The Trinity - an APA featuring the new Citra hops

saq · 09-26-2009, 04:25 AM

Tomorrow is brewday and I'm brewing a nice hoppy APA, something I can drink more or less every day when I get home from work. Plus it was a great excuse to try something new with the some new 2009 harvest leaf hops I got from freshops.com, Amarillo, Simcoe and Citra. A new hop that is similar in some ways to Simcoe but with a different flavor profile.

The inspiration for this APA came from Three Floyds Alpha King and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, the latter is the only commercial beer currently featuring Citra hops that I know about. You can read all about it in last months BYO.
Heres the runsheet for tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and post them later

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: The Trinity
Brewer: saq
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.62 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 8.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 92.97 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.04 %
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.02 %
0.12 lb Special B Malt BYOB (140.0 SRM) Grain 0.97 %
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 12.8 IBU
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 14.8 IBU
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (5 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale

Dry Hops
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (Dry Hops 10 days)
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (Dry Hops 10 days)
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (Dry Hops 10 days

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 12.37 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 20.50 qt of water at 159.7 F 151.0F
10 min Mash Out Add 12.00 qt of water at 200.2 F 168.0F

Water Profile

CA: 78.38
MG: 13.05
NA: 32
HCO3: 92.84
SO4: 110.4
CL: 76.44

SO4:CL Ratio = 1.45:1 moderately bitter

**Brooklyn-Brewtality** · 09-26-2009, 04:26 AM

This sounds delicious.

Beerrific · 09-27-2009, 02:54 AM

Yes, thanks. I will have 1 or 2.

saq · 09-27-2009, 08:46 PM

Yesterdays brewday went pretty well, the citra hops smelled amazing! Kind of like simcoe but not as heavy, and more of a lime/melon smell instead of a pine/grapefruit. The hopbag's smelled absolutely amazing with all three hops in there.

My preboil OG was 1.042, just a hair under the 1.044. I overboiled a little bit and ended up with 1.062 OG. So more or less 75% eff. The wort tasted pretty damn good. Fermentation was pretty explosive as I pitched on the yeast cake for an english barleywine I used the same yeast on. I wouldn't be surprised if it was done fermenting in the morning. I O2'd the hell out of it to help get the yeast broken up and in suspension, I think this will help contribute to a really low ester profile from the yeast.

**greenbirds** · 09-27-2009, 08:54 PM

Can't wait to hear how this one turns out. I am probably going to try an all-citra brew within the next few weeks.

RichBenn · 09-27-2009, 09:49 PM

Yeah, sounds like it could be tasty! Was a little confused when you were comparing to Torpedo (one of my favs), which is an IPA, not an APA, but your starting gravity is pretty much in the IPA camp, it seems....

saq · 09-27-2009, 10:11 PM

This is definitely an APA, just on the higher end of the scale, it COULD come in at the very low end of an IPA, but anyone knows me knows that my IPAs are much hoppier than this

APA = 1.045 - 1.060 OG & 30-45 IBU
IPA = 1.056 - 1.075 OG & 40-70 IBU

It was inspired by Alpha King (touch of special-B and british yeast) and by Torpedo (crystal-60 and citra hops) with my own hop schedule, its not really a clone attempt of either.

RichBenn · 09-28-2009, 02:57 AM

I'm much a hophead too, and tend to formulate my APAs more like IPAs as far as hops go. I hadn't really looked at your IBUs, just got stuck on the hop bill. The flavor and aroma of these citras with the centennial and amarillo you are using is what is intriquing to me instead of the bitterness. And that touch of special B sounds interesting, too!

Please give us all updates on when it's ready! Sounds like a tasty experiment!

Yankeehillbrewer · 09-28-2009, 06:03 PM

That's an interesting hop schedule. No true bittering addition. I'm curious to hear how this turns out.

saq · 09-28-2009, 06:52 PM

No true bittering addition? Its got hops in at first wort which are then boiled for 90 minutes... I do this for all of my bitterness/hop focused (APA/IPA) style beers.