Stella Ale

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sponge

Dungeon O' Sponge Brewery
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Hey all,

Was thinking about putting a bit of pale ale down on the weekend as Ive got heaps of Stella flowers left from a purchase a while ago

Ive read some mixed reviews on the old stella hop and thought about just doing a big old cube hop addition to use a fair bit of them and get a good idea on what the hop is like.

I was thinking of something along the lines of;

80% ale
10% wheat
7% rye
3% cara

and either

300g stella flowers (cube)

or

150g Stella/galaxy (cube) - as Ive got a few galaxy flowers I wouldnt mind using up either


any feedback would be sha-wicked




Sponge
 
Stella is a new aroma variety which contributes hoppy and floral notes, with subtle hints of anise and a satisfying fullness of palate. Stella is reminiscent of, yet distinctly different in character to noble European varieties, and provides a contrast to the citrus and tropical fruit characters of many modern hops.

Stella grows vigorously, producing moderately large, dense cones which mature mid- to late-season, with a broad harvest window helping to ensure excellent physical and chemical quality in the final product.

With an alpha acid content of ~15%, Stella is an aroma hop with options. This newly developed aroma hop deserves experimentation the hoppy characters and texture on the palate would provide a new twist to a pilsner or lager, while the floral characters could provide a highlight in a wide range of beer styles.



Got me intrigued Sponge, must admit I hadn't heard of Stella so went for a look see. (from a site Hop Australia) I don't mind the look of it. Galaxy gives me tropical, so wonder if there is conflict between it and Stella in flavours that may make them an unsuitable match.

I don't know how much 300g of flower compares to hop pellets but at 15% I hope it isn't too much hop to add. I also don't know what 7% of rye to the grist will bring (when I use rye I use lots more than that, but the rye is the dominant flavour using a small amout of noble to bitter - I don't want much hop aroma or flavour).

I don't like Galaxy as a bittering hop - add late to the boil for aroma/flavour only. Sounds like Stella fits the same category.

How much you got left? Wouldn't mind trying some - if any left bring to next RAF - I'll be there.

All in all, I offer nothing what so ever to solve your problem. Should have been a lawyer! Best of luck and fun in experimenting!
 
What AA% do your Stella flowers have?

I have done a few batches of cube hopped Stella pils now (which I will add to the recipe DB anytime soon), but only added 30g of 15.7 AA% pellets, which comes out perfectly balanced for my taste, different style and grist though obviously.
 
Yea I had a little looksee on the old Hop Aus website to find out some more about it, as I had 450g of flowers up the back of the freezer that have probably been in there for about 12 months id be thinking. Thought it might be time to pull the finger out and use a fair whack of them up...

As you said, from the description it doesnt sound like it would combine all that well with galaxy, but im sure I read somewhere (cant remember the site) about someone using it 50/50 with galaxy with decent results, and since I still had a few galaxy flowers i thought about using them with the stella.

Sounds like I might just play it safe and see how stella goes by themself. As for the grist, I'll probably just go for the old faithful (reasonably successful malt bill for APA/IPA's) 55% ale, 15% munich, 15% vienna, 10% wheat, 3-4% crystal, and a little choc to give it a nice malty backbone to make up for the high AA%, hopefully not mattering too much if it ends up a little bit bitter.

I thought with the hops being a bit older, and being flowers, i could probably afford to use a few more than normal, and I think I read somewhere (by TB IIRC) that cube hopping with flowers takes a bit of bashing to extract all the goodness out of the flowers like they would be in the boil, so just cube hopping with them might not extract as much of the oils and reduce the bitterness a bit.

Either way, I'll probably put this down on the weekend and go from there. Still not 100% sure if I can make the RAF, but Im sure ill be able to part with ~150g of the stella for you. Worst comes to worst and I cant make it, I'll just post some down for you.



Cheers,

Sponge
 
After the negative reports of stella as flavouring hop (around AHB), I've been using it to bitter (10g, 16.1% means that I can save my flavour hops for late in the boil). Obviously it's not going to provide any flavour, but I find that it doesn't seem to give off a harsh bitterness.

My AIPA which is fermenting ATM is 10g at 90m FWH, and 10g at 10g packed in beside Centennial and Chinook.

It is mentioned in the LC Single Batch Big Dipper. I certainly got nothing nasty from that.
 
Florian, I'm pretty sure theyre about 15.5-16% from memory, but not 100% sure since I don't have access to them atm.

Was that pils a single cube hop addition, or were there some other bittering hops in there as well? I was just going with a single cube addition to use up a fair few of them and get a pretty good idea as to how the old stella hop holds up.


Time will tell how it all unfolds....



Sponge
 
What AA% do your Stella flowers have?

I have done a few batches of cube hopped Stella pils now (which I will add to the recipe DB anytime soon), but only added 30g of 15.7 AA% pellets, which comes out perfectly balanced for my taste, different style and grist though obviously.

:kooi: that cubed hopped stella and the 10min pils was ace!! and yep got your PM about the label mix up. cheers for the bottles mate, amazing beers!
 
Yep Sponge, was only a single cube addition. Transferred to cube at above 90 degrees, so got the most out of them too.

Have done a version with 150g Saaz Plugs 3.5 AA% which is fermenting now and looks very promising at this stage.

The thing about Stella is the content of total oils which gives an intense aroma and flavour even in small amounts compared to many other hop varieties, that's why 30g total hops work so well.

Cheers Fents, glad you liked them. People do all sorts of cube hopped beers, but I hadn't heard of anyone using the method for lagers. As I mostly brew lagers anyway I gave it a try and was very impressed by the results. It's something i'll experiment more with.
 
Well I'll probably settle on something similar to the following after plugging some info into the old BS;

23L

70% MO
15% Munich
10% wheat
5% light crystal

1.070

150-200g Stella @ Cube (Calc'd as 10min addition)

US-05

The stella I have on hand is 16.4% flowers, but having been in a non-vacuum environment, but stored in the freezer for about a year, id be thinking the AA would be closer to around 12-13%, and with the malty backbone, I could probably get away with closer to 200g bringing it up to around 80IBU which I dont think would be out of balance.

Should give a pretty decent idea of what this hop has to offer none the less.

All suggestions welcome.



Sponge
 
Just as a quick update since I had been reminded of it in another thread...

Been kegged for about a week now and carbed up nicely.

As much as I do normally enjoy the citrusy/fruity whack of american hops, this is a much more floral, spicy and slightly earthy hop which is making for a really drinkable IPA.

Malt grist handles the high hopping pretty well (ended up going with 200g of flowers in the cube... and tried to leave most of the flowers behind so probably lost a litre or so of wort into the fermenter) and although theyre high AA% hops, the bitterness is fairly smooth which I was a little worried about at first

Could have possibly thrown the extra 50g of flowers I have in for dry hopping (forgot all about it actually as I planned on doing so), but the large amount at cube has made up for the lack of dry hopping

All in all, quite a delicious old single hop IPA.

May have to invest in some more stella me thinks'


Sponge
 
Everyone at the QLD HB conference in November got a pack about 45g of Stella and similar of Topaz, pellets.
Didn't mind the Stella - I actually used it in an American Wheat and then used the leftovers in an American wheat mixed with Topaz.

Good hop when your'e a bit jaded with Cascade and Galaxy all the time.
 
I recently brewed an Aussie IPA that had Stella in it, as well as Galaxy and POR.

Initially it was pretty full on but after about 2 weeks of mellowing, it was a great IPA.

I plan to tweak the recipe a bit to balance the various hops a bit more but it may end up a firm favourite in my brew list.



Duck
 
Yea I think stella would go down quite nicely with a bit of a fruity hop like amarillo or galaxy, and would definitely have to try this at some stage (after I get some more stella of course...)

Could definitely see it giving a nice floral and spicy note to balance the full on fruit of another hop.

Pretty happy with the hop none the less and will definitely have to be aquiring some more.



....Thank god theres a BB coming up.


HUZZAH!


Sponge
 
Stella plays well with Galaxy and Citra.

Goomba


I could imagine it being quite delicious with a bit of galaxy and citra/simcoe/chinook.

Will have to chuck it on the to-brew list me thinks.

Cheers for that LRG


Sponge
 
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