Apollo SMaSH - MO or Briess Pale?

Looking at an APA SMaSH

Not sure which base to use: Crisp MO or Briess Pale

Plan is :

10lbs malt

1/4 oz Apollo pellets 18.6% AA FWH
1/4 oz Apollo 60 minutes
1/4 oz Apollo 15 minutes
1/4 oz Apollo dry hop

Looking for tasty but not super bitter. Hopville calculates 41 IBU on this using Crisp MO, but I' not sure how to interpret the FWH (first attempt using FWH) and not sure if the flavor and aroma additions are enough even though the hops are 18.6%AA

Thanks
Geep

Im partial to mo in smashes. with high aa i would think the maltiness of mo will help with balance. ie simcoe/mo smash. aa are about the same. this has been my fav smash so far.

Also i would only do 60 & 15 min hop addition and shoot for 30 ibus. this will five you a great feel about the hop for future recipes. Interested in your results

I think FWH is usually computed as a 20 minute addition. I'd add as much of the hops as possible in the last 20 minutes. It would technically not be a SMASH, but you could bitter with something else if doing so allowed you to use more of the Apollo later. I'd go heavier on the late adds, maybe adding some at or soon after flameout and letting it steep before chilling. 18% is a lot of bittering potential, but that doesn't necessarily equate to a lot of flavor. I think you'll be fine with either grain; I've made beers with both that were quite good. I suppose MO might be the better of two acceptable options.

Ended up with MO and doing a hop burst from 25 mins on. In primary now. Plan to dry hop for a week or so in secondary later this week.

geepmaley said:

Ended up with MO and doing a hop burst from 25 mins on. In primary now. Plan to dry hop for a week or so in secondary later this week.

Click to expand...

How did this turn out? I have 4oz of Apollo but I haven't used it before. Thanks.

Turned out pretty good. I like the falvor of Apollo. Not too much aroma, but there is some when it is young. 3.5 gallon bath was:

mash 7lb Hugh Baird MO mashed at 152

boil 20 min ¼ Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 AA » 15.8 IBU
boil 19 min ¼oz Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 » 15 (Was supposed to be 15 mins, but forgot to set my reminder and wasn't watching time)
boil 10 min ¼oz Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 » 9.4
boil 5 min ¼oz Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 » 5.2
boil 1 min ½oz Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 » 2.2

Immersion chiller cool for 30 mins

dry hop 7 days 1oz Apollo ~ pellet 18.6 » 0.0

Hops are a bit old and not well preserved (open mylar packet inside freezer bacg in the freezer for about a year), so AAs are probably lower than above (which is what it was when I got the hops)

I would do this again. Couple buddy's really like it too.

Cool, thanks for the quick reply.

How would you describe the flavor? I have been wanting to use this hop for a while, have heard reports of a heavy pine/resinous type flavor from the hop.