Chinook as single hop?

So I'm planning to brew a blonde ale with Chinook as the single hop in it. I'd like to do that so I get a good idea of what Chinook contribute as the hops in my recipes.

I was wondering if other people had experiences with Chinook in a single hop beer and how they like it. I read that it's a heavy hops so I'm curious to know. I want nice flavor and aroma of the chinook of my beer but it shouldn't be overwhelming... it's a blonde ale after all I'm pushing it a bit out of style (maybe) but I still want it to be close to a blonde ale as much as possible.

It's a 6GAL batch, and I intended to dry hop with .5oz in secondary.

As far as I remember my recipe have the bittering at 60, .5 or 1oz at 10 + my dry hops. How does it sound? There is no aroma addition ad the end of the boil because I want to dry hops and avoid an over agressive aroma.

Be careful. Chinook can be very tricky to get right. I don't know if I would ever choose to use it as the hop for a single hop recipe. Too much and you can end up with a nasty astringent taste. At least that has been my experience. The brews i have gotten it to work in, have been great. The ones I went too much on....well that's a different story.

Oh and for what it's worth...i find chinook to have nice pine characteristics.

I think Arrogant Bastard is all Chinook, but it's no blonde ale.

I did a SMaSH pale ale with chinok and maris otter that was one my favorite pale ales to date. Well balanced and easy drinking but it was definitely hoppier than a blonde ale.

CPORT546 said:

I did a SMaSH pale ale with chinok and maris otter that was one my favorite pale ales to date. Well balanced and easy drinking but it was definitely hoppier than a blonde ale.

Click to expand...

would you mind sharing you recipe or hops schedule?

Not at all... This was an easy drinker that didn't last long. Simplicity is sometimes the best thing. I think the whole recipe was under $20 with the dry yeast. I brewed this in October of 2011 so I don't remember a ton of tasting notes. I remember that the hops were from the fresh 2011 harvest of hops. The worker at my LHBS was raving about the Chinook being great and this is the recipe we came up with in the store together. I chose Maris Otter because I was still relatively new to AG and wanted to try some out. I used the dry yeast because I was feeling cheap and they last longer with my crappy work schedule's unpredictability. Let me know if you have any other questions.


Recipe: SMASH (Maris Otter/Chinook)
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.064 SG
Estimated Color: 4.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 37.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 84.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 92.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 100.0 %
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 2 22.4 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 3 11.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 4 4.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 5 -
0.50 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 14.0 Days Hop 6 0.0 IBUs


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 12.50 qt of water at 163.7 F 152.0 F 60 min