Citra SMASH!

Never used Citra as a showcase hop also never done a SMASH. Looking for a hoppy APA with some residual mouthfeel. What would you change?

10-A American Ale, American Pale Ale

Min OG: 1.045 Max OG: 1.060
Min IBU: 30 Max IBU: 54
Min Clr: 5 Max Clr: 14 Color in SRM, Lovibond

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 6.00 Wort Size (Gal): 6.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 13.00
Anticipated OG: 1.055 Plato: 13.45
Anticipated SRM: 3.8
Anticipated IBU: 69.7
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68 %
Wort Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 13.00 lbs. Pilsener Belgium 1.037 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Citra Pellet 10.00 40.1 60 min.
1.00 oz. Citra Pellet 10.00 13.5 20 min.
2.00 oz. Citra Pellet 10.00 16.1 10 min.
2.00 oz. Citra Pellet 10.00 0.0 0 min.

Yeast
-----

Safeale US-05 Amercan Ale/Chico

Mash Schedule
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Mash Type: Single Step
Saccharification Rest Temp : 154 Time: 60
Mash-out Rest Temp : 168 Time: 10
Sparge Temp : 170 Time: 30

I love Citra, and use it all the time. I bought 6 lbs of 2010 Citra that is almost gone. I'm going to wax it off on a 10 gallon APA batch next weekend, then buy some of the 2011 crop!

I'll tell you that a little Citra goes a LONGGGG way. I put more like 2 total ounces in each of my 5 gallon recipes, not the 6 ounces you are adding. If you've worked with Citra before, and know you like it that much, go for it, but if it were me for a 6 gallon batch, I'd do something more on the order of:

1 oz @ 60
.75 oz @ 15
.75 oz @ 5

Also, if you're set on a SMASH, that's cool, but adding 0.5 lbs of Honey Malt (and taking away 0.5 lbs of your base malt) to your recepe would make it a bit more balanced. Honey Malt complements Citra really well.

Let us know how it turns out!!

TopherM said:

I'll tell you that a little Citra goes a LONGGGG way. I put more like 2 total ounces in each of my 5 gallon recipes, not the 6 ounces you are adding.

Click to expand...

I may not love Citra quite as much as Topher (I guess we know who was responsible for the Citra shortage! ) but I can say it is my favorite hop. It's so versatile! Great bittering, aroma, and of course amazing flavor.

Anyway, using more than 2 ounces is just overkill, in my opinion anyway. I just made a RyePA with it and I used 1 oz. @ 60, and .5 oz's @ 15 & 0 minutes. It's probably my favorite beer I've made yet, the rye really compliments the hop. Although next time I'll probably move the full ounce addition to the flavor area, around 20-15 minutes.

Only thing I would do is add another hop for balance. I know SMaSH is fun, but Citra is a rather one dimensional hop when used by itself.

IMHO.

I've only used Citra in combination with cascade for an Amber and APA, but I'm a fan. If set on SMaSH, I'd go with a different malt than pilsner. Opt for Maris Otter or experiment with Ashburne Mild, Golden Promise or some other base malt that catches your interest. 100% Vienna or Munich perchance?