Simcoe

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What do you think of this hop?

  • 5 - What a great hop!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4 -

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  • 3 -

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  • 2 -

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 1 - What a disgusting hop!

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 0 - Never used this hop

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

Stuster

Big mash up
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So back to the US of A for the fairly new, high alpha, low co-humulone hop variety, Simcoe. Info from here.


Simcoe (United States)
Specifications
Pedigree: Released in 2000
Aroma: Very unique, pine-like aroma
Alpha Acids: 12 14% w/w
Beta Acids: 4 5% w/w
Co-Humulone: 15 20% of alpha acids
Storageability: Good
Total Oil: 2 2.5 mls/100 grams
Myrcene: 60 -65% of whole oil
Humulene: 10 15% of whole oil
Caryophyllene: 5 8% of whole oil
Farnesene: <1% of whole oil
General Trade Perception: Used for aromatic, and especially bittering properties
Possible Substitutions: Unknown
Typical Beer Styles: American Ales
Additional Information: Known as a bittering hop with good aroma characteristics
Information source: Hopunion CBS, LLC

So what can you tell us about this hop? How do you use them - bittering, flavour, aroma? What hop combinations are they good for? Have you used them in anything other than American styles? What commercial beers using this hop can you recommend? Any other tips for using this hop?

Tell us all you know so we can all make the best beer we can. :chug:
 
Everything! It's a great hop. Used at 60minutes it is nothing but a clean bittering hop, used a bit later in the boil it has a lovely tangerine like flavour. Can get a bit piney though if you use it as a dry-hop or too much at flameout.

In combination with something like B Saaz or Amarillo, it's the duck's nuts for APA's.

When i have a bit of time i'll put up the recipe to my All Simcoe APA that went quite well, except for the fact that i had to put a bit of B Saaz and Amarillo in a "hop tea" at bottling to add some more complexity.
 
Like several American hops I've found quite significant variation in flavour from season to season.
The first lot I had were 2004 harvest I think, may have been 2003, and were overly piney. They made a great bittering hop in conjunction with Northern Brewer. They made an interesting flavour and aroma hop but needed other hops to balance. I wasn't that much of a fan by the end of the batch I bought and haven't gone back near Simcoe until very recently with some 2005 harvest which are much better. Fruitier with pine hints but not overtly piney.

I've tried other brewers' beers made with 2005 Simcoe and found them excellent.

Consequently I'm undecided regarding Simcoe until I give some later harvests a good run.
 
I have used this hop a few times, it went well as a bittering hop in a pilsner i did and an APA. But it absolutely ruined a saison, for some reason the spicey flavours the saison yeast imparts clashed with the piney bitterness of simcoe to leave an unpleasent bitter taste that lingers far too long. My old man didnt mind it too much, but i certainly wont be using simcoe in a saison again.
 
I must confess to not being a huge fan.

I've used it in an IIPA and an American brown, and it seems to impart a salty-sour-harsh flavour which I don't care for at all. Not surprisingly, the IIPA really suffers from this problem. In both beers, however, the hop aroma is excellent so I'm reasonably sure the hops weren't in bad condition. Also the bitterness seems really muted to me, even at 150+IBUs.

I much prefer Amarillo, Chinook and Cascade.
 
I have found Simcoe to be very smooth as a bittering hop and IMHO when used as a bittering addition with Cascade as a flavour addition in an APA the two produce a good result.
My regular supplier is out of stock at the moment :(
An APA is on my to do list.

Cheers
 
as part of a mixture of hops it's good. but i made a 100% simcoe IPA and it was a bit too thin and piney. aroma was like fruitcup cordial. blended with a softer more flowery hop though it gives a good metallic backbone.

apart from APAs IPAs and ABWs, have tried it in a porter and didn't like it much at all. but i'm not much of a high alpha fan, at least for anything that isn't intentionally ugly (like distorted guitars being more interesting than without fx). if you get me.
 
Haven't tried all Simcoe, but give it a huge thumbs up in combination with Amarillo or Amarillo & Chinook.
 
I like it but I recon you need other hops for flavour and aroma. good for MH FWH as it just gives a hint of its flava. did a 70 IBU ale with us56 and a whole lotta Goldings and it was busty with curves.
 
Did an all Simcoe APA a while back , this was my first foray into using hops of my choice, had 25grams kindly donated by Brauluver and it turned out to be one of the better beers beers that I have made

Very Nice Hop indeed


AW :D
 
Simcoe? Love it. I've never had it be excessively piney, and usually get a lot of rockmelon and fruit salad at least from the airlock.
 
just tried some old forgotten APAs bittered with Simcoe and that's all that was left. The Cascade is all gone.
Metallic is a good term. It was like all of Arnie was blown away and all that was left was the cool metal skeleton ripped off from Iron Maiden's Eddie. :super:
But in a bad way :angry: down the sink.

edit - moral of story. Simcoe strong and good, Cascade not a stayer, drink APA fresh.
 
I personally think Simcoe is a mighty fine hop and am weighing up doing a strong APA using solely Simcoe. OG 1080-1090, IBU's 80-90(30g at 60min, 30g at 30min, 30g at 15min and 30g dry hopped). Pretty sure the Simcoe I have is from 2006.

Does anyone want to talk me out of this? :lol:

C&B
TDA
 
I was one of the first to make Simcoe available in SA from a brew shop and to use it in a microbrewery. 2003 methinks. Used it many times in 1200 litre batches for American ales.
First batch came in at 14.7% alpha, then 13.3%, then 12%ish.

Killer hop this beast. Just fantastic if you're aiming for mega IBU's due to it's very low co-humulone percentage, but it will make everything have that typical USA ale flavour.

This hop gives you the opportunity to realise that high bitterness doesn't need to be harsh.

It's in my top 5.

tdh
 
Oi, TDA. Care to share your recipe dude?

Am keen on making the same and then doing a comparo.

tdh



I personally think Simcoe is a mighty fine hop and am weighing up doing a strong APA using solely Simcoe. OG 1080-1090, IBU's 80-90(30g at 60min, 30g at 30min, 30g at 15min and 30g dry hopped). Pretty sure the Simcoe I have is from 2006.

Does anyone want to talk me out of this? :lol:

C&B
TDA
 
Ive also used it a fair bit in APAs for bittering in conjunction with cascade n amarillo. Very nice hop indeed.
Cheers
Steve
 
Thanks fellas, it's on the to brew list :D


Oi, TDA. Care to share your recipe dude?

Am keen on making the same and then doing a comparo.

tdh

tdh, I reckon the first time I used it i purchased it from the old Grumpy brew shop.

Hows this:

81% BB Ale
15% Wey Munich 1
4% Bairds Med Xtal
You know the hopping regime (my batch of Simcoe is 10% AA)
Wyeast American Ale yeast

OG 1085
IBU 85

C&B
TDA
 

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