Extract Hop Combos....

[birusuki]

This thread has two purposes,

1. to help me choose what hops for my first extract
2. To get some members to list some hop combos,
whether it be thier favourite or just combos they have had success with.
not looking for recipes, just some popular combos that will help beginners
have an idea about what hops might compliment each other etc.

So to number one, my first extract day off on Wed. and have ordered some stuff
from the net. (no shops)

3kg llme Morgans master malt extra pale.
200g maltose
250g caramel malt steeped 20min. (that is what you all call cystal yeah?)
yeast us-05

Hops

Nugget 20gms 13.6% @60
saaz 15gms 3.5% @40
sazz 15gms @10

now as for the hops the nugget @13.6% is quite high would that be too many grams?
too bitter?
other ingredients I have that could be substituted are,

1kg LDME
1KG MDME

cascade hops 100g pellets 5.7%
morgans tea bags finishing hops
2 x pride of ringwood
2 x tettnanger

any tweaking would be helpfull. should I reduce the LLME and add some DME?

then onto #2 please members give us noobs some great hop combos.

 

[bignath]

Hi Monchan,

just having a quick look at your ingredients.

Have just thrown this into beersmith, and you will get around 37 IBU's.
That in itself is not necessarily a high level of bitterness. This is assuming a batch of 23 litres?

What i am wondering is what are you trying to make. For a nice hoppy ale, 37 IBU's could be great, but then you wouldn't typically use saaz in an ale, or particulary a real hoppy one.
If you are trying to make a lager however, the saaz hops will be a great choice (never used nugget so can't comment on it). At those AA% though it's obviously used as bittering hop) and the US-05 can be used to make a good "fake lager" if you can't keep the temp down to normal lager temps.

So if it was me, i would try lowering the IBU's a little closer to maybe 25 if you are going for a lager, or using a different hop but to the same/similar level of IBU's for a nice hoppy ale. Your cascade would be perfect for this.

You could actually just use cascade as the only hop variety in this beer. I've done some nice beers just using cascade.

Maybe go

your morgans malt cans
maltose? not sure exactly what this is. I know it's a sugar, just not sure in what form...

the crystal malt - does it have an "L" number on it? 250g could make it quite dark depending on the malt used. Not sure if that's what you want.

Hops:
you could try 20g Cascade @ 60, 15 @ 30, and 15@ 10 and see how it turns out. In 23lt this will give you just short of 24 IBU's.

Ferment at 17/18 for the US-05.

Hope this helps, let us know how it turns out.

Nath

 

[birusuki]

Yeah I was tossing up between an ale or lager, the temp here is just right for a lager hence the saaz (have some lager yeast to)
the caramel hops from where I bought it from, didnt have an L next to it
but there were two types that range from EBC55-85 and EBC130-170 I got the EBC55-85 I reckon its the light one.

I think maltose is maltodexrin, didnt realy understand the translation on the site I got it from. Maybe I should leave it out?

 

[bignath]

yeah, i probably wouldn't bother with the maltose. Probably because i don't know anything about it though....

the caramalt/crystal you have is (according to beersmith) one of the lighter ones. Probably relates to Crystal 30L.

if you go a lager, what about dropping the nugget back to maybe 10g @ 60 and then trying 30g Saaz @ 30, and 20g @ 10? This will get you 27 IBU's..