So I’ve never made a Citra focused beer before - its always been a small component of a large hop bill. Recently, I have been trying to develop hop profiles that are significantly different across my IPA, APA, Amber and Am Brown, so I decided a few weeks ago to make an APA that is Citra dominant.
Basically, Flavor, Whirlpool and Dryhopping are all 50% Citra, 25% Centennial, 25% Cascade.
It seems to me that DOMINANT is the word. I just took a sample of one of the kegs that is carbing and it is intense tangerine and mango aroma, and it seems to have no other hop profile than the Citra - I can’t pick up any of the expected aromatics or flavor of the other two hops. I expected more pine and grapefruit and general citric aromas to at least be present.
Is this abnormal or is this what you guys experience? I’m thinking I’m going to be a little less heavy handed with Citra in the future - I like it in the background, but its a bit overpowering for me as a feature hop.
+1. The tangerine /orange is very intense. I like it but not always at its level of intensity. I will say that the pungency and pine of Chinook did come through against Citra in my last IPA.
Citra is indeed a very intense hop. A friend of mine recently blended 50/50 Citra and Centennial in an APA/IPA. There’s no telling there was any Centennial in that beer – it tastes exactly the same as his 100% Citra APA.
I do believe that it might blend okay with very strong hops such as Simcoe and Mosaic, maybe Columbus. But otherwise, take it easy on the Citra or it will indeed overpower everything else.
Are these 2012 crop? I found the 2011s to be fairly delicate with the mango/guava-ish thing dominant and very little citrus. I haven’t brewed with 2012s yet.
I was at a local brewpub last night and ordered and IPA that had 7 different hops, although they didn’t list any of them. On the first sip, Citra overwhelmed everything else in there. Kinda like it was the only hop.
I put Citra and Chinook in the same category of intensity (Simcoe is also close). If I’m using these hops with less-intense varieties, I back off of my normal equal percentage hop mix. Usually 1.5-2 to 1 paired with a hop like Cascade or Centennial.
A friend of mine brewed a Nelson IPA and the Nelson Sauvin gave it a powerful orange aroma. I’d like to try a wheat with either Nelson or Citra. Tallgrass Brewing makes their Halycon Wheat with Citra and it isn’t overpowering but I can definitely taste the Citra. I’m not a fan of pitting fruit in beer but a hoppy wheat with Citra would be fun to try.
I just can’t resist the urge to post my hate for this hop … just don’t like citra at all. Perhaps in the tiniest amounts it blends well, but as a dominant hop I just can’t enjoy it in a beer.
Yeah - first run with the 2012 pellets. I like Citra, I just really don’t like the dominance - its too fruity for me.
Kyle - I hear you though I would say that Citra is more dominant that either Chinook or Simcoe, though the latter two are also quite dominant, Citra is head and shoulders above in that aspect.
Interesting comments Jeff and Denny - guess it ain’t just me.
I’m sort of leaning this way too - I’m glad half the batch was brewed for my teammates at the Tough Mudder this weekend - at least it will go fast so I can brew something else…
Oh come on! All things in moderation. This was just a learning experience. A data point that helps dial in the proper dosage.
Now if that beer is unpalatable for you, I suggest that you plan on blending it with another less hoppy beer and enjoy it that way. That may also help to define what the amount of a particular hop you can tolerate or enjoy. I find Sorachi Ace the same way, pleasant in very restrained doses and easily overdosed.
absolutely - don’t get me wrong- I will gladly drink it - its still very good, and better than most or all of what I can buy in the store, but its just not my bag - I’m just glad that 5 of the 10gal will be enjoyed by others so I can move on to the next learning/brewing experience!
I think we’re going to find more of this with the newer varieties of hops that are starting to be bred for their oil content. We currently adjust hop bitterness based on AA%, and we’re probably going to have to start taking oil concentration into account with some of the newer varieties. I recently used Polaris (over 4ml/100g oil content) at my normal IPA levels in a brew and it totally overpowered all the other hops. Not only that, but the beer has that saturated hop-oil/resin character that I generally only get from over-the-top IIPA’s.
I’ve seen Nelson dominate a hop blend as well, but that just may be that the vinous character is so distinct (as opposed to oil content). I do tend to back off on Citra if I want other hops to hold their own against it in a blend, but I really like the flavor (especially when paired with hops like Amarillo and Simcoe). I will often hop them at the same rate as the other hops, knowing that they may take the lead a bit. Or I’ll just add more of a lower-oil hop so it stands up to the Citra better.
As stated above, I could also throw Nelson in that list. Mosaic was also pretty dominant in my last pale ale, using just 2 oz for dryhops (so much so that I called it a Mosaic Pale).
its really interesting you mention that - in my last whirlpooled IPA I noticed this really ‘hop oily’ mouthfeel that I didn’t really care for - sort of detracted a bit - I used a lot of the newer breed hops in it and I guess that is the culprit.
I noticed the same in this Citra APA, but I was starting to assume it was the whirlpooling, but i guess its the nature of the hops.