Hops for a piney IIPA

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mccann51

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Hi, all.

I'm looking to brew a IIPA and want an intense pine flavor and aroma. I plan to use Chinook and Simcoe, but was wondering if anybody had suggestions for another good piney hop? These are the only two varieties I know of that are piney, but I imagine there must be others that I'm not familiar with.

Also, I'm not sure I totally understand the distinction between piney and resiny; could somebody be so kind as to enlighten me (examples are always welcome as my palate is very unrefined).

Thanks.
 
cascade is the epitome of piney for me. i've made an all-cascade 3 addition plus dry hop ipa, and it tasted like i was drinking a pine tree. my notes on that 1 were "pine taste attenuates in, not out"
 
cascade is the epitome of piney for me. i've made an all-cascade 3 addition plus dry hop ipa, and it tasted like i was drinking a pine tree. my notes on that 1 were "pine taste attenuates in, not out"

I don't want to sound rude in any way, and I know everyone's palete is different, but I get zero pine from cascade. I get citrus, mainly orange and grapefruit, and lots of floral. I don't get any of that resinous piney aroma I get from chinook, Simcoe, or CTZ

For the OP: Chinook, Simcoe, CTZ are my picks for pine aroma, in that order. You'll gets some citrus as well, but that should be very oily, dank, and pine like.
 
This ^

Both what he said about cascade and the piney hops. Although, I think I'd switch Columbus and Simcoe, but it's close. Chinook is certainly in first for me though.
 
I'm in agreeance with scottland, I don't taste any pine in Cascade. Chinook tops the list for piney/resiny.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I had to look up what CTZ was (Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus). Does CTZ mean: any one of these hops, they're all very similar; or, these three names for the same hop?

If I were to do a brew with Chinook, Simcoe, and Columbus, would I have to worry about the flavor getting too muddy (I don't know if they have enough other characteristics to balance the pine)? And, at what time additions in the hop boil does the most pine character come through (or does it depend on the hop?)?

I may have to try this with the above three, and then do another brew where I sub in Southern Cross, it sounds very interesting.

The HopChart is pretty cool; I've been looking for a chart like that for comparison for a while now, much appreciated.
 
no rudeness perceived in any way, scottland. yep, tastes are different. that was made off the recipe "CascadePA" that so many people love.

Sulli: please don't use that bs "agreeance". no such word. not being petulant; it's just a pet peeve
 
I love southern cross hops. Very piney, but not as sharp of a bitterness as CTZ to my pallet. You could also dry-pine a beer with some fresh sprigs. I've never tried it, but I'd give it a shot if I were going for a really piney flavor. People do it with spruce quite frequently.
 
no rudeness perceived in any way, scottland. yep, tastes are different. that was made off the recipe "CascadePA" that so many people love.

Sulli: please don't use that bs "agreeance". no such word. not being petulant; it's just a pet peeve

Oh sorry, I meant "I concur" with scottland. Better?
 
I love southern cross hops. Very piney, but not as sharp of a bitterness as CTZ to my pallet. You could also dry-pine a beer with some fresh sprigs. I've never tried it, but I'd give it a shot if I were going for a really piney flavor. People do it with spruce quite frequently.

Yeah! Using actual spruce has been on my list of things to-do for some time now, just haven't gotten around to it (unfortunately just moved to the SW US, so probably won't get around to it for awhile yet). That said, I have been finally getting a slight grasp on beer ingredients (starting brewing with mead) and have been enjoying exploring the different possibilities and combos, so I wanna just stick with hops for this one.
 
I've done one spruce beer, and it came out okay. I wasn't talking about doing it as much as I was referencing a logical next-step to doing pine sprigs. I've never done that, but I think it would come out great (assuming a true piney flavor is what you're looking for. Piney hops may be significantly different from true pine, but I just don't know).
 
I made a Chinook SMaSH IPA and honestly got very little pine and resin from it. Surprising since most people say it's one of the top hops for pine.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I had to look up what CTZ was (Columbus, Tomahawk, Zeus). Does CTZ mean: any one of these hops, they're all very similar; or, these three names for the same hop?

It's my understanding they they are the same hop, or at least close enough that it makes no difference. Some vendors sell "Columbus" and some sell "CTZ" I've never seen "Zeus" hops for sale, but they are probably out there. I grow CTZ and it is a very pungent, piney, resiny, high alpha hop. Absolutely awesome for dry hopping IPA's. FWIW, Centennial and CTZ go well together but I've never tried Simcoe or Chinook.
 
I love southern cross hops. Very piney, but not as sharp of a bitterness as CTZ to my pallet. You could also dry-pine a beer with some fresh sprigs. I've never tried it, but I'd give it a shot if I were going for a really piney flavor. People do it with spruce quite frequently.

I read somewhere that real pine, unlike spruce, is not good for your health. So I think big hops are the way.
 
I don't know about pine not being good for your health, but I have never heard of pine being used as an ingredient in traditional teas or anything of the like, whereas I've heard a lot about the use of spruce (spruce tea for Vit C, chewing on spruce for teeth cleaning, etc). I'd imagine the taste isn't too great either; pines are more grassy and green, with a bit of that resiny aroma, spruce has that more characteristic "pine" fragrance. Perhaps if I did a spruce brew that was really knock-out, I'd give pine a try, but as of now it's not on my list of things to do.

The place I was gonna get the hops from does not have Southern Cross at the moment, so that will have to wait, but I definitely plan to do it.

For now, how does this hop schedule look for a 5 gal?
1 oz Columbus (CTZ) 60 min
1 oz Simcoe 20 min
1 oz Chinook 15 min
1 oz Columbus 10 min
1 oz Chinook 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 0 min
1 oz Chinook dry

Probably have a simple grain bill of American 2-row (9 lbs) and Crystal 60L (1 lb).
 
Combining centennial and cascade is very piney. Especially when added early in the boil. Chinook as a bittering hop aids the pine flavor well.

Avery's Dugana and Green Flash's West coast ipa are pretty piney in my opinion but I suppose that's relative. Both use centennial hops.
 
I'm drinking my Piney IPA right now. I was trying to get it as piney as possible and I am really happy with the outcome. I used warrior for bittering and simcoe and chinook for the rest. My plan was to dry hop with chinook and simcoe, but I accidentally threw in some centennial too which at the time I was bummed about, but now that I smell it, I'm sooooo glad I did. This beer smells and tastes just like a pine tree. I would definately recommend simcoe and chinook for pine/resin flavor and smell.
 
I just bottled a fairly large IPA; tasting it today, it's very resiny, pretty close to what I'm going for. It's hopped as follows:
1 oz Chinook 20 mins
1 oz Chinook 15 mins
1 oz Chinook 10 mins
1 oz Chinook 5 mins
1 oz Chinook 0 mins
2 oz Columbus dry-hopped for a few weeks
~88 IBU
1.080 OG (haven't taken FG yet)

I might switch out some Centennial for the last two Chinook hops to smooth it out a bit next time.
 
Chumpsteak, care to post your hop schedule?

Here you go....

14.42 g Warrior [16.70 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 6 27.2 IBUs
14.17 g Simcoe [11.90 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 7 19.0 IBUs
14.17 g Simcoe [11.90 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 13.3 IBUs
28.34 g Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 22.9 IBUs
14.17 g Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 11 6.9 IBUs
14.17 g Simcoe [11.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 12 6.3 IBUs
28.34 g Simcoe [11.90 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
14.17 g Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 14 0.0 IBUs
42.50 g Centennial [9.50 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 16 0.0 IBUs
42.50 g Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 17 0.0 IBUs
42.50 g Simcoe [11.90 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 18 0.0 IBUs

My LHBS owner said he'd never put Chinook in for longer that the 20 minute addition. He said it is very harsh and pungeant as a bittering hop. I had heard that before on these forums, so that's why no Chinook before 20 minutes.

FYI, the Centennial in the dry hop was a mistake, but now that I smell it I'm glad its there. Adds a citrusy fruity note to what would otherwise smell like straight Pinesol. Still plenty piney, but more well rounded IMO.

Oh, and I highly recommend the first wort hopping over a 60 minute addition. The initial hop bite is much more mellow, especially with sharp hops like warrior. The beer is easily drinkable after one week in the keg instead of waiting for the sharpness to subside.

This beer is 2 weeks in the keg now and while the pine smell and flavor is starting to give way to Simcoe it is still a really good and piney IPA.

Since this thread is all about me now ;) jk....here's a pic of the finished product.

IMG_20120229_171346.jpg
 
For me simcoe is definately piney, and good! If you want to know what chinook taste like go out and grab an Arrogant Bastard. Resiny is one of those desciptions I never could quite grasp until I had an AB.
 
Hi, all.

I'm looking to brew a IIPA and want an intense pine flavor and aroma. I plan to use Chinook and Simcoe, but was wondering if anybody had suggestions for another good piney hop? These are the only two varieties I know of that are piney, but I imagine there must be others that I'm not familiar with.

Also, I'm not sure I totally understand the distinction between piney and resiny; could somebody be so kind as to enlighten me (examples are always welcome as my palate is very unrefined).

Thanks.

You could always add some juniper berries and/or a few new growth tips from black spruce to get that piney flavour.
Regards, GF.
 
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