As I'm getting back into the homebrewing game I'm realizing I could use a little re-orientation. I brewed another pale ale this weekend, and everything went to plan - I was within .02 of my target OG, and spot on with my volume. I realized I might be out of practice when I found myself measuring out 12 oz of hops for 5.5 gallons of what was supposed to be a more "normal" pale ale (more like SNPA than NE-anything). I checked my older recipes and usually would max out at 5-6 oz total for comparable strength/volume/style. I'm not terribly concerned about bitterness, but I swore this was going to have more malt character; it's 25% Munich, 75% MO. Hops are Cascade, Glacier and Ahtanum. What's a "normal" hopping rate for you for a more old school/basic pale ale?
IMO, 12 ounces is a lot of hops for an APA. But as you discovered, hopping rates (though not necessarily bitterness) have been escalating in recent years.
I would not even be close to 12 ounces for brewing an "old school" APA. Clone recipes for SNPA call for something like 5 ounces total. For example: https://byo.com/recipe/sierra-nevada-pale-ale-clone-2/ Cheers!
Thanks guys! That’s what I was realizing when I noticed I used the rest of the hops I had on hand. I found looking at my old recipes 2-3 oz for a mild to be totally believable, but 4-6 for an APA seemed so low, even though they were beers I made!
.3 oz 16.4% Warrior at 20 min Then the rest from 10-0. Cascade was the highest AA of the bunch at 6.4%, Glacier at 4.6%, and Ahtanum was 5.7%. 4 oz of each in various proportions in the last 10 minutes.
I have yet to brew with Glacier. How would you describe the aroma/flavors that this hop brings to the resulting beers? Is there a beer style(s) that you recommend for this hop? Cheers!
It has an earthy orange citrus aroma and flavor to me . Less grapefruit than cascade and more subtle than Amarillo. It’s a really nice compliment hop imho. I’ve also used it 100% and was very happy with a classic pale ale.
I’ve never used it 100%, but I get more earthiness and dark berries (blackberries, blueberries) than citrus. To me it’s kind of like what Willamette is to Fuggles, but for Brambling Cross.
We probably got different years and different terroir. I wouldn’t mind the description you gave at all.
My normal hopping would be 2 oz of high alpha hops for 60 minutes, 1 to 2 oz late/after boil, and 1/2 to 1 oz in the keg. This modern use of so much hops seems crazy to me. I still have that old feeling that hoppy = bitterness.
It IS crazy. I recently did another pale ale that was meant to be a NE-style with minimal malt character and a full/soft mouthfeel. I used 12oz of Chinook and it’s not terribly bitter. I am thinking though that it is terribly inefficient.
