Amarillo IPA

Beer Recipes
1

I have almost 3 pounds of Amarillo hops, and I haven’t made or drank an all Amarillo beer before. So, I’m going to do one. What do you think about this hop schedule?

60 minute = 1 oz Amarillo
30 minute = 1 oz Amarillo
15 minute = 1 oz Amarillo
0 minute = 3 oz Amarillo
Dry hop = 3 oz Amarillo

This is for a 5 gallon batch. I’ve calculated about 85 IBUs…Too much? Add some more? Or just go with it?

Thanks!

2

I hope you like grapefruit!

3

I don’t know what OG you’re shooting for.  I like ~ a 1:1 BU/GU ratio for my IPAs.  If it seems a little high, you could move the 30 min addition to 10 min to drop it a bit.  Otherwise looks good to me.

4

+1 I think you are a little high on the IBU’s. Could back off a little bit. Another thought is even though doing a Amarillo IPA, I would still go with a clean bitting hop like Magnum at 60. Amarillo is still pretty expensive so…

Good luck, let us know how it turns out!

5

I’d move the 15 min. addition to FWH.

6

And keep the 60 minute addition?

That’s a lot of Amarillo for my taste.  I made an all-Amarillo IPA last year that was 69 IBU’s and it was almost too much grapefruit for me.

Definitely give it a try though.  I’d try to keep the IBU’s under 70 though.

Dave

7

Yep, keep the 60.  IMO, FWH is not a replacement for a 60 min. addition.

8

Interesting.  Get some flavor but more bitterness?  Can you explain?

9

I might try this…I’ve never done FWH before…

10

I perceive about the same amount of bittering from FWH as I do from a 20 min. addition.  Now, that’s not a hard and fast number and everybody who FWH needs to decide for themselves.  But to me, FWH doesn’t provide the same amount and quality of bitterness as a 60 min, addition.  I decide how much hop flavor I want and how much FWH I need to achieve that.  Then I look at how much bitterness that adds (counted as a 20 min. addition) and add enough 50 min. hops to hit the IBU I want.

11

Thanks Denny.  That’s interesting.  I’ll have to pay more attention to my FWH additions and the end result.  I use BeerTools and it keeps the bitterness the same.

Edit:  I thought FWH just added some more flavor…

Dave

12

Your recipe is pretty in sync with my single hop test batches. Not all hops are equal - 6 ounces of cascade is not equal to 6 ounces of citra for example. So the amount of a hop I use varies but my addition times are constant.  I would take the 60 to fwh and drop 1 of the zero additions to dry as my starting point. A minimum of 1.5/1 ibu/gu for ipa for me.  I am mainly trying to get flavor profiles from single hop beers.

Yakima valley hops has Amarillo leaf for 17.99$

13

FWIW, and i don’t want to detract this poor guys thread, but that in my experience is incorrect.  Starting about a year ago, I began FWHing as the only addition to my german lagers and I have never once perceived that I needed more bitterness. I agree with the enhanced hop flavor and a smoother, less harshly edged bitterness, but the bite doesn’t change.

In fact, I recently won a gold for my vienna where the sole improvement noted by both judges was that I might consider reducing the bittering a bit.  The hop was Mittlefruh, 20 ibus calculated at 90 minutes and designated as FWH (so it adds 10% more utilization than a 90 min boil addition).

14

Flavor is the reason I use it, too, but it does add some bitterness.  According to analyses I’ve had done, about 10% more bitterness on average than a 60 min. addition.  But neither I, nor a lot of the testers in the experiment I did, perceive FWH as more bitter.  In fact, a lot (most?)  tasters found the all FWH beer to be less bitter than the same beer with only a 60. min. addition of the same amount of the same hops.

15

This is great stuff, and this thread hasn’t been hi-jacked, so don’t worry about that. What I wanted to do is taste amarillo alone. So, I’m doing that and going to experiment with FWH. The last brew I did was a Citra APA. I used 5 ounces of Citra in that beer (3 dry hop). I missed my gravity with that, but I changed some of my process up prior to brewing that one. I love the beer. I wish I had more Citra, but I’m not buying anymore hops this year. I’m using the same grain bill (to see if my gravity is consistent and then adjust my efficiency accordingly) with this beer as that and just dousing it with hops. I have a bunch of Amarillo and need to start using them.

16

Not an IPA (could be) IBU’s High (ok over a little) for an APA and on the low end for an IPA, but the amarillo flavor and aroma are awesome.

http://beerdujour.com/Recipes/AmarilloPaleAle.htm

17

I’ll second Denny’s recommendation to move the 15 minute addition to FWH. If it were me I’d also drop the 30-minute addition altogether and do a hot whirlpool/hop stand. I find that I get the most hop presence from extended contact with hot/sub-boiling wort (FWH and whirlpool, basically), so as time goes on I keep moving more additions to before and after the boil. It may just be in my head, but I also find that hop character fades more slowly in beers with FWH and hop stand additions.

18

I’ll just throw this in, in a recent issue of Zymurgy they have a recipe for testing single hops and the author makes a point to say that Amarillo was not good for the 60 minute addition.

19

That was a statement of opinion. granted from Vinnie at Russian river but still. Try it. Maybe YOU would like it as a 60 minute addition. I find Columbus to be really oniony but others love it.

20

The other opinion he stated was that while a single hop beer was great for experimenting, it didn’t make a good recipe.  I realize that it’s subjective, but I agree with him 100%.