Galaxy

[tcraig20]

I thought Stone and Wood (which I drink on tap here) has a medium and a bit mouthfeel, not thin or dry, so US-o5 would be fine, but at 18-19, not 17. I also wonder if they finish it earlier, say 1.012 rather than 1.010 or less.
I get loads of grapefruit from the draught version.

AFAIK, Stone and Wood arent abusing the term 'draught ale'. Its only available on tap, much to my dissapointment.

Where are you drinking it? Bangalow Hotel?

 

[Maxt]

Yep, Bangalow.
Tried the S&W lager. It's Ok, but nothing stellar, and I am concerned about the light green bottles they are in...skunk city waiting to happen.

 

[tcraig20]

Yep, Bangalow.
Tried the S&W lager. It's Ok, but nothing stellar, and I am concerned about the light green bottles they are in...skunk city waiting to happen.

Yeah, havent tried the lager. Havent even seen it! Ill have to get to the Bangalow Hotel next time we are up there. We usually make it to the markets anyway, so I can escape for a quickie while the missus is Mostly Mao's.

 

[Maxt]

The lager is bottles only (I think) so hit up your local bottle-o.

 

[daemon]

I would up the flameout to at least 25gms (if not more), and you many need to up the dry hop amount (you can keep adding if it's not right!). Another beer where a 20min addition is the earliest you can get in with these high AA hops.
Also, another beer you should not no chill, unless you want a very bitter beer.
I thought Stone and Wood (which I drink on tap here) has a medium and a bit mouthfeel, not thin or dry, so US-o5 would be fine, but at 18-19, not 17. I also wonder if they finish it earlier, say 1.012 rather than 1.010 or less.
I get loads of grapefruit from the draught version.

Thanks for the feedback. Will go conservative on the first batch with the hops just so I don't overdo it. If there's not enough flavour I can steep extra to adjust, harder to correct over-hopping

I'll be no-chilling and to be honest I haven't had and problems with excess bittering. I just adjust slightly in BeerSmith (0 min get added as 5 min, etc) and I've been spot on to what I wanted. Galaxy is probably the highest AA I've done it with so I'll go conservative on the bittering hops just to be sure.

 

[Maxt]

To give you an idea..if you treat your 15 min 10gm addition as a 30min addition (and I think this is conservative, as if you measure the temp of your wort after 15mins, I bet it still right up there) and the flameout as a 15min addition, instead of the 12 IBUs you are shooting for, you end up with 32.3 IBU!!! This is what I have been banging on about with no chill. In a beer that uses really high alpha acid hops, you need to lock in those hops before they run amok.
Another example. In a standard 30IBU APA using Galaxy, if you no chill you could end up (adding 15mins to hopping schedule) a beer of 60IBU. Now if you add a big whack at flameout, even more of an issue, as you did not count on any of those hops counting towards bitterness.
Another example: 30gms of Galaxy at flameout. If they sit at boil temp while it naturally chills, then once again conservatively it is the same as a 15min addition. Instead of no bitterness, you now have 31 IBU's you didn't count on.
I think this obviously extends to the time it takes from the end of the boil until whirlpool. Good brewers know this though and factor it into thier beers, tweaking recipes over time.
The difference with Galaxy is that most brewers are not adding 13%+ AA hops into their beers at flameout.
Tread gently if you are no chilling!
P.S 2 bags of ice and the sink is a cheap option!

 

[bum]

Finally got around to using this hop recently. I did use it in combination with some others so I don't have any strong feelings about this one yet but the combination worked really well so it held up its end alright.

Thanks again to those above who helped me out.

 

[superdave]

After reading all the good things said about Galaxy, and finding out it is used in the Stone and Wood Draught (currently my favourite 'commercial' beer). I put on a basic American ale with only Galaxy to see what flavours I got from it. When I bought the hop the only stuff they had in stock was '09 flowers, so unsure if that makes a difference.
I was going for a flavour/aroma beer with little bitterness. I only bottled it 2 weeks ago but was very tempted to try some last night; I can imagine it going down well in the summer heat.
I'm getting strong flavours of passionfruit and lemon from this brew; now to think of ways to use this to my advantage.

 

[big_dazza27]

I've just put down my second APA using only Galaxy. So far this is my favourite hop and the best beer i've made.

First time round i used:

26g Flowers @ 60min
12g Flowers @ 10min
12g Flowers @ 0 min

Bittered to about 40 IBUs it was delicious but wanting the flavour and aroma to shine through a bit more i used the following 2nd time around:

25g Flowers @ 60min
20g Flowers @ 10 min
15g Flowers @ 0 min
15g Flowers in a hop sock ready to get tossed in after 4 or 5 days in fermenter.

Smells awesome coming out of the airlock. Can't wait to get it in the keg!

 

[jyo]

I've never tried Galaxy before, but I've decided on my own 'Aussie Ale' (3rd AG, rackin em up now!) From reading, it seems that the flameout additions can provide quite alot of bittering with no chill - I use the laundry sink and ice with water changes, still takes about 4 hours to chill down though.
Ive ordered this to be cracked in the morning:

4500 gms Barret Burston Galaxy Ale malt
300gms crystal
300gms carapils
And here are my proposed hop additions

40 mins- 15gms galaxy
10 mins- 20 gms galaxy
0 mins- 40 gms galaxy
28 ebu

Will I be better off to dry hop the flameout...?

Any suggestions?
Cheers, John.

 

[superdave]

I've just put down my second APA using only Galaxy. So far this is my favourite hop and the best beer i've made.

First time round i used:

26g Flowers @ 60min
12g Flowers @ 10min
12g Flowers @ 0 min

Bittered to about 40 IBUs it was delicious but wanting the flavour and aroma to shine through a bit more i used the following 2nd time around:

25g Flowers @ 60min
20g Flowers @ 10 min
15g Flowers @ 0 min
15g Flowers in a hop sock ready to get tossed in after 4 or 5 days in fermenter.

Smells awesome coming out of the airlock. Can't wait to get it in the keg!

I ended up doing the same. Was getting nice flavour and aroma during primary fermentation, but it dropped off and I had to add more hops after a couple of days.

 

[jdooley]

Whats Galaxy like for dry hopping?

Having used galaxy a lot, I think that ONLY way to use it is as a dry hop addition. Everything else seems to highlight the bitterness too much

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Waiting patiently for my Kilo of Galaxy Flowers in a bulk buy. I love them even if they turn out too bitter.

 

[Brewman_]

Having used galaxy a lot, I think that ONLY way to use it is as a dry hop addition. Everything else seems to highlight the bitterness too much

Hey jdoley,

I get where your coming from. It can be harsh if over used early. Moderation is the key for this hop. And results can be great.


I think it can be used in all stages of the boil, but very carefully, otherwise it can be harsh. But in saying that, many of my mates tasting full galaxy bittered and flavoured hops don't mind it. Personally I can find it harsh, I tend to agree with you to an extent.

I still use it, for my taste / palate, I am careful with it early and combine with a smoother bittering hop like Magnum or Northern Brewer.

Did I say I love Galaxy!!

Cheers Steve

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

MOD: Topic "Galaxy Hops" merged with "Galaxy" under the "Hop Descriptions" sub-forum in Hops section.

 

[yankinoz]

I've used Galaxy quite a lot and evolved toward using it as a lone late addition in blonde ales (or would work in a nonconformist pilsner) and in hop mixtures for APAs and AIPAs. Fruit, fruit and more fruit: I get passion fruit and peach. Goes well with Nelson, Cascade, Amarillo and Simcoe.

I do not like the bittering at all, but for that purpose my tastes run to very smooth sorts: Magnum, Horizon and Sterling. I've heard Pacific Jade is good that way.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I reckon Willamette as a bitterer (not a high AA% but excellent soft, clean bitterness), which would go fantastic with Galaxy as a late addition.

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Have used a lot of Galaxy, my house pale is Galaxy bittering, a 10 minute addition and then Amarillo at flame out, tastes great.

Just done an all Galaxy pale with additions at 10, 5, 0 and -10, looking forward to see how that comes out.

 

[Bribie G]

I wasn't aware of the Bittering issues with Galaxy, and recently used it quite heavily in an Aussie IPA for the ESB competition. It scored ok but was criticised for being overly bitter, and peers have also commented on this.

I have a shedload of Galaxy flowers and going to do a simple Aussie Pale Ale type SMASH with just BB pale and Galaxy.

As I'm using flowers in the hot side, I'll be doing what I have successfully done in the past with New Zealand flowers, particularly Hallertau Aroma or Aotaratuekawamoahrika or whatever weird name it no doubt goes under nowadays.

Method is simply to take the entire hop bill, run it through a coffee press with boiling water then cooling the runnings quickly and putting them aside in a sanitised Schott Bottle in the fridge. (Edit, and add to fermentor)

Then using the pressed flowers in the boil. I've found in the past that there's plenty of bittering and resinous stuff left in the flowers whilst much, or most, of the aroma and flavour then by-pass the boil and the cubing. In addition I'll do small additions of Galaxy pellets during fermentation.

Sure it's pretty much a seat of the pants exercise but as a house beer it has worked very well in the past and gives more of the bitterness level you'd expect from commercial beers without the often aggressive bittering from gung-ho hop additions in the boil.

Pellets don't work the same as you extract nearly all the goodies into the hop tea.