Piney IPA

Definitely Chinook,
in combination with Simcoe and Mosaic maybe

 

Make the drive, chinook rules the pine taste.

 

x3

 

Definitely Chinook, and Simcoe would be my second choice. I’d also consider throwing in some Columbus. It has some piney characteristics, but also some resiny, dank, herbal notes that help round out the “forest” vibe.

 

@Yalc, firstly best of luck with your Christmas IPA!

While selecting certain hop varieties (e.g., Simcoe, Chinook,…) is a step in the right direction the challenge for us homebrewers is that we have little control in what we purchase. When it comes to the hop customer ‘food chain’ we are at rock bottom.

One of my favorite aspects of Simcoe (in the past) was its piney flavor but I have not noticed this flavor in years. I have homebrewed a number of times with Simcoe over the past couple of years and I picked up zero pine from them (despite healthy additions in the dry hop). The best I can figure is that the packets of Simcoe I purchased from the LHBS/on-line vendors lacked this quality (low in the terpene of pinene?).

I have brewed quite a bit with Chinook but solely for bittering. Maybe Chinook is more consistent over the crop years and hop farm terroir its provision of pine flavor?

Another option to brew a Christmas IPA is to brew using Spruce tips:

https://spruceontap.com/shop?olsPag...uce-tips-10f02516-7909-4992-a915-1ec246b07328

If you are member of the AHA there is an article about brewing with Spruce in the May/June 2018 issue of Zymurgy.

Cheers!

 

For me, spruce tips gives a different taste than pine, but it will add to the complexity. Perhaps older tips will. I'll be trying that this weekend.

 

Please report back.

Cheers!

 

Simcoe, Chinook, and Columbus

 

how about using some essential oil from pine? a quick google search found me some at least. A lot of them are 100% according to the seller, and the oils are perhaps what you will be after anyway?

 

Spruce tips are available to all:

https://spruceontap.com/shop?olsPag...uce-tips-10f02516-7909-4992-a915-1ec246b07328

Please report back how your Simcoe/Chinook IPA turned out.

Maybe do a little sensory evaluation? Take a pellet of each hop variety and smash and rub between your hands and sniff. What aromas do you detect?

Cheers!

 

Maybe this will help.

 

https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/the-hop-character-flavour-wheel.61133/
The chart linked above (from Brewing Classic Styles) suggests Green Bullet, Southern Cross, and Super Alpha would provide piney flavor. But Chinook is going to be easier to source.

So many fruity and multidimensional hop varieties have come out since this chart was first published that it probably would look pretty different if someone tried to update it. Perhaps someone has?

 

Yah, I'd stay away from the stone fruit types of hops. Might cover up or muddle the chinook scent/taste.

 

chinook all the way.

 

I have lots of success with spruce and fir tips. Typically though I harvest the new growth around Mother's Day here in Central Pennsylvania. I vacuum bag them and chuck them in the freezer. Note that different varieties can add different flavors and aromas. I like Norway Spruce for an almost berry like smell and Concolor Fir tips for a more grapefruit note in both taste and aroma. A simple method of testing them is just to make a tea from the tips. Adding them at flameout is preferable. Adding them too early in the boil and you may have a nice carbonated Pine-Sol.

 

What would be your definition of "too early"?

Have you noticed this "Pine-Sol" effect with fresh growth spruce tips?

Cheers!

 

@jimboothdesigns ,,,,agreed. I dump my fresh cut Norway spruce tips in the last 10 minutes. I don't think they add the "pine" scent/taste that chinook does. I also harvest in May, but after seeing another poster saying they harvest year round, I'm gonna give it a go.