4 Hop + American Ipa

[benny_bjc]

hello,

Have just brewed the following American IPA:

500g Light Liquid Malt in total boil of 6-7 Litres Water
Total Boil time 30 minutes

10g Chinook @ 30 minutes

10g Simcoe @ 20 mins
10g Cascade @20 mins
10g Amarillo @20 mins

20g Chinook @ 5 mins
20g Cascade Flowers @ 5 mins

End of Boil:

Keep all the hops in hop sock inside fermenter for duration of fermentation (1 week).

Add 1kg Light Liquid Malt and 3.4kg Wetpak American Pale Ale Malt (with hop pellets - american but unknown)

Steep: Grains included with extract kit (Pale and Crystal???)

Also steeped 50g Pale Chocolate Griain

2 Packets US Yeast


Secondary Fermentation (1 week):

40g Chinook
40g Cascade Flowers
15g Simcoe
15g Amarillo

________________

It is currently in the secondary fermenter... so unfortunately it won't be ready for christmas or new years....

Will get back on here when it's time for tasting...

Let me know what you think!

 

[Muggus]

Secondary Fermentation (1 week):

40g Chinook
40g Cascade Flowers
15g Simcoe
15g Amarillo

Are these all dry hops?
110g hops works out to be 5g/L in a 22L batch, that's quite alot!
Should smell really nice, though it does tend to be on the grassy side with alot of American dry hops.
Be interesting to see how it goes.

 

[benny_bjc]

Are these all dry hops?
110g hops works out to be 5g/L in a 22L batch, that's quite alot!
Should smell really nice, though it does tend to be on the grassy side with alot of American dry hops.
Be interesting to see how it goes.

Yes they are dry hopped...

I was thinking at the time I should probably restrain myself a bit.... but I got very carried away as you can see!!!

 

[bum]

110g hops works out to be 5g/L in a 22L batch, that's quite alot!
Should smell really nice, though it does tend to be on the grassy side with alot of American dry hops.

I recently hopped a beer to 8.something per litre. Smelled amazing but to be honest I could only taste the hops when it was young - turned to fresh cut grass very quickly. Hop varieties were simcoe, columbus, amarillo and galaxy. Since mine was a small batch too it was well worth it for the aroma alone but I won't be doing it with a full batch any time soon. Good luck with it, let us know!

 

[benny_bjc]

I recently hopped a beer to 8.something per litre. Smelled amazing but to be honest I could only taste the hops when it was young - turned to fresh cut grass very quickly. Hop varieties were simcoe, columbus, amarillo and galaxy. Since mine was a small batch too it was well worth it for the aroma alone but I won't be doing it with a full batch any time soon. Good luck with it, let us know!

Thanks, when you say turned to fresh cut grass very quickly.... approx how long are you talking?
weeks after bottling, a month, 2 months.....???

 

[bum]

Oh, pooh! I forgot to mention I'm a complete AG n00b so you probably shouldn't take what I'm saying as Gospel. That was my first foray into AG and I'm sure I stuffed up many variables that effect the longevity of my beer.

But in answer to your question: the insane hop flavour (that I was obviously aiming for) dissipated behind the grassiness (which was there a little in the beginning) within about 6 weeks. Another factor which I believe (i.e. assume) has influenced the grassiness was that I leave hop material from the boil in my primary - never been a problem with my kits/extracts but using so much in such a small batch (11L) really concentrated the effect. Seemed that way to me anyway.

 

[benny_bjc]

Oh, pooh! I forgot to mention I'm a complete AG n00b so you probably shouldn't take what I'm saying as Gospel. That was my first foray into AG and I'm sure I stuffed up many variables that effect the longevity of my beer.

But in answer to your question: the insane hop flavour (that I was obviously aiming for) dissipated behind the grassiness (which was there a little in the beginning) within about 6 weeks. Another factor which I believe (i.e. assume) has influenced the grassiness was that I leave hop material from the boil in my primary - never been a problem with my kits/extracts but using so much in such a small batch (11L) really concentrated the effect. Seemed that way to me anyway.

Yeah I left my hops from the boil in the primary fermenter as well....

I guess it's an excuse to drink the beer quickly!
Anyway I will let you guys know how it turns out!

 

[Muggus]

I recently hopped a beer to 8.something per litre. Smelled amazing but to be honest I could only taste the hops when it was young - turned to fresh cut grass very quickly. Hop varieties were simcoe, columbus, amarillo and galaxy. Since mine was a small batch too it was well worth it for the aroma alone but I won't be doing it with a full batch any time soon. Good luck with it, let us know!

I recall it being mentioned in another thread a while back, but there's basically a limit to how much you can dry hop a beer.
Naturally if you put a HUGE amount of dry hop into a batch, it's gonna smell awesome, and the more you put in the more awesome and pungent it's gonna smell.
But that initial "pungency" will only last so long and what you're left with is a liquid that is now heavy with hops but the delicate aromatics have dissipated and you're left with this kind of generic aromatic hop character, which is pretty much percieved as a green leafy character like the smell of dry hops that have been left out of the packet for a while.

As you've mentioned, you will get an awesome aromatic from heaps of dried hops, but it gets to the point where that aromatic might only last for a couple of hours! And that's pretty much a waste of hops.

 

[bum]

I won't go so far as to say it was a waste of hops but it is something I am chalking up to experience.

Gotta say everything you said was borne out in the brew I was talking about. I'm glad I did it but can't see myself going so far ever again.

 

[Muggus]

I won't go so far as to say it was a waste of hops but it is something I am chalking up to experience.

Gotta say everything you said was borne out in the brew I was talking about. I'm glad I did it but can't see myself going so far ever again.

Yeah I came across the phenomenon quite some time ago, with an all Amarillo brew.
Smelled fantastic with 4g/L of dry hop in the fermenter, but was a grass bomb by the time I got around to drinking it.

 

[benny_bjc]

... was just thinking, should I remove the bag of hops from the secondary fermenter earlier, rather than leaving it a whole week. Will this reduce the grassiness. It only went into the secondary this afternoon. Or should I just leave it be and put it down as a bit of an experiment.