Amarillo Hops - recipe help please

I just ordered up a pound of Amarillo hops. I have no experience with them so I am not sure what to expect, I have heard good things so I am hopefull.

Does anybody have a good recipe featuring Amarillo hops that they could share with me? I like pretty much all beers, but I am assuming a nice APA or IPA would help me showcase these hops. I also have willamete, magnum, chinook, cascade and centennial on hand..........way too many hops.

You can sub Amarillo in any recipe calling for Cascade or Centennial hops (making adjustments for AA%, of course).

I really enjoyed this Amarillo IPA. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/all-amarillo-ipa-28517/

Its definitely on my list to make again after my next hop bulk order.

amarillo is a nice, mellow mango-ish counterpoint to the pine/citrus harshness of chinook. I use that combination a lot in IPA's (for late additions and dry-hopping especially).....you can pair it with cascade and centenial just fine too. The only time I have used amarillo exclusively has been with an american amber and an american wheat. I chose amarillo for these because of it's relative lack of harshness (it has a smoother character than other american hops, IMHO)....they both turned out great, and the wheat was taken down by my wife and I in a matter of a week.

Amarillo is a hop I always make sure to have on hand....

There's an all-amarillo IPA in the recipe database. I've made it once, soon I'll be making it again.

Sounds like a great hop, let me propose a simple recipe to start and maybe with your help I can tweak it to perfection~


13# Pale Two Row Malted Barley
1 # vienna or munich ?
1/2 pound crystal 20
1/2 pound crystal 40

1.5 oz magnum at 60
1 oz Ammarilo at 15
1/2 oz Ammarilo at 10
1/2 oz chinook at 10
1/2 oz Ammarilo at 5
1/2 oz chinook at 5
1/2 oz Ammarilo at 1
1/2 oz chinook at 1

1 oz chinook dry hop
1 oz ammarilo dry hop

Five gallon batch
1.065 or so
mash at 150
pacman yeast

FG = 1.011 or so......maybe 70 IBU or so....

I really like the idea of pairing the mango citrus of ammarilo with the fruity, with the pine/must of chinook. I also get a little tropical/peach from chinook late additions too...

I recently made a very simple, very good tasting 'summer ale' with all Amarillo. It definitely welcomed me to the variety without much interference.

OG 1.050 IBU 30-35
8 lb / 3.6 kg pilsner malt
0.25 lb / 115 g acid malt (optional, for pH adjustment)

3.5 oz / 100g Amarillo 7.5% @ 15 minutes

Most any yeast will be fine. I used Thames Valley II.

Very good flavor and aroma and smooth bitterness. Quick turnaround. Even if imagined, the slight tartness from the acid malt was enjoyable. First time that I used it, very interesting sensation.

14thstreet said:

I recently made a very simple, very good tasting 'summer ale' with all Amarillo. It definitely welcomed me to the variety without much interference.

OG 1.050 IBU 30-35
8 lb / 3.6 kg pilsner malt
0.25 lb / 115 g acid malt (optional, for pH adjustment)

3.5 oz / 100g Amarillo 7.5% @ 15 minutes

Most any yeast will be fine. I used Thames Valley II.

Very good flavor and aroma and smooth bitterness. Quick turnaround. Even if imagined, the slight tartness from the acid malt was enjoyable. First time that I used it, very interesting sensation.

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The 3.5 oz addition at 15 was your only hop addition? That is a good idea, smooth I bet.

Amarillo is one of my favorite American hops. I recommend dry hopping with it, too. Very nice aroma from it.

Only addition, yes. I blew a leak in my keg system and lost half the batch along with some aroma. I bet if I didn't scrub off so much aroma, it would have lasted longer than it did. I didn't feel like it needed dryhopping. It was like an APA with IPA aroma/flavor, when it was young.

My favorite recipe is an IPA with simcoe and amarillo together for flavor and aroma and dryhopping. (It's in the database as a Dogfish Head 60 minute clone).

Amarillo is my favorite hop, but using it with simcoe makes it even more awesome.

Amarillo Wheat aka, StupidHead- a house Guzzler around here.
5.5 gal
OG 1.054
FG 1.010-12
IBU 36

6lbs 2-Row
6lbs Red Wheat
4oz Bel. Aromatic
(Rice Hulls as needed)

20 min- .5oz Amarillo
15 min- .5 oz Amarillo
10 min- 1oz Amarillo
5 min- 1 oz Amarillo
FO- 1oz Amarillo
DH- 1 oz Amarillo

Mash 152.
Yeast- 1010, 1056, US-05, 1007, Kolsh etc.

This is common to go grain to glass for me in 3 weeks.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

permo said:

I just ordered up a pound of Amarillo hops. I have no experience with them so I am not sure what to expect, I have heard good things so I am hopefull.

Does anybody have a good recipe featuring Amarillo hops that they could share with me? I like pretty much all beers, but I am assuming a nice APA or IPA would help me showcase these hops. I also have willamete, magnum, chinook, cascade and centennial on hand..........way too many hops.

Click to expand...

Amarillo kicks butt, I am a little alarmed that you think you have way too many hops. Man can never have too many hops.

i have a recipe on my first blog. pretty similar to jlpred55's, and like his, mine is a house ale...dude its great. dry hop with 2 ounces whatever you do, i'm enjoying a pint right now:rockin:

Currently, my favorite beer is the IPA I made using Yooper's recipe (the one she referred to a few posts ago). So deliciously hoppy and balanced. I also made a Maris Otter/Amarillo SMaSH IPA, which was terrific. Not quite as balanced as the DFH 60...a bit more raw and feisty @ ~77IBU, but still wonderful. Amarillo is just a wonderful hop.

As an aside, I was taken aback by your statement "...way too many hops". Blasphemer!! Such a thing does not exist!

How well will Amarillo meld with say a Vienna smash?

Jdecarol said:

How well will Amarillo meld with say a Vienna smash?

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EF'n Wonderful! :rockin:

permo said:

I just ordered up a pound of Amarillo hops. I have no experience with them so I am not sure what to expect, I have heard good things so I am hopefull.

Does anybody have a good recipe featuring Amarillo hops that they could share with me? I like pretty much all beers, but I am assuming a nice APA or IPA would help me showcase these hops. I also have willamete, magnum, chinook, cascade and centennial on hand..........way too many hops.

Click to expand...

If you are still looking; This is my 'house' hop;
10# 2 row
2# 40l
1oz at 60
1oz at 30
1oz at 10
Simple rec; I get a lot of compliments, smooth, and I keep this on hand! Any clean yeast will do, I prefer WLP001

This is a great one:

9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 87.80 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
2.50 oz Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 102.1 IBU
3.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (20 min) Hops 52.5 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (3 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Talk about biting into a grapefruit... This is the one!

tonton said:

This is a great one:

9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 87.80 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
0.25 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
2.50 oz Magnum [12.00 %] (60 min) Hops 102.1 IBU
3.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (20 min) Hops 52.5 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (15 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 3.4 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (3 min) Hops 1.8 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (Dry Hop 7 days) Hops -
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Talk about biting into a grapefruit... This is the one!

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for a 5 gallon batch this would be an OG around 1.050....with 160+ IBU.....seems a little unbalanced.

This particular recipe isn't so much about 'balance' as much as crazy a$$, citrus, grapfruit-bitting, flavor - numbers are a great tool but sometimes you have to let the mind expand and try new things, get all the hoppy goodness and away the rules, with good taste......

Bentpirate said:

This particular recipe isn't so much about 'balance' as much as crazy a$$, citrus, grapfruit-bitting, flavor - numbers are a great tool but sometimes you have to let the mind expand and try new things, get all the hoppy goodness and away the rules, with good taste......

Click to expand...

Agreed, but a 100 IBU magnum bittering addition doesn't have a whole lot to do with citrus grapefruit bittering

Regardless, i would like to try brewing up a hugely, overhopped ale sometime. I have hit 100 IBU a few times on some bigger ales, I am planning a 150 IBU, arrogent bastard inspired ale with %10 ABV, so that should be tasty.