So I’m looking to do this – thoughts? The grain bill is 4 lbs MO, 8 oz Munich, 4 oz flaked barley, and 4 oz each 20L and 60L. Yeast is US-05. [Modified to note that this is a 2.5-gallon batch!]
0.50 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 9 12.6 IBUs
0.50 oz Pacific Gem [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 10 27.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 18.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 9.2 IBUs
0.50 oz Pacific Gem [15.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 13 19.8 IBUs
0.75 oz Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Motueka [7.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 15 0.0 IBUs
0.75 oz Pacific Gem [15.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
I’m not familiar with Pacific Gem, but otherwise it looks pretty good to me. My only suggestion is that Motueka can get overpowered by something like Galaxy. You might want to bump the amount of the Motueka additions a bit if you want an equal amount of Motueka character. If you’re OK with it being more of an accent note, then it should be just fine where it is.
The organic PacGem I use is described by seller Seven Bridges (breworganic.com) as follows: “Pacific Gem is a very high alpha hop with a pleasant citrus aroma good for bitters and dark beers. Some brewers have reported that Pacific Gem provides a subtle “blackberry” flavor/taste, which is a popular characteristic for English bitters and stouts. With its good clean bittering character, Pacific Gem is a good substitute for Magnum, Millenium, Nugget, or Columbus hops.”
Up until recently I’ve only used it for FWH additions. Just dry-hopped a 2.5 gal dark sour with an ounce of PacGem, which from the description should tie in well.
If the beer calls for a bittering charge once I’ve tasted v.1, I could halve the first addition of Pacific Gem and move it to a FWH. I’ve done FWH in several brews and really like that approach.
I am having a tester of this 7 days after bottling (I always bottle part of the batch in 6-oz splits) and for tomorrow’s rebrew I’m torn between adding a touch of hops earlier and keeping it just as it is. That late hopping is something awesome and this blend of hops is ohhhh so yummy. This is one of those batches that makes up for a lot of bad batches, crazy brew days, and so on. “Yes, I made this!” It’s a no-sparge, late-hopped pale ale with Southern Hemisphere hops and I’m calling it Weird Quirks.
(By the way, I know the Champaign area quite well - two stints at Chanute, and later a masters degree at UIUC!)
A 7 day re-brew? I admire your commitment to improvement.
Sounds like you may have a winner there. Especially with the hop schedule.
While perhaps impractical at this point, you might consider swapping up the yeast choice.
For example, how would this beer be different if fermented with Wyeast 1450?
Food for thought.
If it was myself, with tomorrow as brewday, I might consider replicating and making more of the goodness you have created.
Yes, I think I will keep it the same, as much as anyone can do that in a homebrew. I remember brewing Denny’s RypePA about 5 times straight, 4 times with really good results. There’s something pleasing about being able to replicate success.
I’d like to try Wyeast 1450 sometime. Not this time
