Southern Cross - 2013 - 14.1%AA - Test Batch

[Pagey]

G'day guys.

Well as of last Sunday I have a batch on the ferment made entirely with Southern Cross from NZ 2013 crop 14.1%AA purchased from Ross @ Craftbrewer. Thaks Ross.!

I love the smell of hops so I may be biased but these smell great out of the bag.!

Recipe was simple to ensure hops came through as much as possible.
Pils - 1750g
Vienna - 1750g
Munich II - 750g
CaraPils - 750g
Ended up 1060 OG - 22L

90min boil
17g - 60min
13g - 20min
60g - 0min
By my calc I got 35IBU.

I pitched US-05 and it's motoring along and smelling amazing so fingers crossed.! I'll report back on how it tastes.

 

[Mardoo]

No dry-hop?

 

[Pagey]

I am not going to dry hop this batch.
I've found that although I have to add significant levels of hops at flame out the way I do it really does deliver a good hop aroma without the grass.
I add flame out hops at about 50c during chilling. I use ice water through a copper coil in the wort to chill which really drops the levels quite quickly. 50c I find is just right to strip the hops of oils without blowing off too much. Then the crash chill really locks them in and I end up with a satisfactory result.

Having said that it would have been nice to see what kind of flavour and aroma a dry hop produced but in this instance I've stuck with the flame out edition.

 

[Mardoo]

Thanks for sharing that. I've been planning on doing the 50-60C hop stand for the same reason. Are you predicting IBU's as a 12-minute boil addition as so many folks are saying? They say that for a stand immediately post-boil, so I can't imagine a low-temperature stand would give IBU's at the same level. I would guess IBU's the same as a flameout addition but haven't actually done a low-temp stand yet. Next brew! If you have any insight I'd love to hear it.

 

[Pagey]

I've never included any IBUs from my low temp hop additions.
Having said that I don't stop chilling. I start pumping the ice water and do not stop until it gets to 2c beneath my target ferment temp, stirring as I go. The hops are not at 50c for very long at all.

Also, the only reason I chose 50c in the first place was that it seemed to be approximately the lowest temp where the hops would still break apart and "Disolve" for lack of a better phrase. Much cooler than that I found the pellets would not break up nicely and I would get chunks of hops. I'm happy enough to throw them in anywhere from 60 down to 50.

I suppose from a purist stand point I am getting some bittering but for my purposes I don't take any note of it at all. Only for the aroma..!!!

I really must try to dry hop again. I have a mate that works in a craft brewery and he's told me to get back into it so I should probably listen to him...

 

[Mardoo]

Thanks again. Very helpful. I look forward to getting stuck in to this.

 

[Pagey]

This batch is smelling SO powerful out of the air lock...
The description does say that there are lemon notes and I'm thinking they are probably correct. Really smelling nice..!

 

[Pagey]

I am about to rack this into a Keg.
Purposefully tried to give it a firm bitterness and that has succeeded based on the taste out of the fermenter I had last night. We'll see how it goes with a bit of carbonation.
I am getting a spicy taste, something along the lines of a noble. This may be pronounced because I'd only just started cooling to drop the yeast and it hasn't had the usual week or so that I give it to settle out in the keg.
Also it's flat haha..
But the lemon aroma is there, no doubt.

I do remember thinking before I went back to the decryption of the hop that with it's spicy flavour and lemon aroma this would be an excellent choice for a single hop light lager with a difference and go easy on the early-mid additions, make it balanced -> slightly malty. The aroma would be magic in a light lager but it is a powerful aroma hop so also go easy there.

If you wanted to make a hoppy lager the trick would be getting around the spicy flavour with a bit more malt than what I used in this brew (I have a feeling this will be quite spicy so it's a good thing I pitched US-05 rather than a clean lager yeast.) Aiming for an Amber->Brown colour is probably what you'd want and again bitter and flavour it just a touch under what you would expect you'd need. The spicy flavour accentuates the bitterness a little and helps it break through the malt.

Bitterness is so far quite clean, flavour is a smooth spice and the aroma is balanced towards lemon no doubt.

Could also be used to add a hint of spice and lemon aroma to a hoppy American style for a bit of difference even though spice is not quite to style there, a touch may be nice… And the lemon mixed with a pine aroma hop may rock.!!

I'll be kegging today or tomorrow and so once carb'd I'll get back to you all to give the final verdict.

 

[Pagey]

Ok so there has been movement on this project.!
I dropped the yeast over the last few days and put this in a keg last night.! It was tasting bloody great. Spice had mellowed, aroma is very much there and it's all starting to take shape. Carbing it to 2.5vols.

 

[Pagey]

Well it's all carb'd and I've had a few over the last couple of days and I can say that i recommend this hop.

Couple of notes on the beer first.

It ended at about 1010-1012 so it is quite dry and quite alcoholic. I used the beer in the bottom of the fermenter after racking to the keg so by that stage it was a little too cloudy for me to see the bottom of the meniscus clearly. ADF ~ 81%, not bad for one pack of US-05 in 22L of 1060.
Cleared up nicely, a touch of chill haze and possibly hop resin given there was 90g of hops in it but overall quite clear, very acceptable to me.
Looks every bit to be around 10-12 SRM. Nice dark golden/light copper. Looks great, nice white head too.
Malt flavour is subdued although clearly present. Nice and subtle.
The ferment went off without a hitch and the profile is very clean.

So that all set the stage for the hops. And these did not disappoint.

Bitterness is nice. I'm not going to say great but it is nice. It is probably not as clean as Magnum which has been my bittering hop of choice for quite some time but don't hesitate to use this one for bittering. I did a 60min addition to make sure I gave it a good chance to shine through and it really is quite nice.

Flavour is where I found this hop to have it's biggest kick. If you want a noble flavour with a difference then please use this hop.!!! What a pleasure this flavour is particularly after having brewed with so many American/Fruit/Pine varieties it has been a real treat to drink this beer. It has a real spice to it but it is not a sharp spice, it is a very earthy spice. It is quite powerful though so do go easy particularly in a light lager styles. The grain bill on this one would not have carried this flavour if I hadn't pitched US-05. Despite the 1060OG and the US-05 this beer still has a very powerful earthy-spice hop flavour. I am going to say it's one of the nicest earthy/spice hops I have tried despite how powerful it is in this beer.

Aroma. Well I did not dry hop this beer. Mardoo mentioned that I may have wanted to but I haven't dry hopped for a while. Those comments made me think a bit and I have dry hopped the most recent batch I have put down and in hind sight I really should have dry hopped this beer. The description says it has a Lemon aroma and it certainly does. I can't speak for the dry hop aroma but the flame out aroma has been quite nice. I am a big fan of hop aroma despite my avoidance of dry hopping recently and this beer seems to be lacking that power of aroma that I know and love. Perhaps the 1060OG -> 1011FG ferment drove off a heap of that aroma because out of the airlock it was smelling a million dollars.!! Still with the flame out addition aroma has been satisfactory and I believe with a dry hop addition you may get a very nice Lemon note.


I will use this hop again. Next time around I am going to make a smaller beer that is balanced not hoppy, use a lager yeast and I will dry hop at around 2g/L. I will probably also bitter it with Magnum and use a 20min or 10min flavour addition of around 1.4g/L.

Get amongst this hop..

 

[BeerNess]

Great write up, thanks for sharing your experiences, have been curious about this one for a while, sounds like a good one!

 

[Pagey]

I thought I would post up a pic of this brew. As you can see not perfectly clear but I say quite acceptable.

Taste has not changed much so far. Still spicy, firmly bitter, subtle malt and still a subtle but nice aroma.

And here it is. Gold to light copper with quite a nice white head.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Pagey for your lager version how much magnum will you add/ what are you aiming for ibu wise? I would like to try this as a lemony lager sounds nice! But 1.4 at 2o will give you 20ish ibu's by itself?

 

[Pagey]

So sort out the Grain Bill first. Try and add something in the Bread Crust -> Biscuit range. Maybe a Briess Victory Malt @ 5-6% with a sprinkle of CaraMunich I @ 2-3%?

If your specialty grains run in at 8-10% and you're looking at 1054OG ish, then I would aim for 26-34 IBU depending how you like it. 26 Balanced and 34 would be towards firm. This may mean you need very little Magnum which would be ideal in my mind.. That way it would contribute less to your flavour but still contribute to the nice clean bittering.

Run your flavour in at less than 0.9g/L for mild flavour up to 1.4g/L which I used for a full flavour and throw it in anywhere from 20-30 mins.

Then remember if your doing a big ferment you may have to dry hop at the end if you really like a powerful aroma. Mine has the aroma but you have to go looking for it. I put in 60g @ flameout.!! So save some for the dry hop.

Let me know your grain bill and the OG and we'll go from there.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

The two lagers I have done so far have been. 5KG of premium pilsner + 500grams of carapils, The first was one was 25g @ 60 and 20G @ 20 Hallertauer Mittelfrüh and the 2nd was the same with Saaz both about 20-25 IBU. OG ended up at 1050 ish for both.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pagey]

So yeah if you are looking at that grain bill then you will want to go 0.9g/L @ 20mins and then just throw in some Magnum @ 60mins to make up the IBUs.

For aroma additions just run whatever you have been doing to date but it's a nice aroma so don't be shy.!

 

[vykuza]

Thanks for posting such a comprehensive writeup!

 

[Pagey]

Hey guys. Sorry for digging up an old thread but I just had to.

I mentioned in my previous write up that I was going to run this hop through a pale lager.. Well I did exactly that.

Brewed on the 20th Sept 2014 and on tap right now I can honestly say I really do love this hop and it is perfect for a pale lager style. Grist this time was...

2500g - Pils Malt
700g - Munich I
700g - Munich II
350g - Melanoidin
750g - CaraPils

Single infusion mash with 15L water @ 66c then 15L batch sparge, ended up with 22L @ 1058 and hopped as follows.

Single hop - Southern Cross 14.1% AA
11g @ 40min
17g @ 12min
18g @ 5min
So on my calc I had roughly 28IBU
44g @ Dry Hop for my final 3days of diacetyl rest then temp drop and into the keg.


Fermented with Fermentis W-34/70 11g dry pack rehydrated and put into a 3.5L stir plate starter for 2 days, decanted and pitched at 11c. Fermented at 11c. Diacetyl rest 17c 3 days.
Final Gravity was 1014 which I wasn't happy with at all. I really wanted this to get lower than that but meh.
Gassed to 10psi at 3c so by my best guess it has just under 2.5 volumes co2.

I have to say it's one of my favourites. I do always say that when I brew something a bit different so this time I had an American mate come round to try it. He's a huge fan of the craft beer movement over there and he brews his own also. He agreed with me.

If you haven't tried this hop then please brew up your favourite summer lager and put it down now for Christmas... I reckon you will enjoy it.

 

[Mardoo]

Mate, huge thanks for following this through. Great work!

 

[Pagey]

I'm digging an old thread again but I really have to..

I've been a fan of this hop for quite a while and I really wanted to brew up a batch that was heavy with it. This time around I did.

Joe White Pils 3kg
Joe White Munich Light 1kg
Flaked Rice 1kg

15L mash water - single infusion - 66c - 1hr.
15L Sparge.
I ended up with 22L @ 1061 in the boil.
My calcs had 14 EBC.
Then with all Southern Cross hops I threw in
8g @ 60min
18g @ 17mins
20g @ 4mins
49g @ flameout
Which by my calcs gave me roughly 30IBU.

Immersion chilled down to 9c. Pitched 22g rehydrated Fermentis W-34/70 Lager yeast. Ferment temp set to 12c. Gave it 4 days and then ramped it up to 14c. Let it go for 2 weeks total before cooling and racking. Came out at 6.2% ABV but as I threw it into the kegs I diluted down to 4%. (I brew for my dad also so I dilute down to fill his 12L keg and my 18L.) Once diluted down it my 4% had a beautiful pale amber colour. Bit of chill haze but that is not something I either worry about or am trying to work out of the system.
It may have been the rice drying things up a little but the spice and earth were strong.
The aroma was present and true to description, pine/lemon but it is not in your face. I would like more so I think I will shuffle a few additions around a bit and move them towards the start and end rather than middle.
Bittering was smooth as I have found to be the way with this hop.

Final word? I pretty much cried when the keg ran out. The sort of beer you just want to keep drinking. The keg will not last. My mates were all over it like a rash.