English/American IPA Hop Schedule

I am making an extract IPA using pale malt extract, a little crystal, carapils, corn sugar, brown sugar and S-04. And plenty of amarillo and fuggles. (hence the English/American style) Originally I thought it would be fun to try an even mix of each hop throughout the boil but now Im thinking that maybe that wouldnt be such a great idea. Should I start with the focus on fuggles from say 30-15 and use the amarillo from 15-0 +dry hop. Ill have 100g of each and was thinking of using 50g cascade mixed in with the bittering hops if I needed more of the fuggles and amarillo later on. This will be a 6 gallon batch and Im looking for plenty of hops :rockin:

anyone have any ideas? Im not looking for any specific amounts, more just whether I would be ok to stick with my initial 1:1 ratio for the amarillo and fuggles or if I should use the earthy fuggles early and the fruity amarillo later on, I havent used amarillo yet but have read on here that its a darn fine hop

In my experience, some American hops tend to dominate when added 1:1 with other hops. While I haven't done this with Amarillo and Fuggles, I have done it with Cascades and EKGS and Amarillo and Crystal (the Amarillo dominated). Amarillo has a pretty high oil content (which is where the aroma is coming from ) while Fuggles doesn't, so my guess is Amarillo will dominate.

You can see the oils and such here:

http://www.probrewer.com/resources/hops/hop_data.php

It can be okay for Amarillo to dominate depending on what you want. I do a beer that has 15 grams of Cascades at 15 minutes from knockout and 30 grams of EKGS at knockout and the Cascades still seem to me to be coming through nicely. I might be off base on the oil content, it may be more that it's a specific part of the oils like Myrcene that's coming through, as Cascade doesn't look to have super high oils but does have a very strong aroma that comes through.

If you want the Fuggles to play equal, I'd guess that you'll need more of them than Amarillo. But it also might be nice to have Amarillo dominating with just a hint of Fuggles if you do them 1:1.

Sorry can't be of more specific help.

cheers for that matt, that sounds like it could be about right. I was considering leaning towards the amarillo I didnt consider the AA so a slight earthiness with the fruitiness of amarillo might be just what Im after, Ill check the AA of the amarillo down my lhbs. Stupid question but does the AA of the hops more of less directly correlate to the flavour/aroma imparted to the brew as much so as it does the bitterness in a longer boil?

Pommy said:

cheers for that matt, that sounds like it could be about right. I was considering leaning towards the amarillo I didnt consider the AA so a slight earthiness with the fruitiness of amarillo might be just what Im after, Ill check the AA of the amarillo down my lhbs. Stupid question but does the AA of the hops more of less directly correlate to the flavour/aroma imparted to the brew as much so as it does the bitterness in a longer boil?

Click to expand...

Naw, you're confusing stuff. The alpha acid and beta acid are *resins* not oils. They give bitterness with the alpha acid being the main thing that gives bitterness in hops that aren't aged. From my memory, the beta starts to take effect after the hops age. But these are not the *oils*. While you get some flavor from the bitter component, the majority of the flavor and aroma comes from the oils, not the resins.

If you look at that link you'll see the oils that make up the hop's aroma and flavor. It's not all that important to know, it's more important to just use the hops and see what you get from them, then you know from direct experience rather than theory. BUT, you DO need to calculate your IBUs using the Alpha Acid content. Everything other than adding hops at knockout adds SOME bitterness. Use some software like Beersmith to calculate this more easily. They have a free trial I think, if you haven't used it.

Does this make sense?

And, for the record, Amarillo and Fuggles are both lovely hops. Should make a nice beer.

Good I had the AA vs flavour/amora right to start with then, but I must admit I didn't know that oil was the best guide to flavour/aroma and varied so much between hops. Ive got beersmith and that's good for calculating IBUs, its a pitty there isn't a tasting option though Its still a great program for anyone wanting to design recipes for anyone who can get style guides with google

Im thinking a 1:1 mix might not be so bad for a test brew...

Cool.

Yeah, all those oil constituents make up the overall aroma/flavor. The truly "noble" hops have to fall into certain ratios of those oils.

I agree on the 1:1. I think it'll work out nicely.

BTW, I see you're in NZ. Ever use Nelson Sauvin? I just used them last Sunday in a single hop beer but it's still fermenting. Looking forward to tasting it. Smelling them before adding them and smelling the blowoff tube, they smell pretty American to me.

No not yet, Ive only got a few propper boils under my belt so far but have only got my IPA this weekend then a porter to do then I have my selection pretty well covered. I have used mostly English hops so far and Czech Saaz for my pilsner but I will be experimenting with New Zealand hops more after that after that. Ive added Green Bullet, NZ Hallertau, Pacific Gem and Southern Cross to different batches of kit beers to get the flavours with good results. I think I might have to make a NZPA soon I have been asking the lhbs for Riwaka the last couple of times Ive been in but they have been out, thats supposed to be quite good but I think its still hard to get a hold of at times.

Sounds good. Best of luck with continued success.

Fuggles and Amarillo = yum. I have done this and continue to do so on many occasions. I have done 1:1 twice and its always good. Wile amarillo is citrusy, it does not tend to overpower the fuggles for smoe reason. I think Fuggles is relatively strong flavored as well. Now, if you tried 1:1 Amarillo and Willamette - you would not taste the willamette almost at all. Thats another topic though.

Yeah with the few brews of my own that I have done I have found Fuggles to have what I considered to be a strong flavour compared to the higher AA NZ hops I have used, of course you can dump a lot more Fuggles in earlier than a lot of hops to get the flavour without the IBU. Fuggles is defiantly my favourite hop so far and I wanted to pair it with one of the best American citrusy hops to see how that works out. Ill do it.