Brew suggestions? What to put down

[Bax]

Hey guys,

My brews have getting more and more complex with additions and the like of late, not that this is a problem at all! But I wanted to keep my next brew simpler, as money is a bit tight at the moment.

Inventory:
500g LDME.
Packet of Chinook Hop Pellets
Packet of Cascade Hop Pellets
Packet of Nelson Sauvin Hop Pellets
Packet of Citra Hop Pellets.

Preferred yeast is US-05.

I'm thinking something simple, nothing too hoppy, just a pretty mellow beast.

Australian Pale Ale with hop additions perhaps. But what hops for a bit of aroma and a TINY bit of bitterness.

 

[user 31093]

With those ingredients, I'd suggest a beer.

 

[user 31093]

Are you planning to use a kit like the Coopers Australian pale ale kit?

That kit will probably have enough bitterness in it already, you could boil up some cascade and chinook for 5-10 minutes for some nice flavour and aroma.

What weight are the hop packs?

 

[Bax]

Beer is definitely a good choice, and I think in the end you'll be pretty accurate with that suggestion haha

They've 500g packs or something ridiculous, so I've got plenty to go around.

It's a coopers pale ale kit, but I'm not looking for authenticity, as I'm actually not a huge fan of the genuine product, gives me massive headaches for some reason. So aroma/flavour but no bitterness sounds ideal.

I did read in here somewhere, somebody did the standard kit with 15g of Nelson Sauvin dry hopped at the end.

Nelson goes well with Cascade? Maybe a 10 minute boil with the LDME? I need to jump in the calculator I think.

 

[Bax]

Calculator is saying 10 minute boil is massively hoppy. Maybe 10 minutes on the Cascade and add the Nelson in at flameout.

Add 300g of Dex will take me up to 1036. Could probably bump that to 500g for 1039. Could also leave the dex out and go more malt.

 

[user 31093]

Check out the spreadsheet for your desired IBU and malt additions... What alcohol range are you after? If you're after 4.5% ish you'll be looking at 15-17 litres.

I've never used NS so I can't give any actual reports on it, but I've read that it doesn't work well with many hops, but does work with cascade.

I'm a big fan of dry hopping...

 

[Bax]

Cheers I'll have a play around when I get back to work.

4-4.5% will do me. My last few have been 5-6.5% so bringing it back would be a bit more drinkable at the moment

 

[indica86]

I made one with Citra, was freakin AWESOME.



Crystal in 10 litres @ 65°



10 Citra @ 20



25 Citra @ 10



25 Citra @ 5



30 Citra Dry Hop






Use the DME for the boil.

 

[user 31093]

I made one with Citra, was freakin AWESOME.


Crystal in 10 litres @ 65° 10 Citra @ 20 25 Citra @ 10 25 Citra @ 5 30 Citra Dry Hop
Use the DME for the boil.

Isn't citra great? I've seen so many people say it stinks, but I love it.

One of my favs to dry hop with.

 

[Canuckdownunder]

Hey there!
I used to make an APA with those sorts of ingredients. If you pick yourself up a can of goo and 500g of crystal 60 you'll be quite sorted.
Since you have the spreadsheet just plonk in 500g crystal 60 1.5kg ldme a can of Coopers Pale ale and cascade at 15 and 5 and you've got an epic and tasty APA. Follow the brew-day instructions and you're good to go!

Canuck

 

[indica86]

I would not use 500g crystal.
250g is plenty.

 

[user 31093]

I would not use 500g crystal.
250g is plenty.

500g of crystal or caraanything is too much for a single/small batch

 

[Northkit]

What's the issue with using 500g of crystal in a single batch? I'm just about to bottle a Coopers Unreal Ale with 500g of crystal so curious to know what it will do.

 

[Bax]

I don't think I'll be using any crystal this time guys. I just need to pick up some yeast from the local shop, I don't think they'll have any crystal but I'll ask, if they do then I'll add it. But I was hoping to avoid any ordering just so I could get it down asap.

I think I'll go with the Nelson/Cascade mix. 500g of malt and tin of APA goo.

 

[Alex.Tas]

What's the issue with using 500g of crystal in a single batch? I'm just about to bottle a Coopers Unreal Ale with 500g of crystal so curious to know what it will do.

i find it makes the beers very sweet.

 

[indica86]

I have done it once - 500g - and it was way too sweet.

 

[Northkit]

Bugger, not a big fan of sweet beers. It's been fermenting for almost 2 weeks now, the brew has 24g of fuggles but is there any extra hop additions I can make to balance out the sweetness?

Cheers.

 

[indica86]

Probably not. Live and learn you can though.

 

[user 31093]

Well, there's nothing "wrong" with it... The OP wants something mellow.

If you're doing a 23L batch, I would say 500g is a lot of crystal (I'd say around the 15% 'fermentables' for an all grain equivalent)

 

[user 31093]

Double post.

 

[Captain Kirk]

Could swap out the Amarillo for Citra and do a fruit salad beer. It's my next recipe

Or at the moment I'm doing a tooheys old clone. Tastes good! Ready to bottle.
1 x Beermasters Old 1.7 lme
1kg dark dme
250g corn sugar
Us 05
14 days @ 20 c

 

[Bax]

Hey guys, thought I'd report back.

Ended up just going straight Citra, figured I should knock things back and start to figure out what different hops taste like.

Ended up going 1kg of LDME, 1.7kg tin of Coopers APA. US05. 30g of Citra dry hopped after kraussen collapsed. Day 6 or so.
Cold crashed. Bulk primed with 8g of dex/L.

Massive amounts of lace. Really light. Sweet. Bitterness is really low. Good head and overall really pleasant easy drinking. I thought it was going to taste like pasito going off the smell. But it's quite enjoyable for a hot day.

 

[user 31093]

I thought it was going to taste like pasito going off the smell. But it's quite enjoyable for a hot day.

Aaahhaha that's Citra for you.

I have some dry hopped cider with citra that gave it a real hit of passionfruit.

What did your OG/FG end up being?

 

[Bax]

1039 and I believe it was 1010 when I put it into secondary to help clean up.

Exactly what the spreadsheet said.

I'm actually quite impressed, for the first trial at just dry hopping a pale ale to start figuring out what I do/don't like about particular hops, it turned out quite drinkable compared to others.