Citra Hops Questions

I am trying out an all grain cream ale recipe using citra hops. I have never used them before I am trying to get a citrus aroma and taste with mild bitterness. Anyone have any tricks and tips with this hop? I have also heard that  seeds of paradise will give citrus flavors. Boil times are below:

0.5 oz 60 minutes
0.25 oz 30 minutes
0.25 oz 5 muntues

Thanks in advance

  • cheers!

Some thoughts:

Citra hops aren’t particularly citrusy, more tropical-fruity. There may be better options (Centennial, Amarillo, etc.) but I think a Citra cream ale sounds nice.

Additions before roughly 15 minutes aren’t a very efficient use of (expensive) flavor/aroma hops. I’d use something cheaper for your 60 minute addition and move the 30 min to 15. That would also let you use the full ounce late - assuming this is a ~5 gal batch 1/4 oz may not be very noticeable.

Not enough late hops. I would also use something else for bittering if you have it. If you want to accentuate the citrus, you’ll want to pair with something like cascade or centennial.

As was mentioned you aren’t going to get Citrus from Citra despite it’s name. It’s a mango bomb. definitely agree also that you need more finishing hops.

To me they taste like juicy fruit gum (which is good), but it sometimes crosses over into over-ripe fruit and sweaty gym socks (which is less pleasant).

Yes this is a 5 gallon batch and I had originally had 1oz of Amarillo at 60 minutes as it may be a better fit.

I have tossed around the idea of making hop tea to test both of them out would anyone recommend that?

Not even doing any mathing, an ounce of relatively high-alpha hops (both of these run around 10% typically) in 5 gal is going to give 30+ IBU, so I’d cut half that out for a cream ale anyway. If it’s only those two ounces, I’d use ~0.5 oz of the Amarillo for bittering and split the rest between 15 and 0 min additions, but that’s me. If you have cheaper/easier access to another high-alpha hop for bittering, by all means use that and save some Amarillo.

Using the beer smith app for the math it came out to just over 30 IBUs but after some tweeks I got it down to 17. Full build:
11 lbs 2 row
2 lbs honey malt
.50 oz Amarillo at 60 minutes
.25 oz citra at 10 minutes
.25 oz citra at 5 minutes
(Unsure on the yeast at this time)

Thoughts? Opinions?

Thank you for all the help this may have saved me alot of time and tinkering Cheers!

I have my own opinions on the various use of the hops mentioned in this thread.  However, I like to use Citra as a dry hop addition.  It delivers an amazing aroma that I can’t seem to achieve using any other hop.  I typically use 2-3 oz. for one week.  That said, as with all dry hop additions, that wonderful aroma only lasts a few weeks.  :frowning:

Way too much honey malt, and also not a traditional cream ale grist, which would use a pretty substantial amount of adjuncts (usually corn). Not that there’s anything wrong with either, but I wasn’t sure how many cream ale recipes you’d seen.

I have a cream ale on deck as well. I’m torn between this (which I’ve not brewed): Make Your Best Cream Ale | Craft Beer & Brewing

…and this (which I’ve brewed and really enjoyed): https://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/allgrain/AG-CreamAle.pdf

If you want to use Citra you might look up Seymour Citra Gold recipe. I’ve brewed it and it was tasty.

I just updated beer smith and it shows the percentage of the gain build for the recipe and I was way over with the honey malt. Other cream ales that I have looked into use around 5-7% honey malt. I just tries a peach cream I brew (based off this recipe with adjustments Site Not Found) and holy cow was it great. I have also researched zesting oranges and adding it to primary but it takes alot of oranges.