Anyone tried Summit Hops yet? My LHBS just got them in and posted this about it to facebook:
[quote]NEW hop in stock! The Brewer’s Apprentice now has Summit! Quite new on the scene but with 15% alpha acid the consensus is very positive for its bittering value coupled with robust citrus notes of orange, tangerine and grapefruit.
[/quote]
To explore the flavor and aroma aspects, I just recently made an extra pale ale with Summit hops.
I was hoping for a “tangerine”-ish extra pale ale and was sort of disappointed with the result.
Maybe it was a suboptimal batch of Summit hops, but maybe not…
It was a good base recipe I’ve used before with great success with the proper attention paid to grain bill/ water profile/ mash temps/ sanitation/ temp-controlled fermentation/ yeast/ etc.
Jeff and Sean’s comments seem to mesh with my experience.
I single hopped using the all late hopping method–25 minutes or less for all additions, including aroma steeping for 20-30 minutes (when T<170F during whirlpool/chilling). Very smooth and vaguely “fruity” flavored but not much aroma which may have been lost due to CO2 scrubbing during fermentation and/or adsorption of hop oils to the yeast.
Since the aroma was disappointing, I dryhopped in the keg (1 oz pellets/5 gallons) and got better aroma, but, as Jeff describes, there’s a not-so-great onion/garlic component that is quite noticeable and unexpected.
Initially, I thought I had somehow infected the keg during dry-hopping. But, it is all coming from the Summit hop.
Like Sean says, there probably are better (cleaner smelling and tasting) choices for late additions and dry-hopping.
There is a sulfut compound that is high enough in some hops that can give you the onion/garlic flavor.
We were in Battle Creek MI the other night, and I tried a small glass of the Hop Rocket IPA, which uses Summit. No idea of the hop schedule, but one could pick up some onion/garlic in the background. I have had some other beers made with Summit (usually at the club meeting) that would have gone well with a roasted garlic appetizer. As Sean says, the use of the hop will determine the amount of oinion/garlic you get.
I absolutely love Summits. If you look in the recipe wiki there a recipe called Griffin Spit that uses all Summit late hopping. It’s one of my all time favorite IPAs. Although Summit can have the onion/garlic aspect to it, I have never had it fail to age out and leave behind a wonderful tangerine aroma. Give 'em a try!
The ones at the club meeting that I get the onion/garlic from are usually the Griffin Spit. How long before the flavor ages out? Might have to revisist those hops someday.
3 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in keg and still getting the onion/garlic notes with the summit-hopped XPA.
I’m usually of the opinion that IPA’s are best when they’re fresh
(and in my house, that’s usually the only kind I have since the keg doesn’t last long!)