Yesterday, I brewed the following to try out some Citra, which I not brewed with before:
9.5 lbs. 2-row
.7 lbs. British medium crystal
1.5 oz. Warrior (15.7%) - 60 min
1 oz. Citra (12.7%) - 10 min
1 oz. Citra (12.7%) - 5 min
1 oz. Citra (12.7%) - Flameout
1 oz. Citra (12.7%) - Dry hop
US-05
I’ve heard mix things about Citra, so it should be interesting. I understand it does not make for a pleasant bittering hop, hence the Warrior.
I’d probably add the 1oz dry hop to your flameout addition or vice versa but it looks good. I prefer adding Citra 10 min or less from flameout. Longer than that and sometimes it starts to get a dank cat pee thing going Im not crazy about. As well as muddling the unique pineapple mango notes I love.
For my taste the dry hop amount is anemic. For a 5 gallon batch I go with either 4 or 5 oz.
Also it seems your going more for an IPA than a Pale Ale. I didn’t do a calculation but 1.5 oz. @ 15.7% is substantial bittering.
edit OK I just did the calculation. ~70 IBU is what you’re looking at with that 60 minute addition. Should be no more than 45 for an APA.
I agree with pretty much all of this. If you’re going to dry hop with citra, you might as well do it well. Go at least 3 oz. That is unless you cut back your warrior a bit. But I would leave the bittering as is and up my Citra additions. Like I said 3-5 oz dry hop. I’d push the 5 minute addition out to a 0 addition and maybe add another ounce there too (3). Then give it a nice 30 minute hopstand before you chill…mmmmm it’ll be good! Yeah, it will be an AIPA.
My thoughts too, assuming it’s a 5 gallon batch. That’s a big IPA slap of bitterness - BU:GU is way over 1. I’d use 40 -45 IBU @ 60 minutes and up the dry hops to 2 - 2.5 oz for APA.
I feel like everyone on this forum uses way more dry hops than I typically do. If I can pick up another few ounces of Citra before this is ready for kegging, maybe I’ll try three ounces.
I wouldn’t want to cut back on the bittering additions. The IBUs are right where I want them.
It sounds like a lot of people have been having success with the hop stand technique. I’ll definitely be trying that out in the future.
In regards to hop amounts, it should come down to the amount that YOU want. Sure, we use a bunch, but we like a bunch. If you are content with that amount, it’s cool. I like the bittering amount, but I think you’ll like it better if you allow the citra to punch through it.
On a side note… Do you buy your hops an ounce at a time or in bulk?
+1. We all have to make the beer WE want. It’s really helpful to get a feel early on for hopping levels that are common to brewers across various styles, but gotta brew what you like. I sure do !
Not everyone. My typical dry hop for 5 gal of IPA would be 1.8 oz. An ounce per gallon is about two pounds per barrel, which is pretty typical for the total hopping rate in a commercial IPA. Not that that should dictate what we do as home brewers, but it helps to keep things in perspective.
I normally only use one oz of dry hops in addition to a couple of ounces late in the boil per 5 gallons of pale ale. The results are normally good for what I am going for. I am kind of cheap and on a brewing budget so I definitely am not able to use a pound of hops per batch although I would love to try it…
I think the original hop schedule looks great! For my tastes I would drop the warrior to about 1/2-3/4 oz but that is just me…
FWIW, I would never use a lb in an APA (or British IPA either). I reserve that for AIPA. I feel an APA should have a nice level of balance, whereas I don’t feel that way about AIPA.
I agree completely with that. I rarely do IPAs because I don’t brew them properly with the amount of hops they need. It took me a while to realize that I just shouldn’t brew IPAs unless I am willing to at least double my hop amounts.
I guess I just realized that this is more of an IPA with that high of an IBU level. My remarks were more geared toward a pale ale.
So I picked up two additional ounces of Citra and bumped the dry hops up to three ounces.
I racked it on Saturday, and it tasted pretty good, definitely not too bitter.
I’m going to give it about a week on the dry hops, then cold crash and keg.
I’m not so sure about that anymore, sean. Firestone Walker publishes on their website that Union Jack is 4# per barrel, and Mitch Steele’s book suggests 3-5# per barrel is the industry norm for big hoppy west coast IPAs. I know you’re a pro brewer, so i can’t argue with what your specific numbers are, but I’m seeing much bigger claims, and i think that is what has spurred homebrewers (I know it nudged me) to explore using greater amounts.
Exactly. Same here. I remember the recipe here on the AHA homepage last year from the Ballast Point guys, which had 6 oz of dry hops IIRC.
Fine, commercial IPAs outside of California. :
In all seriousness, this probably is an east/west thing. 4 lb/bbl is about the most I’ve seen, but that doesn’t cover a representative sample since I haven’t hung around West Coast breweries.
I’ve brewed about a dozen 5 gallon batches so far this year. Total hop usage about a half pound. Total dry hops so far, zero.
My next 5 gallon batch… 13 ounces. Yum.
Right on! As long as you guys don’t use up all of the magnum and EKG, have at it.
FYI, I use over 4 lbs per bbl in our IIPA. But the guys I contract brew for use much less. I constantly have to resist the urge to add more hops to their beer. But it is pretty hoppy and within style guidelines from a flavor threshold.