I will be brewing a citra IPA this weekend and after a discussion with an employee at my LHBS he said that citra is a strong flavored hop. He used two oz in his IPA and it he said it almost made the beer undrinkable. My recipe calls for 4 oz. 1 oz at 30 min, 1 oz at 15, 1 oz at flameout, and 1 oz dryhopping. Now I've been brewing for 10 years but I've never used citra. Is my recipe over the top with citra? Should I sub out some citra for centennial or amarrilo? Any thoughts and feedback would be appreciated.
citra hops?
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I'm in the same boat.....never used it and I have 5 oz that's been sitting in the freezer because I don't know what to do. Some say too much makes it taste like 'cat piss' and many suggest using it sparingly for bittering and most of it for aroma or dry hopping. My other problem is that, though I love bitter, hoppy beers, I'm not sure which I've tried that had citra in it so I'm having a hard time, like you, figuring out a hop schedule.
hamaien
Active Member
To my palette Citra really shines as an aroma/dry hop. I've done a Citra single hop beer and, while it had an amazing sweet tropical mango aroma, the flavor and bittering were severely lacking.
BogusOwnz
Well-Known Member
I've done an all citra beer and I really didn't enjoy it. I've personally found I only like citra as part of a dry hop blend but never on it's own. I'm not sure what happened I used to love zombie dust and other citra beers but now I don't enjoy it it, I tend to get a body odar aroma from all citra beers now.
I recommend you look up the Can You Brew It podcast for the Kern River Brewing Co's Citra DIPA. It uses a ridiculous amount of Citra mixed with some Nugget for bittering and Amarillo. I brewed this a while back and so far it's been hands down the best beer I've brewed and everyone around me from the local brew club found it to be one of the best DIPA's that they've ever had. It's definitely not harsh in any way. In fact it's like drinking a well balanced tropical fruit drink.
Here's a Beersmith recipe that I put online if you're interested.
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/17432/citra-double-ipa-clone-kern-river-brewing-company-cybi-podcast-version
Here's a Beersmith recipe that I put online if you're interested.
http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/17432/citra-double-ipa-clone-kern-river-brewing-company-cybi-podcast-version
citra is my favorite american citrus hop.. done many apa's and ipa's with it as a single hop.. this is my hop profile that I've found to work the best for "me" in doing all citra.. works for my apa,ipa,iipa's.
hop additions..
20
10
5
DH..
I stopped doing flameout and added that amount to my dryhop addition and it seemed the flavor was better and not over done.. again, that's just me and what works for me on my process
hop additions..
20
10
5
DH..
I stopped doing flameout and added that amount to my dryhop addition and it seemed the flavor was better and not over done.. again, that's just me and what works for me on my process
FirstStateBrewer
Well-Known Member
I think the opposite is true. I don't think Citra makes beer TASTE like cat piss. It makes the beer SMELL like cat piss. But, it will taste wonderful.
So, if you want to avoid the big cat piss smell, go easy on the dry hopping.
That being said, I love Citra IPAs! Love the smell, too! Now when I enter a house loaded with cats, I think of Citra. LOL!
arnoldk2
Well-Known Member
FirstStateBrewer said:
maybe I will call this beer cat-piss IPA. Everytime my father-in-law tastes a homebrew he calls it tiger-piss due to the fact it is a beer other than bud light. I will have to correct him and tell him this beer is cat-piss not tiger-piss... lol
TopherM
Well-Known Member
I make a great Citra APA with all Citra Hops. A little does go a long way. You can look at my recipe to the left. Here's the hop schedule for a 5 gallon batch, 10.5 lbs of grain:
0.75 oz Citra @ 60
0.50 oz Citra @ 15
0.50 oz Citra @ 5
If it were me, for an IPA I would bump the flavoring and aroma hops more than the bittering hops to reach your desired IBUs.
0.75 oz Citra @ 60
0.50 oz Citra @ 15
0.50 oz Citra @ 5
If it were me, for an IPA I would bump the flavoring and aroma hops more than the bittering hops to reach your desired IBUs.
BrewThruYou
Well-Known Member
I've used 4oz of Citra (with Warrior/Magnum doing the bittering) in a 5.5G IPA and it was great. There's a reason why it's in such demand - it's got great flavor/aroma.
Sevenal
Well-Known Member
Dito except I used Cascade and Amarillo to bitter and used 2 oz of Citra to Dry Hop
Then alas no Citra to be found that was any longer affordable so next winter I'll try this again.
Great info here. Even though I'm not the OP, I have the same questions and it looks like I got the answer I need.
Thanks guys!
Thanks guys!
Just my 2 cents on Citra.
It is a strange (and wonderful) hop. I brewed up the Zombie Dust clone which uses close to 9oz of Citra.
During brewing and while dry-hopping everything smelled and tasted great. I bottled and waited 3 weeks to carb and when I opened the bottle - Holy Cat Piss!! Talk about depressed. To me, it was undrinkable. BUT... I let it sit in the fridge for a couple more weeks and bam! Cat piss gone, nice citrus and floral, and I drank the whole batch faster than any other I have brewed.
So I think everyone, just has a different sensitivity to the cat piss aspect. For some people it never come across, and for others, even a small amount can bring it out.
I definitely wouldn't be afraid to use the Citra you have on hand... you can turn out something great with it.
It is a strange (and wonderful) hop. I brewed up the Zombie Dust clone which uses close to 9oz of Citra.
During brewing and while dry-hopping everything smelled and tasted great. I bottled and waited 3 weeks to carb and when I opened the bottle - Holy Cat Piss!! Talk about depressed. To me, it was undrinkable. BUT... I let it sit in the fridge for a couple more weeks and bam! Cat piss gone, nice citrus and floral, and I drank the whole batch faster than any other I have brewed.
So I think everyone, just has a different sensitivity to the cat piss aspect. For some people it never come across, and for others, even a small amount can bring it out.
I definitely wouldn't be afraid to use the Citra you have on hand... you can turn out something great with it.
arnoldk2
Well-Known Member
Well I think I will go with my recipe. I love the citruisy flavor IPA's. I'm using warrior as my 60 minute addition for a clean bittering and using amarillo along with citra in my 30 minute addition. So from the responses it seems that I may have to allow the beer to age a few weeks longer than normal to get the hop profile that I want if the profile isn't there at first. I guess we will find out in a few weeks if my recipe is good or if I need to make a few tweaks. I appreciate all the responders for their input. It made my decision easy!
Silentnoiz
Well-Known Member
Citra is, atm, my favorite hop. I brew a IIPA (15g batch) with this hop schedule:
- 60: 3oz Columbus, 3oz Warrior
- 50: 3oz Citra
- 40: 3oz Citra
- 30: 3oz Citra
- 15: 3oz Cascade
- Dry hop: 4oz Citra, 4oz Cascade
Fantastic brew. The aroma is hop heaven, and the taste is delicious. I haven't experienced "cat piss" in my brew, but I have gotten a bit of that dirty socks smell in some commercial brews that are similar to my brew. My homebrew is in my top 3 IIPA's. A few of my buddies say it is their #1 IIPA.
- 60: 3oz Columbus, 3oz Warrior
- 50: 3oz Citra
- 40: 3oz Citra
- 30: 3oz Citra
- 15: 3oz Cascade
- Dry hop: 4oz Citra, 4oz Cascade
Fantastic brew. The aroma is hop heaven, and the taste is delicious. I haven't experienced "cat piss" in my brew, but I have gotten a bit of that dirty socks smell in some commercial brews that are similar to my brew. My homebrew is in my top 3 IIPA's. A few of my buddies say it is their #1 IIPA.
Calichusetts
Well-Known Member
I got an all-citra IPA bubblin away right now...smells delicious, cant wait
brewmastercontrols
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I have recently cloned a local beer that is made from Citra hops. The clone turned out almost dead on. I would not be scared of any of the cat piss stories or anything else, use the hops as you normally do, calculate your IBUs as normal and shoot for what your target is, do not worry about the hop hype.... In this recipe I use about 3 oz of citra and some centennial as well....
Link to My Citra Hopped Clone:
Smash Bomb Atomic IPA All Grain Clone
and here is the outcome, tasting notes, and photos
SPANKED THE MONKEY? SMASHBOMB ATOMIC IPA ALL GRAIN CLONE TASTING AND COMPARISON NOTES
Cheers
Link to My Citra Hopped Clone:
Smash Bomb Atomic IPA All Grain Clone
and here is the outcome, tasting notes, and photos
SPANKED THE MONKEY? SMASHBOMB ATOMIC IPA ALL GRAIN CLONE TASTING AND COMPARISON NOTES
Cheers
Obliviousbrew
Well-Known Member
I´ve used Citra in two pale ales and one IPA, adittions in the last 10 minutes and dryhop. One of the pale ales was hop burst with all citra and never had a problem with it, no cat piss or anything like that just wonderfull tropical fruit.
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My experience with citra-heavy IPAs was also a cat piss smell that abated with time. 20 oz bottles had a definite aroma at first but it went away and made for a very, very delicious aroma and taste (only dry hopped with Citra, by the way).
I had the same experience. The longer it sits, the better it gets.
I was disappointed in the first glass, and almost suicidal when the I killed the keg.
Well, you've got lots of responses already, but, when I've used Citra, I've always cut it with Centennial.
I did a iipa with citra/saaz bittering and cascade/citra/saaz flavor and aroma that I ended up calling Dirty hippie Double for that reason exactly. Citra used at 60min gets really pungent. I'd used nugget or another neutral bittering hop and save the citra for the 20min and shorter additions.
arnoldk2
Well-Known Member
Okay, an update. I just racked my citra IPA last night because I had to dry hop it. The smell was awesome. I mean it made my mouth water. Took my gravity reading and then tasted it. It was very bitter up front (no crap, it's an IPA!) but that is due to my bittering hop, warrior. After the bitter taste settled down then the grapefruit/passion fruit came through. It was very good. I used 4oz of citra in my recipe and IMO it didn't have that cat piss taste. Need to finish the dry hopping and then keg. If this IPA stays as good as the taste that I sampled then this will be a beer that I will brew regularly.
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