The Averagely Perfect American IPA Project - Poll #23- 10 minute hop variety(s)

Well I did order some simcoe and centennial, so I guess I'll be able to keep up with all these hops additions, varieties, polls... I might need to get a shovel tho for all these hops. Since I'm also about to embark on my first IIPA expedition, I suppose it will come in handy.

Yes, I also got a pound of citra. I think I'll just hoard those (like barfdiggs's freezer)

 

Citra is a bitch to find online, but my lhbs seems to have it on hand all the time. Only in 1oz packages though. I hope yakima still has some on payday.

 

Thank you.

 

All 3 again, 1/2 ounce each

 

Whenever I try to make a hoppy beer, I have a dilemma about layering flavors. I don't know hops well enough to know how flavors go together and whether it matters which hops are added at different times.

Anyone have a philosophy on why you voted the way you did? Is there any thought to flavor layering going on or is it more of a "WTF, let's add all three" kind of deal?

 

I'm afraid the cascade might get lost with this group of hops but i think im in the "WTF, let's add all three" category.

 

I went for cascade only to limit IBUs. Would go for no 10 minute addition if I could (of course that is the fun in this experiment)

What does a 10 minute addition bring that a 15 and 5 do not?

 

I'm going to predict in advance that all three will win. The amounts could get a little crrrrrrrrrrrrraaaazzzyyy tho. That's part of teh funz of this kind of thing tho!

 

I have the same concerns. The trend is the next poll will show 0.5 ounces for all three hops at 10 min, that will bring the IBU up to 45. Once everyone votes for another round of 0.5 ounces of all three hops at 5 min, the IBU will total 55. In theory this may still work, that would call for 0.2 of Magnum for 60 minutes to reach the 65 IBU target.

Layering layers is the goal, but in practice I think a good "second look" at the three flavoring hops would make sense. From my limited experience, Centennial is a stepped-up Cascade (i.e. similar flavors with higher alpha). While both are excellent for an IPA, I don't see an advantage in combining these two. I've already ordered my hops and went with Centennial only as I'm comfortable taking the wrath of being the first brewer to "break the recipe".

But I trust Vikeman to figure all this out. For me it is a good learning experience that I am already applying to some other recipes. Apologies in advance if my IBU calculator slipped a digit.

 

The later you add the hops, the more flavor out of them you'll get; the earlier, the more bittering you'll get. In my mind, you want to add the hops at the end that will make the beer taste like the hops you like. My preference, in this order of hop flavor: Simcoe (tropical, pine, I often get pineapple, definite serious dank potential), Centennial (grapefruit, lemon, a bit dank), Cascade (straight grapefruit). Therefore, I would prefer to use Cascade at 15, for some flavor and bittering addition, Cent at 10 for more flavor, then heavy on Simcoe at 5 and whirlpool for max flavor and min bittering contribution. You'll still get some layering of flavors, but those flavors will be more targeted to what you want. That's just me though.

 

Of course they will... This is 'Merica, baby.

 

I won't be surprised if we end up voting for every hop at every addition. I suspect this is inexperience and WTF mentality taking over, but I don't feel confident enough with my own experiences to recommend differently. I'll try to brew whatever recipe gets voted on to see if I can learn something from it, and then later, from brewing some variations on the theme (e.g., lose the cascade, perhaps eliminate the 10 min addition).

 

I am going to go with all 3 for every addition because I have a hard time imagining a difference where simcoe/centennial (substitute other combos) at 15 and 10 and just cascade at 5 would be a massively different beer vs. all 3 at each addition. That is not to say there would not be differences but when you are dealing with 4 separate addition within 15 minutes you can either over complicate it or simplify, I choose to simplify.

I think the other issue raised in this thread is the similarity between cascade and centennial. I think the 2 are somewhat redundant and would much rather had centennial and columbus.

I think a beer with .25 magnum at 60 and everything else in the last 15 minutes could make a very tasty beer. I don't think a massively hopbursted beer is a problem here.

 

Yes it's likely that this will be a hop-bursted three-way special with a quarter oz of magnum at 60. Fine by me, it should come out quite tasty that way.