Using ONLY Citra hops

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by AlCaponeJunior, May 22, 2013.

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  1. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
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    #21 AlCaponeJunior, May 22, 2013
  2. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California

    Bitter with it, late hop with it, dry hop with... they all work and add flavor and/or aroma.

    I get tired of hearing that you shouldn't bitter with Citra, because at least from personal experience, Citra is so potent that it is one of the few hops that lends its flavor even when used as a first wort hop (Apollo and Summit are the other two that carry all the way through... I've tested this multiple times for each).

    Do an all Citra hopped beer at the very least for your first brew.... then go crazy. An all Citra IPA would be great, using something very clean, bright and simple like 95% US Pale Malt, 2.5% honey malt and 2.5% Carapils, 45-60 IBU of all Citra goodness spread over a FWH or 60 min, then 30, 10, 0 or hop bursted to 45 IBU.

    Then redo your Pliny clone replacing the hops with Citra, Simcoe and Amarillo (or Citra, Simcoe and Cascade) and have your mind and palette erased.
     
    #22 barfdiggs, May 22, 2013
    geneseohawk and AlCaponeJunior like this.
  3. Lagger

    Lagger Initiate (0) Jan 18, 2013 California

    Mmm...citra :drool: Good on it's own, enjoy's being spooned by others.

    It's kinda bright thou, so there u have it. I'd mix it, ala Kern River. Complicate that beast!
     
    #23 Lagger, May 23, 2013
  4. utahbeerdude

    utahbeerdude Maven (1,374) May 2, 2006 Utah

    I made a 3 gallon batch of APA with 2 oz at 20 min and 1 oz at 1 min. It was quite good with lots of hop character. The main thing about Citra is that it is one powerful hop.
     
    #24 utahbeerdude, May 23, 2013
  5. DrewBeechum

    DrewBeechum Pooh-Bah (1,954) Mar 15, 2003 California
    Pooh-Bah

    One of my favorite beers I ever did was basically an all Citra Saison. That was tasty.
     
    #25 DrewBeechum, May 23, 2013
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  6. RStang13

    RStang13 Initiate (0) Jun 22, 2011 New Jersey

    my only experience with it to date is dry hopping as we speak. 1oz warrior FWH, 1oz citra 15min, 1oz citra 10min, 1oz citra 5min, 1oz citra flame out, 1oz citra hopstand, 3oz citra dry hop going on 5 days. airlock smells incredible!
     
    #26 RStang13, May 23, 2013
  7. HokiesandBeer

    HokiesandBeer Initiate (0) Jan 10, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Let me know how it turns out RStang. I have a Zombie Dust clone recipe I was looking to make and it calls for 9 oz of Citra....was worried this might be too intense!
     
    #27 HokiesandBeer, May 23, 2013
  8. RStang13

    RStang13 Initiate (0) Jun 22, 2011 New Jersey

    bottling on sunday, smells great right now. we'll see how the beer turns out though, our club had a big brew day on national homebrew day. i probably should have brewed first and walked around sampling after, but it didnt quite work out that way :wink:
     
    #28 RStang13, May 23, 2013
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  9. TheMonkfish

    TheMonkfish Initiate (0) Jan 8, 2012 Chad


    Great recipe. I did this one a while back (and the Citra wasn't overly intense.) The one issue I had was that the Munich/Melanoidin really came forward as the hops started to fade (5-6 weeks from bottling.) I'd do it again in a heartbeat but due to personal preferences I'd probably dial back those two a bit.
     
    #29 TheMonkfish, May 23, 2013
  10. HokiesandBeer

    HokiesandBeer Initiate (0) Jan 10, 2013 Pennsylvania

    Yup this going to be my next brew.
     
    #30 HokiesandBeer, May 23, 2013
  11. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Given the reputation of citra... That's likely to be one whopper of a beer! Keep us posted on how it tastes, and what the cat pee tally is. :rolling_eyes:

    I'm still considering. No rush to decide. I'll watch this thread, and others that discuss citra and get all the info I can before I decide. I could do probably five-ish all citra beers if I wanted to, but I'll probably do one with a fair amount of all citra, and then blend another (or at least use a bittering hop, I have some magnum), with one being a smash, and one being an IPA or hoppy APA.
     
    #31 AlCaponeJunior, May 23, 2013
  12. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Munich overpowered? Or was that more of the melanoidin?

    If I do a munich / citra smash, I guarantee it won't last long enough for any flavors to fade. None of my 5 gallon batches ever do.
     
    #32 AlCaponeJunior, May 23, 2013
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  13. TheMonkfish

    TheMonkfish Initiate (0) Jan 8, 2012 Chad


    The melanoidin probably contributed alongside the Munich, but all of the (I)IPAs I've brewed with Munich definitely starts to take over (the way it does in FW Union Jack after a couple of months) - I think I may be unusually sensitive to it.
     
    #33 TheMonkfish, May 23, 2013
  14. unclejimbay

    unclejimbay Initiate (0) Aug 25, 2008 Florida

    Best SMASH IPA I have brewed to date. (semi smash, close enough) It finished as a very very hop flavlor forward beer with little to now distraction from the grain side of the recipe. Extremely light in color, which is somewhat fun as it looks like a macro lager, but tastes like a bone dry IPA with HUGE amounts of Citra flavor and aroma.
    I keep the ibus on the lower end for IPA, and try to max out the flavor end of the ibus.

    I will brew this again, and again, and again. I can say with solid confidence this a great way to showcase the Citra flavor and aroma.

    Citra SMASH IPA
    OG/FG 1.069/1.009, ~7.7% abv, ~2 SRM, ~47 ibus
    15 pounds Rahr American 2-Row mashed at 150F

    Boil Hops
    0.6oz @ 60 mins
    1.0oz Citra @ 10 mins
    1.0oz Citra @ 5 mins
    1.0oz Citra @ 1 min

    Dry Hops - 7 days
    1.0 oz Citra + 1 oz Columbus (or cascade or centennial)

    US05 yeast, Primary 14 days, secondary 7 days, I usually also cold crash another 7 days for clear beer results
     
    #34 unclejimbay, May 23, 2013
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  15. Pahn

    Pahn Initiate (0) Dec 2, 2009 New York

    i'd do all late additions.

    that's all i have (dayquil fucking me up).
     
    #35 Pahn, May 23, 2013
  16. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California


    Its the munich. Melanoidin really doesn't give you the same toasty sweet flavor that munich does. I've used a bunch of aromatic in IPAs, IIPAs and Red Ales, and it doesn't give you much sweetness or toast, just a deep, almost slightly roasty malt flavor and a decent amount of color.
     
    #36 barfdiggs, May 23, 2013
  17. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Well on the Munich thing, good thing I like Munich! :rolling_eyes:

    I'm tempted to brew something real similar to this. However, I just brewed a 2-row SMaSH and a maris otter smash. Any smash I brew here will be either Munich malt, or something new that I haven't tried yet. Honestly, I really like Munich, so... do I need to add a bit of extra hops to balance out the robust flavor profile of Munich?

    slightly off topic, but my 2-row / fuggles smash (with extra long boil) is tasty, but not quite as interesting as I expected. It's a tasty beer, but doesn't really stand out in any particular way. It's just plain old good, tasty beer, without any notable stories about how fantastic it is to go along with it.

    The Maris Otter / Simcoe smash is just getting conditioned (two weeks since bottling). I'm actually a little disappointed. Not that it's a bad beer, certainly not, I'm drinking one right now. But the simcoe didn't come through like I wanted. It reminds me of my first MO smash (which was majorly under-hopped, I only used 2.5 oz of willamette total), very MO-ish, and nothing outstanding on the hops. This one is a touch more hoppy, but overall it's another showcase of maris otter, not so much simcoe. I used close to four ounces, a half ounce early, and the rest late. I guess I thought simcoe was more "citra like" in its potency. I could have just used a cheeper hop, had I realize what four ounces of simcoe would do here.

    I really WANT to have a massive citra-bomb from hell, just so I can know the joy, the hop-induced ecstacy, and the trials, tribulations and heartbreak of the homebrewer/citra universe. I would actually LIKE it if I had to wait to drink them because it was TOO citra-ey. No matter how ridiculously hoppy, I can't see a five gallon batch lasting more than a couple weeks after bottle conditioning is complete (just like all my beers, I don't age them because they're always all gone long before they get any age on them).
     
    #37 AlCaponeJunior, May 23, 2013
  18. MrOH

    MrOH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,995) Jul 5, 2010 Virginia
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    Give golden promise a try.
     
    #38 MrOH, May 24, 2013
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  19. quirkzoo

    quirkzoo Initiate (0) Jul 7, 2011 Colorado

    10lbs 2 row
    2 lbs wheat
    .5 lbs melanoidin
    .5 lbs crystal (forgot what, 60ish?)

    All Citra
    1 oz fwh
    1 oz 15 min
    1 oz 5 min
    1 oz 0 min
    2 oz dry hop

    Wyeast 1968

    It was a damn good beer, probably the best one I have made. Citra covers over a multitude of sins.
     
    #39 quirkzoo, May 24, 2013
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  20. boddhitree

    boddhitree Pooh-Bah (1,839) Apr 13, 2008 Germany
    Pooh-Bah

    You could mint money if that were true!!! Gentlemen may prefer blondes, but us guys prefer redheads. :rolling_eyes:
     
    #40 boddhitree, May 24, 2013
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