Recipe Ideas - Pales With Lots Of Late/cube Hops

[mikec]

OK, a few things have happened at once.
I've got all the kit to do HERMS now, but I need to do a few brews to nail down the processes, equipment settings and so on. I need to do some trial and error to get things like flow rate, pump positioning, controller settings and so on, just right.

At the same time I went a bit nuts when Nikobrew had a sale, so now I have a shedload of hop varieties that I would like to try out.

So I'm thinking I'll do a few batches of some simple and easily replicated pale ales, with a neutral bittering hop, and then a single hop (or more if appropriate) for flavour/aroma. I'll do no chill add the flavour/aroma hops to the cube and/or dry hop, which means I can also split a single batch into 2 cubes with different hops.

So I'm thinking things like American/Aussie Pale Ales, Belgian Pales, and maybe a batch of IPA.

I have base grains and an excess of Wey Pils, a good variety of spec grains, and a good mix of yeasts.

List of hops is below. I'm figuring Magnum to be the best option for bittering.
Let me have your ideas!

Calypso
Cascade
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ)
Crystal
East Kent Golding
Hallertauer Mittelfruh (German)
Magnum (German)
Mount Hood
Saaz (Czech)
Simcoe
Styrian Golding (Slovenian)
Summit
Willamette
Saaz (US)
Nelson Sauvin
Galaxy
Pride of Ringwood (flowers)
Perle


I was thinking a simple grain bill like 85% pils, 10% wheat, 5% crystal?

 

[geneabovill]

Up the crystal and add willamette to 65IBU. Yummy.

 

[mikec]

OK, can the experts let me know if the hop quantities below are sufficient or too little/too much to give me a good example of the flavour and aroma properties of the relevant hops?

I've designed two recipes in Beersmith as a full batch size (20L), but will actually be doing a single batch and splitting it into two 10L no-chill cubes.
The 60 min addition will be 40 mins, the 20 mins will be into the cube, and the aroma additions will be steeped as a tea and added prior to ferment.
Does that process sound about right?


BEER 1:

Recipe: Simcoe/Cascade Ale
Brewer: Mike C
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 27.96 l
Post Boil Volume: 24.96 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 26.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 84.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3.60 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC Grain 1 85.0 %
0.42 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 10.0 %
0.21 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 3 5.0 %
5.00 g Magnum [13.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 7.9 IBUs
15.00 g Cascade [5.25 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 5.5 IBUs
15.00 g Simcoe [12.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 6 13.1 IBUs
30.00 g Cascade [5.25 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 7 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Simcoe [12.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124 Yeast 9 -


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.24 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 13.06 l of water at 72.2 C 66.7 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 19.11 l water at 75.6 C



BEER 2:

Recipe: Calypso Ale
Brewer: Mike C
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 27.96 l
Post Boil Volume: 24.96 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 20.00 l
Bottling Volume: 18.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 9.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 23.7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 84.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3.60 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (Weyermann) (3.9 EBC Grain 1 85.0 %
0.42 kg Wheat Malt, Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 2 10.0 %
0.21 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC) Grain 3 5.0 %
5.00 g Magnum [13.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 7.9 IBUs
15.00 g Calypso [15.10 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 15.9 IBUs
30.00 g Calypso [15.10 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124 Yeast 7 -


Mash Schedule: Temperature Mash, 1 Step, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.24 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 13.06 l of water at 72.2 C 66.7 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 19.11 l water at 75.6 C

 

[mikec]

Bumpity Bump...

Hoping to brew this weekend.

 

[seemax]

100-150g of cascade/simcoe mix into the cube... no kettle additions..... dry hop if you want.

 

[Nick JD]

Not sure what you're asking.

You'll taste the hops, if that's what you're asking.

If you want huge hops, brew an IPA.

 

[mikec]

What I'm trying to achieve is lots of hop flavour and aroma so I can get a "feel" for a few hop varieties.
I don't like overly bitter beers, and most IPA's I find too bitter. I have had one or two that I didn't mind but they had massive amounts of late hops to balance (or mask) the bitterness.

Perhaps Seemax is on the right track when he says forget kettle hops and just go big in the cube. I still want to get aroma so hop tea and/or dry hop I guess?

 

[mikec]

Up the crystal and add willamette to 65IBU. Yummy.

Forgot to reply to this earlier, sorry. Last brew was an amber ale with Willamette, so done!

I should probably be more specific about the new hops I've got and want to try:

Calypso
Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus (CTZ)
Crystal
Magnum (German)
Mount Hood
Simcoe
Summit

 

[stef]

I brewed a similar beer recently, trying to get a good idea of the flavour aroma etc for Calypso. It was the first time i'd brewed with it. From early tastings it seems pretty bitter, with a fair amount of harshness rather than a smooth bitterness. I'd read elsewhere that it was pretty clean, but either i stuffed up a calculation somewhere, or it comes across a bit rougher than i thought... Just FYI.

I reckon, as far as getting a good idea of each hop (thats what you're trying to achieve?), use a reasonably standard grain bill that you are happy with, pick the level of IBUs you prefer and add the hops in 3 or 4 intervals (like @ 60, 30, 10 and dry hop or something). For me, i usually use like 95% pale, 5% crystal and 35ish IBU.

If you want to go down the cube hop route, i would recommend a small addition for a few ibu's @ 60 to cover your ass so to speak.

 

[mikec]

I brewed a similar beer recently, trying to get a good idea of the flavour aroma etc for Calypso. It was the first time i'd brewed with it. From early tastings it seems pretty bitter, with a fair amount of harshness rather than a smooth bitterness. I'd read elsewhere that it was pretty clean, but either i stuffed up a calculation somewhere, or it comes across a bit rougher than i thought... Just FYI.

I reckon, as far as getting a good idea of each hop (thats what you're trying to achieve?), use a reasonably standard grain bill that you are happy with, pick the level of IBUs you prefer and add the hops in 3 or 4 intervals (like @ 60, 30, 10 and dry hop or something). For me, i usually use like 95% pale, 5% crystal and 35ish IBU.

If you want to go down the cube hop route, i would recommend a small addition for a few ibu's @ 60 to cover your ass so to speak.

Hey Stef

This is kinda what I'm going for but I plan to split a single batch into two cubes and use different hops in each cube. So originally I was going to have a tiny bit of Magnum at 60 mins for neutral bittering, and then the rest in the cubes or later. Now based on the comments above I'm not gonna bother with the magnum and will just add more to the cube to bring up the bitterness.

 

[seemax]

I should say I mostly brew IPAs with this method, up towards 60IBU... my last attempt was really good, 100% Munich, 120g Cascade in the cube... the maltiness balanced the bitterness really well, plus loads of citrusy aroma.

Maybe aim for 40 IBU or tad less?

 

[mikec]

Yeah I'm thinking 30-40.