer

An English hop that found its home in a Californian beer

Northern Brewer was bred in England at Wye College in the 1930s. It never became a big English aroma hop, but brewers in Germany, Belgium and the United States took to it as a dependable bittering and flavour hop. Its alpha acids usually sit around 7 to 10%, high enough to bitter efficiently without needing huge additions.

Its character is woody and resinous, with mint, pine and an earthy edge. That profile matches one American style almost perfectly: California common, the beer historically known as steam beer. The name Steam Beer is a registered trademark, so other brewers use the style name. Our guide to resin and bitterness from old hops covers the wider family of hops with this kind of character.

What California common actually is

California common is a lager fermented warm. Brewers in nineteenth century San Francisco had lager yeast but no reliable refrigeration, so they fermented at ale temperatures. The yeast that survived became adapted to it.

The modern style guidelines put it at an original gravity of about 1.048 to 1.054, 4.5 to 5.5% ABV and 30 to 45 IBU. It is amber, with toasty caramel malt and a firm, woody, minty hop finish. A good one is clean and crisp like a lager, with a little fruit from the warmer ferment. Fermentation usually runs around 14 to 18 °C with a strain sold specifically for this style, which keeps esters in check.

How to use Northern Brewer in the boil

Most of the character in a California common comes from three additions:

• Bittering at 60 minutes for the bulk of the IBU. Northern Brewer gives a clean, firm bitterness here.
• Flavour at 15 minutes to keep some of the woody, minty oils.
• A small addition at flameout or in a short whirlpool at around 80 °C for aroma.

Skip the heavy dry hop. This is a beer where hop character supports the malt rather than dominating it. A dry hop of Northern Brewer can drift grassy and harsh, which clashes with the toasty caramel malt.

A 20 litre California common to start from

For 20 litres into the fermenter at about 1.051:

• 4.0 kg pale ale or Pilsner malt (84%)
• 0.5 kg crystal malt around 100 to 150 EBC (10%)
• 0.3 kg Munich or Vienna malt (6%)

Mash at 66 °C for 60 minutes. For hops, assuming Northern Brewer at 8.5% alpha and a utilisation of about 28% over a 60 minute boil, 30 g at 60 minutes gives roughly 36 IBU. Add 15 g at 15 minutes and 15 g at flameout. Recalculate with the alpha acid printed on your packet, because it varies by crop.

Pitch a California lager strain, ferment at 15 to 16 °C, then give it two weeks cold before packaging. Carbonate to around 2.5 volumes of CO2. If you have no cold storage at all, a clean American ale yeast at the bottom of its range gives a passable version, a little fruitier.

Brewing in an Indian summer, the fermentation temperature is the hard part. A wort that sits at 28 °C overnight before the yeast goes in will throw fruity esters and fusel alcohols that bury the hop. Chill it first, even if that means an ice bath in a bucket.

Keeping the bitterness smooth rather than harsh

Northern Brewer can turn rough if you push it. A few things help:

• Keep water sulphate moderate. A sharp, high sulphate water makes woody bitterness taste scratchy.
• Use fresh hops. Old hops lose aroma and can turn cheesy. Their bitterness also becomes less predictable.
• Do not chase 45 IBU on your first brew. Around 35 IBU lets the malt speak.

This is where most homebrewers stall: the recipe looks right and the beer still tastes hard. Usually the answer is water chemistry and hop freshness together, not the hop itself.

Storing and substituting it in India

Hops reach India by sea or air, then sit in warehouses that may be far from cold. Buy vacuum or nitrogen flushed packs, put them in the freezer the day they arrive and use them within months. Heat drives off the oils and oxidises the alpha acids, so a packet stored at room temperature through an Indian summer will bitter less and smell worse.

If Northern Brewer is out of stock, its German grown version is the closest swap. Perle is a reasonable second choice for the woody bitterness. Your first step: brew the recipe above with a single hop, so the next time you taste a California common you know exactly which flavours Northern Brewer brought.