What hops to use for my next APA

I would like suggestions from folks about what hops to use from my next attempt at an APA.

To give some background and information, APAs are hit or miss for me because I often feel like the hop flavor (and sometimes bitterness level) is overpowering and offensive to my palate. I don't like the grapefruit and pine flavors imparted by many of the traditional APA hops. My solution so far has been to make what I call a German American PA, using noble hops. I have that recipe pretty dialed in and enjoy it. But, I would like to try to make a more traditional APA that has citrus flavor and aroma but not an overpowering grapefruit flavor (and I would like to avoid the pine flavor all together).

So, with that background, what hops would people recommend I try for flavor and aroma additions (I am planning to use Columbus hops for bittering)?

My favorite flavor hop is centennial. Cascades are also good. For that piney flavor, maybe try some chinook

gcdowd said:

My favorite flavor hop is centennial. Cascades are also good. For that piney flavor, maybe try some chinook

Click to expand...

Thanks. Like I said, I DON'T want that piney flavor. I have dry hopped a hef with Centennial and liked the result. Don't Cascade hops have some piney resin flavor too?

Cascade or more citrusy, grapefruit. It you don't like the overwhelming flavors and bitterness of an APA just dial down the IBUs. BJCP guidelines say 30-45 so I'd try something around 30 IBUs. Maybe just 60, 10, and 0 additions?

Or if you don't dig the flavor of American Pale Ales (of which Cascade is kind of the classic go to variety) you could lean towards a English Pale Ale. I really like EKG hops.

inhousebrew said:

Cascade or more citrusy, grapefruit. It you don't like the overwhelming flavors and bitterness of an APA just dial down the IBUs. BJCP guidelines say 30-45 so I'd try something around 30 IBUs. Maybe just 60, 10, and 0 additions?

Or if you don't dig the flavor of American Pale Ales (of which Cascade is kind of the classic go to variety) you could lean towards a English Pale Ale. I really like EKG hops.

Click to expand...

Thanks. It's not the bitterness issue. My German American PA is within the bitterness range of an APA (and I make a German Alt that Beersmith puts at 46 IBUs). The issue is more about the flavor; and the issue is with the grapefruit/pine flavor. My understanding is that there are hops that are citrusy without tending towards grapefruit. What I am trying to do is get a better sense of what hops those are.

centennial and cascade -- love the combo!

Try Amarillo. Similar citrus to cascade but without the grapefruit. Higher AA% as well.

Since you seem to have your bittering already dialed in, maybe a late addition combo of Amarillo and willamette might work well with what you are aiming for.

Ah I mis read. I'd go with centennial. Love that hop. Perhaps some English hops as well, as was mentioned. EKG is a nice hop, Fuggles are also good. Some people hate them but I like them.

My vote would be Citra (mango to my taster) or Amarillo (possibly more orange) or a combination of the two.

Thanks for the advice. What about Citra? I've heard people say that has a citrus/tropical fruit flavor.

I had noted Amarillo as an option, but I know it can be hard to get. . .

Both hops are great IMO. Try them if you can get a hand on them

rklinck said:

Thanks for the advice. What about Citra? I've heard people say that has a citrus/tropical fruit flavor.

I had noted Amarillo as an option, but I know it can be hard to get. . .

Click to expand...

I have no problems getting Amarillo from morebeer. Citra may be harder to come by but they just got them back in stock a few weeks back

Here is a link to the hop wheel. What I would do if the pine/citrus tastes offend is to find hops you like on the wheel and look for american hops that are close to those hops on the wheel.

so, if you like EK goldings, you could try Horizon or Willamette. Or maybe throw in some columbus in there from the herbal side.

Best of luck.

http://www.brewerscoop.co.nz/images/HopsWheel.jpg

BTW, the hop wheel is also in How to Brew if you have a copy.

IL1kebeer said:

I have no problems getting Amarillo from morebeer. Citra may be harder to come by but they just got them back in stock a few weeks back

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. Luckily, I can do the free shipping from morebeer. It kills me to pay for shipping from two places to get what I need.

go with some Australian Galaxy Hops they are great and have really zero pine type influence on a beer. Described as: An Australian hop variety that showcases gentle citrus with passion fruit notes, along with a high alpha acid level.

I used them in my dpl IPA and the smell & aroma is off the charts.

+1 for Citra and Amarillo combo it's amazing

I did an APA on Sunday using Perle as the bittering hop and Citra for flavor and aroma additions. We'll see about this experiment in a few weeks.

I've also got some Belma pellets and whole leaf I'm itching to try in a SMASH....

Just did a pale ale w/ amarillo and citra. Pretty tasty. Plenty of citrus hop aroma and flavor. Definately not piney.
One of my next brews will be a Bell's 2-hearted IPA clone which is all Centennial hops.

BradleyBrew said:

go with some Australian Galaxy Hops they are great and have really zero pine type influence on a beer. .

Click to expand...

Galaxy were my absolute favorite new hope (well, new for me at least) last year. Recommended although drop these into the hard to come by category. Northern Brewer recommended Australian Stella as a substitute when I wanted to make my Galaxy Pale Ale but and they were good but not the same.

I love Galaxy. To me it's got a lot of tropical fruit flavor. No pine at all. Makes a great SMaSH ale

For American hops, try a Summit & Cascade combination. Lots of citrus. To my taste buds, mostly tangerine.

Nelson sauvin has a unique flavor that a lot of people say is white grape like. Palisades is said to have a dark fruit flavor profile. Sirachi ace has a lemon dill flavor. There are plenty of other hops out there that can make a great APA and don't have the citrus or pine notes you want to avoid.

turvis said:

Nelson sauvin has a unique flavor that a lot of people say is white grape like. Palisades is said to have a dark fruit flavor profile. Sirachi ace has a lemon dill flavor. There are plenty of other hops out there that can make a great APA and don't have the citrus or pine notes you want to avoid.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I am looking to make an APA that has citrus flavor, just not the overpowering grapefruit (which my palate interprets as extra "tart") flavor. I think I will start by trying an Amarillo/Citra blend with a Centennial dry hop. Depending on how that goes, I may try future batches with Amarillo/Citra/Cascade combo.

I think centennial/citra/Amarillo sounds like an awesome blend. My last pale ale I used citra and centennial. Haven't tapped it yet but I expect good things