Galaxy Ale - First Time User, Comments Please

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bignath

"Grains don't grow up to be chips, son"
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Brewing peoples,

Have just put in an order for a couple hundred of Galaxy. Never used it, but i have read up on it and have a decent idea of what it adds to a beer.

Tried a beer the other day that a mate brewed using Citra, and loved it. Thought i'd try a similar direction chasing the fruity smack in the chops.

I used to love brewing hoppy ales, but started trying to reign them in and try to get them a little more palatable for my mates, and get a bit more "commercial" feel into them, as opposed to the craft brewing hoppiness that i love.

I want to get back into hoppy ales, and i want to really taste the Galaxy hop. I want to be able to smell it too, without having to really dip my nose into it.

Sure you get the point. Would love some comments as i'm new to this hop. Typically brew (a shitload) with Nelson Sauvin, and Motueka.

Righto, here it is:


Galaxy Ale
I Wanna Taste The Galaxy!!!

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 3.600
Total Hops (g): 48.50
Original Gravity (OG): 1.046 (P): 11.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.008 (P): 2.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.94 %
Colour (SRM): 4.0 (EBC): 7.9
Bitterness (IBU): 54.6 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 82
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.250 kg Pale Ale Malt (90.28%)
0.350 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (9.72%)

Hop Bill
----------------
11.0 g Galaxy Pellet (14.5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
25.0 g Galaxy Pellet (14.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)
12.5 g Galaxy Pellet (14.5% Alpha) @ 4 Days (Dry Hop) (0.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18C with Danstar Nottingham

Cheers,

BigNath
 
Looks good, cc one at present with most ibus fron ten mins and 25 g in my new hop rocket, hydro sample promising.

If you are no chilling why not bung 20 g in the cube as well. I did snows s &w recipe no chill with a dose of cube hops and had good flavour and aroma, fills the gap left by the 15 min and dry hops.
cheers
Sean
 
Hopping schedule looks good, Nath, but maybe a little at flameout and/or whirlpool too (though keeping the IBUs the same)?
I love galaxy, though I mainly use it late in the boil after 15 minutes and for dry hopping in APA's.

I would be thinking about a 150-200 gm medium crystal addition in there to balance it a bit more too. But I love my crystal...

For me, it is a hop that needs a few weeks to really hit its straps.
Cheers.
 
My least favourite hop. You're all weird.

Who thought passionfruit and beer was a good idea?
 
If it were me, I'd use US-05 rather than Nottingham if you are after a hoppy beer. In my experience, Nottingham seems to strip more hoppiness than the US-05.
 
Galaxy is a great hop
I want to get back into hoppy ales, and i want to really taste the Galaxy hop. I want to be able to smell it too, without having to really dip my nose into it
So (correct me) you bitter to 54 IBU in a 1046 beer then use 25% of your hop bill in dry hoping to add aroma?
Not what I would do...

K
 
My least favourite hop. You're all weird.

Who thought passionfruit and beer was a good idea?

Yeah, but i haven't developed a taste for english varieties or derivatives like you yet. Never used EKG, Fuggles, etc. One day, one day....
I usually "bar up" for all things NZ so this represents a small departure for me, although you could argue some similarities of flavour profiles.

If it were me, I'd use US-05 rather than Nottingham if you are after a hoppy beer. In my experience, Nottingham seems to strip more hoppiness than the US-05.

Cool man, i've got some of that too. Might take your advise and switch to 05.
 
if you want to try galaxy out try my galaxy amber ale in the database simple and easy.


Plus agree with bullsneck US-05 not nottingham as it will ferment out quick and strip the flavours.
 
My least favourite hop. You're all weird.

Who thought passionfruit and beer was a good idea?

Galaxy has got a wicked resiny aspect if you let the passionfruit out with the steam.
 
To get a decent idea of the hop, remove the 60min addition and get your IBU's from 10/15min and flameout/whirlpool (or even cube)

Increase the dry hopping a bit as well to at least 1g/L

And you may also want to chuck some sort of crystal in there if you're having a 54IBU's in a <1.050 beer, or it could finish way too dry

And as others have said, change from nott to 05


Sponge
 
I have done similar to what you are doing. Not quite as bitter though.
I have also done the same with Citra.

I found the Citra was much nicer. To me Galaxy had a real resiny lingering bitterness.

I have used Galaxy a couple of times since then mixed with other hops and I reckon I can still taste that resinous flavour.

Not for me.

P.S. Citra and Amarillo is a good combo, Nelson and Amarillo better. :)
 
Citra & Nelson - good combo, but add in galaxy - good, but not as good.

But Citra and Galaxy are excellent together, and I reckon that Chinook, Centennial and Galaxy are an excellent combo. You get the resinousy bitterness, but without too much fruitsalad.

Goomba
 
Galaxy needs to be used with caution IMO. It can be a harsh bitterer, and a Pasito beer flavourer.

Best used in combo with other hops. I like it best as a bitterer with Cascade late. You get resinous with citrus.
 
How would you do it DrK?

There are rules of thumb/suggested guides on bitterness to gravity ratio.

They are not set in stone but I'm guessing that's what Dr k is alluding to.


Google BU:GU ratio or bitterness units to gravity units.
 
BU to GU is a bit nuts in some ways though.

As an example, a 1.035 batch, with 25% crystal mashed at 70C will show a terrible ratio if bittered to 40IBUs - which it quite probably requires.

It should be BU to (F)GU. Not OG.
 
54 IBU is waaay too much. Less is more with this hop. Google some of the stone and wood clones on AHB.
 
BU to GU is a bit nuts in some ways though.

I agree. That's why I say rule of thumb/guide.

For recipe development, I don't follow any such rule of thumb - I know my ingredients well enough to know what balance I like unless I'm experimenting with a new one - then I find out through experimentation.

I think FG should be taken into account (as should many other things) but I don't think it's as simple as either bU/OG or BU/FG.
 
righto, so it sounds like i should wind back the quantities then....as i said, never used this hop before, so flying blind to a certain degree. Appreciate all help so far.

@manticle, cheers mate, i am familiar with BU:GU ratios. I use Brewmate and Beertools Pro as my software(s) of choice. Brewmate has this feature which i love. For me, it's one of the most important boxes for designing a recipe. Others opinions may differ though, but i find it very useful.

Might aim for a BU:GU just under 1.0 then? Maybe .90???? So what's that, probably around 42ibu's instead of the mid 50's...don't have it open to check at the moment.

Have the us05, and crystal too, so i will go with those suggestions.

So, how does this look now.....

Galaxy Ale


Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 3.700
Total Hops (g): 50.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.008 (P): 2.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 5.05 %
Colour (SRM): 6.2 (EBC): 12.2
Bitterness (IBU): 43.9 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 82
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
3.250 kg Pale Ale Malt (87.84%)
0.300 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (8.11%)
0.150 kg Crystal 60 (4.05%)

Hop Bill
----------------
10.0 g Galaxy Pellet (12.1% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
25.0 g Galaxy Pellet (12.1% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/L)
15.0 g Galaxy Pellet (12.1% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (0.8 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18C with Safale US-05


Recipe Generated with BrewMate
 
My next brew is a clone of Karma Citra using galaxy and citra
Galaxy @60min 1g/L
Galaxy and Citra @10min 2g/L each
Galaxy and Citra @0 0.75g/L each
Citra dry hop bit over 2g/L

I'd suggest a cube hop for more aroma - or the plunger during ferment.
 
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