Northdown Hopped Ipa ?

[Boots]

Hi everyone,

After a late change in plans for my day off tomorrow, (longlong weekend) I'm going to be brewing :super:

I have some Northdown plugs which I'd like to use, but wasn't sure what to use them in. My only restiction is that I only have Wyeast 1028 London Ale yeast.

I was thinking of an IPA but wasn't sure how the northdown's would go. Googling reveals that Northdown is often used in conjunction with other hops - and always in esb's, and english pale ales, but I haven't found much where it is the only hop used. I'd like to keep it a single hop beer so I can see what the northdowns are like, but I also have a few plugs of ekg, challenger, ahtanum, santium, cascade..

I was aiming at a simple recipe, mostly Marris Otter .. but not really fussed bout the malt bill at the mo - more concerened about whether the northdowns would suit the ipa.

Anyone got any experiences with this hop.
Cheers for any / all comments.

 

[Sean]

Go for it - Northdown will be absolutely lovely in an IPA.

Northdown on its own is an extreamly aromatic (and vastly underrated) hop in my opinion. When I was brewing in England (where Northdown is easier to get hold of than it is here) my signature beer was a 4.5% golden ale made from (tuckers) pale malt, 5% wheat malt and lots of northdown (start of boil, end of boil and hop back). If and when I get hold of some here I will certainly be brewing it again.

Don't let the lack of commercial single hop northdown beers put you off - there are very few long standing single hop beers in the UK made from anything other than Fuggles or Goldings. Most of the more recent ones (eg Target and Challenger based beers) originate from competitions set up to push sales of particular hop varieties and AFAIK the hop merchants haven't felt the need to push Northdown in this way yet.

 

[Boots]

Cheers Sean,

If you're after it, I got mine from Goliath's

 

[Boots]

I'm going with 98% Marris Otter, 2% Caraaroma

I' just looked at how much of the northdown I had, and it wan't as much as i thought, so I'm having a hop freezer clearance.

Using EKG and Challenger @ 60 mins for around 18 IBU each.
At 15 mins: 56g Northdown for 19IBU, and at
5 mins 28g of Northdown for 4ibu

All up expected OG of around 1060 and 58 IBU.

I was tossing up adding something else to beef up the malt a bit seeing as I'm going for such a high IBU ( I could cut down on the hops ... but ... nah). I have melanoidin, munich etc. but wasn't sure what would suit.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

personally, i would cut out the cararoma and up the IBUs

Jovial Monk

 

[dicko]

Hi Boots,

I was at Goliaths a few weeks ago and Dave had on tap a northdown hopped pale ale along the style of an Aussie ale.
It wasn't too bad I thought although I felt it could have stood a little more carbonation and maybe a little colder, but, this is my opinion only, and as far as the bitterness and hop flavour were concerened I thought it was reasonable.
He also sold me some northdown plugs and I will use them in and ESB or IPA style when my brewery is up and running again.

The MO should make your brew, "special".

Cheers

 

[Boots]

Cheers for the info Dicko, I'll let you know how it goes then.

 

[Boots]

Well I kegged my Northdown IPA the other day, and must say, I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

If you can get them, they're well worth a try.

Cheers