Nelson Sauvin smash

I guess you might call this a clone...trying for a kiwi hoppy farmhouse ale featuring nelson sauvin. The main inspiration is Prairie Ales 'Merica.

Boil Size: 7.75 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.50 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.10 gal
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 32.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.8 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Ingredients:
------------
10 lbs Floor Malted Bohemian Pilsner Malt

.8 oz Nelson Sauvin 1 oz Centennial @ 60min
1.00 oz Nelson Sauvin @ 0min

Mash at 150 for 60min, fly sparge at 170

WLP 670 @ 68 degrees
68 degrees for 2 weeks, Secondary for 1 week.
+2oz Nelson Sauvin 6 oz Nelson Sauvin 1 week before packaging


Thoughts?

you would probably be better off dry hopping right before you package.

I did a smash with Nelson, and I put more than that amount in. If you want to bend the rules a bit, bitter with warrior and then use that bittering Nelson for DH or continuous additions after 10 min. I think I used 1 oz in my Nelson smash after 10 min and 1 oz for an hour long hop steep. Even then, I regret not dry hopping. I try to hit IPA numbers with the amount of hops for my smashes so that the flavor comes through. As a side note, I used MO and hated it. That biscuit flavor does not mesh well with NS, in my opinion.

Given this is a clone of 'Merica, I did a little more research on their process/recipe. The Shelton Bros website mentions they add 3 lbs of Nelson Sauvin per bbl. Scaled down to a 5.5 gallon batch, that's about 6 oz for the dry hop. Seems like a lot, but it is a pretty hop forward beer. I only have 4 oz in my inventory, so I may use something else completely for bittering and use a maybe 1 oz of the NS at flame out. I'll let be fermenting and conditioning for quite a while so I should have time to pick up the additional NS.
For future ref, I'm updating the recipe above.

I did a 20 min hop burst with Nelson in a cream ale followed by a 2z dry hop. Was grapey winey with a fruit water type aftertaste. Good but very odd.

stazon said:

Given this is a clone of 'Merica, I did a little more research on their process/recipe. The Shelton Bros website mentions they add 3 lbs of Nelson Sauvin per bbl. Scaled down to a 5.5 gallon batch, that's about 6 oz for the dry hop. Seems like a lot, but it is a pretty hop forward beer. I only have 4 oz in my inventory, so I may use something else completely for bittering and use a maybe 1 oz of the NS at flame out. I'll let be fermenting and conditioning for quite a while so I should have time to pick up the additional NS.
For future ref, I'm updating the recipe above.

Click to expand...

Don't let it sit too long. Heavy hopped smashes are best enjoyed fresh

I don't want to let it sit too long, but I'm using a farmhouse ale yeast that I believe has brett. Doesn't that take a bit longer to do its job?

If you're interested in something fairly similar, I did a clone attempt of 'Merica myself in October. I ended up separating the beer in two halves... the first half of 2.5 gallons I dry-hopped with 1.25 oz of Nelson and bottled it. It came out fantastic. The other half I pitched some Brett bottle dregs and left it for a month or more; gravity dropped a bit more to 1.001. Dry-hopped with another 1.25 oz of Nelson and bottled... just started drinking that one, and it's virtually identical to the other beer. Probably not enough sugars for the Brett to add much character.

After I posted my recipe and brew notes on my blog (meekbrewingco.blogspot.ca), Prairie responded with the correct hop schedule... they actually dry hop at a rate of about 5 oz per 5 gallons! So, I was only halfway there, but with a big Nelson FO addition and steep, the beer still came out pretty damned good. I just compared it to a bottle of 'Merica last night, and they're really close.

Check out the link for the blog if you want the full recipe... I'll be posting the tasting notes probably in a day or two.