I will be doing a public brew session this Saturday. Our LHBS is also a micro-brewer (Listermann), and is hosting an outdoor summer beer festival. My club is always given space to brew and recruit at their festivals. As a return favor for these events the beer I make goes back to the brewery. They ferment it, which makes it legal, and it becomes a small batch special for their tap room. Kevin, the head brewer, wants me to do a Belgian-American IPA with Mosaic hops. I’ve tasted Mosaic in other people’s beers, but I’ve never gotten my hands on any to use myself. I’m looking for recommendations on how much to use and when. (I have 4 ounces available.) The other hops available to me are Sterling and Amarillo, and it will be fermented with BSI Ardennes (Chouffe) yeast. I’ll be brewing 12 gallons, and shooting for an OG in the range of 1.070. Your recommendations are greatly appreciated!
I recently used 6 oz. of Mosaic for a 5 gallon batch in an IPA along with 8 oz. of Citra and half an once of Bravo. Only the Bravo was for bittering. The Citra and 2 oz. of Mosaic were late additions, and the rest of the Mosaic for dry hopping. I have never done a single hop beer with Mosaic, but this one turned out very good.
All that to say that depending on how hoppy you want this beer and what other hops you are including, 4 ounces may get lost in 12 gallons. I’d either use them all in late additions or as dry hopping as that is what will give you the flavor of the Mosaic. If you add them earlier in the boil you will lose the flavor and add bitterness. But bottom line is IMO if you want to taste Mosaic, try to find more.
You probably know this, but I say it for the lurkers out there who may not: When explaining hop usage I always say that one has to keep in mind what you want out of the hops. Bitterness comes from isomerizing Alpha Acids which takes a long time - hence the 60 minute addition. Flavor & aroma come from the hop oils which boil off very quickly, so I only add flavor/aroma hops in the last couple of minutes of the boil/at flameout in order to preserve the oils in the wort. Mid-boil additions seem a waste to me. That is hot-side hopping. Then there is cold-side hopping: dry-hopping. They are both flavor/aroma additions but get slightly different results.
I’ll second the sentiment that 4 ounces isn’t much for a 12-gallon batch of IPA. On the plus side, much like it’s mommy Simcoe, Mosaic pairs fantastically well with Amarillo. I’m not a huge fan of Belgian IPA’s, but I could see the Mosaic/Amarillo combo working pretty well in that style.
My feeling with Belgian IPA’s is that you don’t want too abrasive of a bitterness, or too many IBU’s for that matter. If I were going to take a stab at a recipe it would be something like:
80% Pils, 12% Munich, 5% Caravienne, 3% Aromatic
Bitter with Sterling to 45-50 IBU’s at 60 minutes
A pound of Amarillo at flameout
Dry hop 4oz Mosaic & 8 oz Amarillo
I had a Mosaic single hop American IPA at my homebrew club meeting last week that tasted like watermelon Jolly Ranchers. It wasn’t bad but that is what it tasted like. That flavor may work well with the Belgian yeast flavors.
My single-hop Mosaic pale ale isn’t quite ready yet, but I don’t recall getting that character out of any of the brews I’ve used it in so far. Are you sure it wasn’t El Dorado, because that has a lot of that candy thing going on.