first SMaSH beer questions

Making my first one tomorrow with 2 row and Amarillo.

For those who have made these before what is the best ABV to shoot for? Seems like most recipes end up hitting between 5% - and 5.5 %. Is that pretty standard for forming a recipe?

Would you use Amarillo for bittering hops at 60 min or wait to start hopping at 30 min? I'll aslo be throwing some in at 15-10 and 5 min.

Thanks for help. Excited for this first SMaSH!

It depends on what you're looking for in the IBU's as to when you start adding hops. You already know what 2-row tastes like, now you'll get a feel for what Amarillo tastes like, smells like, etc. hop however you want. I don't think you can go wrong.

Sounds good....do you find that around 5% works well with smash beers?

Thanks for the replies!

~1.050 beers allow for you to really get to know the grain and the hops if you're 1:1 or so GU:BU.

I recently SMaSH'd Vienna malt and some gifted homegrown hops of unknown varietal. It was great.