two hearted ale and centennial IPA

I agree with you 100% that Bells Two Hearted tastes ‘different’ than Founders Centennial Ale. I homebrew a ‘house’ IPA which is 100% Centennial hopped and it taste very, very similar to Bells Two Hearted. My wife (who has an extremely sensitive palate) would claim that my hombrewed ‘house’ IPA is identical to Two Hearted.

Just like you I always wondered why Centennial IPA and Two Hearted taste so different. I must confess that my palate does not perceive a pine flavor in Centennial IPA but it is definitely different.

My guess has always been that the difference between Centennial IPA and Two Hearted was a differing hopping schedule but that is only a guess. Hopefully somebody knows the answer to this.

Cheers!

 

I know that Founders Nugget Nectar uses nugget only as a bittering hop, so I wouldn't assume that Centennial IPA uses only centennial.

 

Ruination is another all Centennial beer that I feel has a pretty piney, citric, and quite dank hop profile.

I haven't had Founder's Centennial, but I agree that Two-Hearted is very floral, juicy, and pretty grassy.

Here is my take on it:

I think Centennials are very clean when used in moderation or in a "supporting role" when it is blended with others, but when they are used with a heavy hand (especially at f/o of DH) they get much more resinous and dank. I'd venture a guess that Two Hearted is made with smaller doses than Ruination or Founder's Centennial.

With my homebrewed beers that use Centennials, I get a fresh-cut grass, floral, and citrus juice profile that is similar to Two-Hearted, but I always use them in combination with others as half or less than half of the late hop additions.

I reckon it would be interesting to try one of my IPA recipes (10oz of late hops) that usually has Centennials in combination with others, but brew it with all Centennial additions. I think that as you use more and more of them the nice bright floral character begins to get buried under the additional resinous, more piney contributions.... leaving a much more "dank" beer a-la Ruination.

 

This is not correct, for starters Nugget Nectar is brewew by Troegs, and here's some info from the Troegs website:

Tröegs Nugget Nectar
Alcohol by Volume: 7.5%
Hop Bitterness (IBU's): 93ish
Color (SRM): Straw/ Orange
Availability: Seasonal
Malts: Pilsner, Vienna, Munich
Hops: Nugget, Warrior, Tomahawk, Simcoe, Palisade
HopBack Hops: Whole leaf Nugget
Dry Hops: Nugget, Warrior
Yeast: Ale

 

A few things:

1) The same hop grown on two different farms can taste very different.

2) The same hop used at different points in the brewing process can taste very different.

3) Different recipes (i.e. different malts, different gravities, different yeasts) can make the same hop taste very different.

 

I think the use of Columbus has a bit to do with what you are picking up in Ruination.

http://www.stonebrew.com/ruin/

 

If you look in the July/August issue of Zymurgy you will find a recipe for Ruination that uses Columbus for a 90 min, bittering charge, then Centennial at 0, Centennial Dry Hop. One can think this is fairly accurate, as the article was written by Mitch Steele, the head brewer at Stone.

 

In addition, different equipment and process for the beer can make it taste different. Bell has installed 14 more of the shallow bottomed fermenters that they make 2 Hearted in. They changed the process once a while back to see what would happen, and the sensory panel noticed a change. The final vote was the regulars at the Eccentric Cafe that asked what happened to the 2 Hearted.

 

Would you mind sharing this recipe?

Thanks in Advance!

 

Founders Centennial IPA uses some cascade with the centennial, it is not 100% centennial like two hearted.

 

Can anyone confirm?

 

Since this thead was started there was a Founders Beer dinner at a local restautant. There was a Founders brewing employee talking about the beers. He did state that Founders Centennial was a blend of Cascade and Centennial hops. So there you go.

 

Thanks for the update, this makes since. I always wondered why I prefered Two Hearted v. Centennial.

 

I would venture to say that differing water chemistry plays a large role in the perception of the hop profiles between the beers. Phosphate levels play a large role in this issue as well as the addition or lack of gypsum.

 

On a somewhat related note I recently brewed my House IPA (all Centennial hopped IPA) that was ready to be drunk this past weekend. I ordered the Centennial hops from Northern Brewer but I was not ‘observant’; it turns out they were Centennial Type hops. I was so unobservant that I didn’t even notice the word of “Type” until the dry hopping stage. After dry hopping I went to the Northern Brewer website to see ‘what happened’; well the website clearly lists this as Centennial Type but I didn’t take note of this when I ordered. Centennial Type is a blend of Cascade and Columbus. My wife (with the distinguished palate) had one of these beers yesterday and I asked: what do you think of this batch? She replied: I really like it but I preferred your last batch. She noticed the difference between the hops. I also really like this Centennial Type IPA but I also prefer the ‘regular’ Centennial.

Cheers!

P.S. Some info on Centennial Type from Northern Brewer:

“In case you haven’t heard, there is currently a shortage of the mainstay American Centennial hop. Hopunion has released their “Centennial Type” hop blend as a substitute until the fall harvest. Sources at Hopunion have indicated that this is a 70-30 blend of Cascade and Columbus. How does it stack up? I’ve compared them side by side fresh out of the bag to find out.

They are pretty close, with some subtle differences. To my nose, the Centennial Type has more dark, fruity, pungent notes, compared to the original’s grassy, sharper aroma. This actually isn’t the first time that the Centennial Type hop blend has been available, it was used by homebrewers and pro breweries back in 2009 and before.

You know what they say: “when the brewing gets tough, the tough get brewing”. So don’t let the Centennial shortage hold you back, give Centennial Type a shot, you may even like it better. I confess that three out of six of us here at NB preferred the aroma of the Centennial Type, including myself.”