Just looking for some feedback. My goal is to brew something that is red, malty but with a noticeable hop character. I have experience with Red X so know what it brings to the table. That alone has a lot to do with why I designed the beer this way. Any thoughts?
Amber Bitter water
41% pilsner
39% red x
18% rye malt
2% chocolate rye
Nugget 60 min (40 IBU)
1 oz Simcoe 2 min
1 oz Centennial 2 min
1 oz Simcoe DH
1 oz Centennial DH
I am pretty set on this but am thinking about altering the hops.
Should I:
1.) replace the nugget bittering hops with chinook
2.) leave the nugget but use equal amounts of chinook, centennial, & simcoe as my late hops (instead of centennial & simcoe only)
3.) do nothing
I have little experience with Chinook outside of bittering a couple of times. Looking for some pine and citrus and thought this might play well with the centennial and simcoe.
I get pine (among other things) from Simcoe as well as Chinook, so this is really just up to your own opinion. When I can’t decide, I pop each bag, sniff them, and decide based on aroma.
I find nugget to have a “gripping” bitterness to it (i.e. hop jolt), whereas I’ve, surprisingly, found chinook to be a rather smooth bittering addition. I’d pick the bittering hop based on my desired outcome.
As a late hop, I’ve found chinook to contribute the resiny, piney, dank citrus qualities it’s often known for. As a dry hop, I get some of that as well but also a noticeable “dried peach” character. I’m sure this is largely dependent on amount used at those times. Again, I’d pick based on my desired outcome.
Just an update on how this beer turned out for anyone who cares.
I couldn’t be much happier with this beer however it is definitely quite bold for a 5.4% abv beer. The balance between the rye, hops, and malt character is pretty much spot on for what I was going for. It’s the first time I have used red x and felt that the amount was appropriate and got the right hop bitterness to balance it out.
The only negative might be is that I am not sure how well the simcoe hops fit here and I didn’t get as much pine as I was hoping for as the hop character is definitely more citrus and some sweet stone fruit influenced by the red x. The color is perhaps slightly light but I would still consider it red and will try to upload a pic at some point. I was a little worried that 20% rye between rye malt and chocolate rye would be overdoing it but it definitely was not.
Below is the hop schedule that I ended up with:
28.00 g Chinook [10.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 33.1 IBUs
24.00 g Centennial [9.30 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 8 2.1 IBUs
24.00 g Simcoe [13.30 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 9 3.0 IBUs
9.00 g Chinook [10.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 10 0.9 IBUs
25.00 g Chinook [10.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
17.00 g Centennial [10.40 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
17.00 g Simcoe [12.20 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
It’s always nice when a plan comes together. Glad it worked out for you. I have a Rye IPA on tap now with 22% Rye malt and Columbus/Mosaic hops that is tasting good. I like to use at least 20% Rye malt so I can get the flavor coming through.
Interesting on your observations of the Simcoe – I had the exact same experience with a pale ale I brewed recently, which had 3 oz. of Simcoe in the dry hop. I was hoping for something much more piney than I got – lots of tropical fruit and citrus, no evergreen tree. I’ll probably try something else I want more prominent pine in my profile.