Brew Dudes

Homebrewing Blog and Resource

The hobby of homebrewing beer

New Brew Dudes Feature – Hops Variety Table

Here is the moment you probably haven’t been waiting for. One never knows, though. We are happy to bring this new feature to you, since is have been a true labor of love, brewed slowly over the years. I’m talking about our new SMaSH Beer Table, which is now live on the site. If you’ve ever tried to remember what we said about a particular hop back in, say, 2015, now there’s a single place where all our SMaSH beer tasting notes live.

With some help of available computing power, dozens of hop variety reviews, SMaSH beer tasting impressions, style suggestions, and direct links to the original videos can be sorted and searched.

The resource for our hops reviews

From Competitions to Custom Hop Wisdom

You might notice that we quietly removed the old “Competitions” link from our site navigation. Honestly, I gave up trying to outdo the AHA or BJCP when it came to listing every homebrew contest out there years ago. Instead, we put our energy into something uniquely ours: hop analysis from real brews we made ourselves. For each hop, we brewed a small batch of SMaSH beer;  typically, 1 US gallon, using 2 pounds of pale malt and 1 ounce of the featured hop. We’d toss the hops in at different stages of the boil, ferment, package, taste, and talk. That’s what the new table captures. You’ll find what we thought (good or “meh”), what beer styles might benefit from each hop, and you’ll be able to sort by flavor notes, video link, or hop name.

A Decade of Hops Reviews – Organized

This has been a long time coming. Over the years, many of you wrote in asking for a summary, hoping for some way to make sense of the all the hop videos we’ve shared. Thanks to some clever AI help, we were able to compile all the key takeaways into one tidy, searchable resource. If you’re looking for a hop with big lime notes for your next hazy pale ale, or you want to avoid overly earthy flavors in your pilsner, this table will save you a lot of trial and error. Plus, if you just want to see what my hair looked like 10 years ago… well, the links are right there. Cheers to progress, to passion projects, and to pellet hops that still smell green.

Wai-iti Hops SMaSH Beer Tasting and Review

Hey! We’re back with another entry in our never-ending SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beer series. This time, we’re diving into a New Zealand variety that’s new to our lineup: Wai-iti hops.

I’ve stayed away from New Zealand hops for a while. Not because of the flavor, but because, frankly, I struggle to pronounce their names. But we are back to drink beer and say it wrong.

Wai-iti brings some interesting lineage to the table, with Liberty and Hallertau in its parentage. It’s a lower-alpha variety, so we were curious how it would hold up in our standard testing format.

Well, we tried to say the name right.

Brew Day Details

For this SMaSH beer, we followed our usual method: a one-gallon batch with two pounds of grain and two gallons of water. Here’s the hop schedule we used:

Wai-iti Hops SMaSH Beer Recipe

Grain Bill: 2 pounds of Pale Malt
Water Volume: 2 gallons
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Hop Schedule:
7 grams at 60 minutes
14 grams whirlpool additions at 180 °F (82°C) for 10 mintues
7 grams dry hop for 1 day post-fermentation

Fermentation: 7 days at room temperature

Cold Crash: 1 day

Yeast: US-05

These hop pellets came from Yakima Valley Hops’ 2024 crop and clocked in at just 3% alpha acids. We gave it a bit of a push to coax out as much bitterness as possible.

What Is Wai-iti All About?

Right from the pour, the aroma was punchy, fruit-forward, and lively. We picked up Juicy Fruit notes before we even brought the glass to our noses. There were definite hints of green melon, cantaloupe, and a bit of citrus zest. What stood out to me was a subtle creamy vanilla vibe, which made the whole experience really pleasant and slightly unexpected. Mike mentioned lime zest and even a bit of a “zippy” bitterness, which was more noticeable than in many of our recent SMaSH tests.

Wai-iti isn’t resinous or dank; instead, it brings a clean bitterness and a bright, fruity profile. I could totally see this being a standout hop in a cream ale, a wheat beer, or even a blend with something like Simcoe or Citra to boost fruit character in the late additions. It’s a hop that pulls its weight in aroma, flavor, and clean bitterness

So if you’re looking for something refreshing and a bit unique for your next brew, Wai-iti might be worth tossing into the boil.

BREW ON!

Valley Malt – American Pale Ale Experiment

At Brew Dudes, we’re always looking for ways to support local craft and experiment with new ingredients. This week, Mike brewed up a special American Pale Ale (APA) with malt sourced entirely from Valley Malt, one of the original craft maltsters right here in Massachusetts. Thanks to their new online shop, Ground Up, getting their small-batch malt was easier (and cheaper) than ever. Mike got free shipping on 40-pound sacks! With two different malts in hand (Pale 2-Row and Light Munich), Mike put together a simple recipe to see what these local grains are all about.

Look at that APA.

Brewing With Valley Malt: Recipe Details

For this experimental APA, we kept it simple to really let the malt flavors shine. Here’s the full recipe for the brew:

Grain Bill:

  • 80% Valley Malt Pale Two Row
  • 20% Valley Malt Light Munich (8°L)

Hops:

  • Nugget hops at 60 minutes (for bitterness only)
  • No late addition or dry hops (so we could taste the malt)

Yeast:

  • Nottingham Dry Ale Yeast

Mash:

  • 152°F for 75 minutes
  • Mashout at 168°F for 10 minutes

Batch Details:

  • 3.5-gallon batch
  • OG: 1.046
  • FG: 1.010
  • ABV: ~4.7%
  • IBUs: ~33
  • SRM: ~4.5

Mike wanted a clean fermentation to highlight the base malt character, and that’s exactly what he got. No fancy hop aromas or complicated schedules — just good old-fashioned malt-forward beer.

Tasting Notes and Next Steps

This little APA turned out to be a great way to showcase what Valley Malt brings to the table. The beer poured a light golden color and gave off a distinct cereal and biscuit flavor. The flavors are more reminiscent of English pale ales than the super-clean American versions we’ve brewed with bigger maltsters like Briess. The Munich definitely adds a touch of richness, but the backbone is all about that locally malted Pale 2-row. It’s got just a bit more character compared to standard American malts.

From here, the possibilities are wide open. Mike is already dreaming of using this malt combo as a base for a classic American pale ale loaded with C-hops, or maybe even tweaking it into a brown ale recipe. And since Mike impulsively bought a full sack of light Munich, you better believe a Munich-forward summer lager might be coming down the pipeline soon. Stay tuned for more local malt experiments are definitely on the way.

Brew ON!

Simcoe Hops SMaSH Beer Review and Tasting

Sometimes you think you know a hop, and then it surprises you. That’s exactly what happened when Mike and I finally brewed up a SMaSH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer with Simcoe hops. We’d somehow skipped over it in our series even though we’ve used Simcoe in many IPAs over the years. Thanks to a few viewers who called us out (you know who you are), we circled back and gave this classic hop its own spotlight.

It’s about time!

Simcoe Hops SMaSH Beer Recipe

As always with our SMASH experiments, we kept it simple so the hop could shine on its own. Here’s how we brewed it:

Batch Size: 1 gallon
Malt: 2 lbs Pale Malt
Water Volume: 2 gallons
Hops: 1 oz (28g) of Simcoe hops

3.5g @ 60 minutes (bittering addition)
17.5g @ whirlpool (10 minutes at 180°F)
7g dry hop (after cold crashing for a day)

We fermented as usual and gave it a quick crash before packaging.

The Tasting Notes

Well, Mike was surprised and pleasantly so. He expected Simcoe to be more resinous, dank, maybe even a little diesel-y. Those West Coast IPAs from 10 – 15 years ago had those flavors.

What we got instead was a subtle, sweet, fruity character. The aroma had a muted, candied pineapple vibe. It was like dried pineapple or a pineapple hard candy. On the flavor side, there were hints of underripe white peach and citrus peel, but nothing overly sharp or tart. Just a nice, mellow profile with soft bitterness and a really clean finish.

This particular lot (2024 harvest from Yakima Valley Hops, 14.4% AA) felt more refined than we remember. It makes me think this hop really shines when used as a late addition or dry hop. It’s less of a bittering workhorse and more as a flavor booster.

We would use it again – We’re putting it it on our list of go-to hops for building a balanced IPA base.

BREW ON!

A generated image of two Irish beers: an Irish Red Ale and an Irish Stout. Only the tops of the pint glasses are visible to see the detail of each beer's head.

2025 Irish Beers – Recipes and Tasting Notes

Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, Mike throws a big family meal at his house with corned beef, cabbage, and other Irish-American foods. Of course, he is in charge of the beer. For 2025, he decided to brew two classic Irish styles: a red ale and a stout. What made this year different was trying to take a single base recipe and branch it off into two different beers. Let’s see how his plan turned out.

Irish Beers – the 2025 edition

One Base Recipe For Two Styles

At the core each recipe was Maris Otter and flaked barley, and using Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale yeast.

2025 Irish Red Ale

Grains:
Maris Otter – 85%
Flaked Barley – 11%
Extra Special Malt (130°L) – 3%
Roasted Barley – 1.5%

Hops:
60-minute addition of a 50/50 blend of Bramling Cross and East Kent Goldings

Yeast:
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast

Process and Outcomes:
Mash at 147°F to 152°F over 40 minutes, mash out at 168°F for 20 minutes

Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 5.25%

2025 Irish Stout (Chocolate-Malt Variant)

Grains:
Maris Otter – 73%
Flaked Barley – 11%
Dark Chocolate Malt (450°L) – 10%
Pale Chocolate Malt – 4%
Crystal 60 – 2%

Hops:
Same as above, 60-minute addition of Bramling Cross and EKG

Yeast:
Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast

Process and Outcomes:
Mashed at 155°F for 45 minutes, mash out at 168°F for 15 minutes

Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.018
ABV: 4.7%

The 2025 Irish Beers Notes

Both beers came out nicely, though very different despite sharing some ingredients. The Irish red was smooth and malty with a firm hop presence that came through a bit more than in the stout. The flaked barley added a good mouthfeel, and the hops had a slight earthy, minty quality.

The stout was where another experiment came in. Without roasted barley, Mike was curious how much “stout character” would come from just chocolate malts. The outcome was positive. There was a distinct roastiness from the dark chocolate malt. Thankfully, it lacked the sharpness or ashy notes you get from roasted barley. It was smoother overall, which we liked.

Hopefully, there is still some on tap when we tasted the stouts from the 14th pick.

BREW ON!

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