Hop Schedule for CDA

It's about time to clean out the cupboard of grain, and if I go pick up a few pounds of pale malt, I should be able to make a decent Cascadian Dark Ale from it. The one question I have is what to do for a hop schedule. After reading a lot of the posts here, I've gotten a feel for percentages of grains, but which hops to add at what time (other than bittering additions) is still pretty much guesstimating.

The grains that I plan to include are 3 lbs of Vienna malt, 1/4 lb of Special B, 1/4 lb of English medium crystal, 1/4 lb carapils, and up to 1/2 lb of chocolate malt.

I also have 1 oz of Chinook and 1/2 oz of Sterling hops. I'm considering picking up some Amarillo, but I'm open to suggestions.

Does anyone have a favorite hop combinations that would work in a recipe with these ingredients?

I'd think Chinook and Amarillo would be a good combo against the dark grains. Probably going to need more than 1oz of Chinook, though.

Flatspin said:

It's about time to clean out the cupboard of grain, and if I go pick up a few pounds of pale malt, I should be able to make a decent Cascadian Dark Ale from it. The one question I have is what to do for a hop schedule. After reading a lot of the posts here, I've gotten a feel for percentages of grains, but which hops to add at what time (other than bittering additions) is still pretty much guesstimating.

The grains that I plan to include are 3 lbs of Vienna malt, 1/4 lb of Special B, 1/4 lb of English medium crystal, 1/4 lb carapils, and up to 1/2 lb of chocolate malt.

I also have 1 oz of Chinook and 1/2 oz of Sterling hops. I'm considering picking up some Amarillo, but I'm open to suggestions.

Does anyone have a favorite hop combinations that would work in a recipe with these ingredients?

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I have made my CDA a few times, and I use Centennial and Amarillo in the kettle, and Amarillo dry hops. Turns out great every time.

Also, I would consider switching the chocolate to something like Carafa Special II. It looks like you have more of a brown ale type beer here.

Thanks for the feedback. I haven't actually had a chance to brew with Amarillo yet because I've had some trouble finding it at my LHBS. Hopefully they have some in stock at my next visit.

Biobrewer said:

I have made my CDA a few times, and I use Centennial and Amarillo in the kettle, and Amarillo dry hops. Turns out great every time.

Also, I would consider switching the chocolate to something like Carafa Special II. It looks like you have more of a brown ale type beer here.

Click to expand...

Good point on the grain selection. Since this beer is meant to clean out excess specialty grains as much as anything, I guess I'll be making a brown ale!

How does this look for a hopping schedule:

first wort, 60+ mins, 0.75, Chinook, pellet, 13.0
boil, 20 mins, 0.5, Amarillo, pellet, 7.0
boil, 15 mins, 0.5, Amarillo, pellet, 7.0
boil, 5 mins, 0.25, Chinook, pellet, 13.0
dry hop, 7 days, 1.0, Amarillo, pellet, 7.0
dry hop, 5 days, 0.5, Sterling, pellet, 7.0

The OG is calculated at 1.047 and the IBUs are calculated at 39.4, for a BU:GU ratio of 0.83.

Do you think the Sterling will get lost in there, or will it come through enough to add a small amount of complexity to the aroma? Do you think that I need more Chinook (maybe an dry-hopped ounce) Also, any suggestions in case I can't get my hands on a couple ounces of Amarillo?