Willamette/Chinook Blend

I'm still trying to find the right hop combinations for my house pale ale. I'm looking for a nice earthy tone, with a pine/citrus aroma/flavor. In my research I've come across Willamette as a nice earthy Fuggle-like hop, and Chinook as the piney one. I've never used the latter for flavor/aroma additions and am wondering what people can tell me about it. How much is too much in the later additions considering it's high AA content? I'll probably run a test batch in the near future with those two + Amarillo, but was hoping there would be some guideness to be given for now.

Not very familiar with Chinook myself. Galena is my go-to hop for "piney" overtones though it is very mellow - especially taking into account that it's a high alpha hop. Just my 2¢...

jacksonbrown said:

I'm looking for a nice earthy tone, with a pine/citrus aroma/flavor. In my research I've come across Willamette as a nice earthy Fuggle-like hop, and Chinook as the piney one.

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Old thread, but I'm thinking about using this combination and found the post while searching. You hear a lot about Chinook used with other "C" hops (or Amarillo/Simcoe), but not too much on its use with a noble hop (or one with noble lineage.)

Did you or anyone try this combination? What were the results?

I get a lot of grapefruit from Chinook. When I'm shooting for pine, I use Simcoe and sometimes throw in some Centennial with it.

I've done this combo, I was pleased. Chinook is one of my favorites. I get no grapefruit from it...don't know how Stubbornman does. It smells and tastes like a pine forrest. Delicious.

But yes, with Willamette I found it melded well.

You know, I've done cascade/willamette together and loved it. I never even thought about chinook/willamette. That sounds really good! Please let us know what you make and how it turns out. I've got to get off the amarillo/simcoe kick and need to find a new combo!

Here is an interesting recipe featuring Chinook - Willamette. It's currently #2 in my beerflix queue.

frazier said:

Here is an interesting recipe featuring Chinook - Willamette.

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Thanks for the link. It's good to know that the hop combination has been tested and found to work. My beer mood swing has me looking for something with a little less carmel malt right now (although the candy syrup may compensate for that.) Hope to try a version of this recipe over the weekend.

YooperBrew said:

Please let us know what you make and how it turns out.

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I currently have a recipe consisting of Columbus, Willamette, and Amarillo for my dry hop. Maybe I will replace the Columbus with Chinook...I also have Columbus at 30min, maybe that should go the way to the chinook as well?

I just bottled an American Amber I dryhopped with an oz each of Willamette and Simcoe. I was shooting for pine, but it smelled like pineapple and mango when I bottled it... We'll see what it's like carbonated in a few days.

Huh... interesting... I JUST brewed a batch a few days ago where I just used my leftover Willamette with the Chinook I bought. Funny that it came up here.

frazier said:

Here is an interesting recipe featuring Chinook - Willamette. It's currently #2 in my beerflix queue.

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I was going to mention this but you already covered it! I really like the combo. Chinook for me is piney, kinda spicy and a little citrusy. Willamette is kind of floral with wood and generic fruity overtones. Together in the above mentioned recipe, they came together to create an aroma that reminded me uncannily of the clementine slices in one of those fruit cups. It was very nice. As that beer aged, the clementine aroma dissipated and transformed into a piney/spicey character. Both ways it was very nice. I'm becoming very fond of mixing the big C hops with more subtle spicy or herby or floral hops.

Sounds like an interesting combo. I need to find something to do with the 10 oz of Chinook I have before harvest time comes around. Thanks!

I have a hop schedule here I would like everyone to take a look at. As I mentioned earlier it is a columbus/willamette/amarillo schedule. Like to see if anyone here thinks a chinook substitution is in order, and if so, where.

The recipe is an Imperial India Brown Ale

1.75 oz 60min Columbus
0.50 oz 35min Columbus
2.00 oz 20min Willamette
1.50 oz 05min Willamette
1.00 oz 05min Amarillo

Dry Hop
0.50 oz 7 days Columbus
1.00 oz 7 days Willamette
1.00 oz 7 days Amarillo

Whatcha think?

My only experience with columbus has led me to believe it has a bit of a weird taste. Kind of dank and musty. If it were me, I'd sub chinook for wherever you have columbus in that recipe. But that's just one guy's opinion.

Unfortunately I do not have that much chinook...I would have enough to substitute at the dry hop and perhaps the 35min addition.

KyleWolf said:

Unfortunately I do not have that much chinook...I would have enough to substitute at the dry hop and perhaps the 35min addition.

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I'd go with that. The 60 minute columbus won't give much flavor. But again, maybe my experience with columbus isn't typical. Before you decide to follow my advice, it would be good for others with columbus experience to chime in.

YooperGrandma said:

Please let us know what you make and how it turns out. I've got to get off the amarillo/simcoe kick and need to find a new combo!

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Brewed with the Willamette/Chinook blend on Saturday. It's going strong with American Ale II. Here's the boil schedule, but I'll have to get back on how it turns out. I strayed quite a bit from KingBrian's hop additions. I tried to balance the bitterness rating throughout the boil with a slight lean toward the Williamette. I'm curious about what to expect?

60 minutes______ Start Boil
40 minutes_______.25 oz Chinook (7 IBU)
________________.75 oz Williamette (8 IBU)
30 minutes_______.25 oz Chinook (6 IBU)
________________.75 oz Williamette (7 IBU)
20 minutes_______.25 oz Chinook (5 IBU)
________________.75 oz Williamette (6 IBU)
10 minutes_______.25 oz Chinook (3 IBU)
________________.75 oz Williamette (4 IBU)
________________Yeast Nutrient
________________Irish Moss
0 minutes________Flame-out
________________.25 oz Chinook
________________.75 oz Williamette

Dry_____________.25 oz Chinook
________________.75 oz Williamette

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KingBrianI said:

My only experience with columbus has led me to believe it has a bit of a weird taste. Kind of dank and musty.

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Kegged a couple of batches yesterday. One was a Centennial / Williamette American Brown Ale that started with Centennial, blended the two hops in the middle and ended with all Williamette for aroma.

I forced carbed (w/ carbonator cap) about a quart that wouldn't fit in the keg and my wife and I drank it last night. The dank and musty that you describe from the Columbus is something that we noticed. Very earthy. Not bad, just not what we expected. The citrus and floral from the Centennial wasn't there. Just reading that Centennial has Fuggles and EKG as part of its breeding. Could be that the Williamette and Centennial combination makes a Columbus clone?

It'll be interesting to see what a few weeks in the keg does for this beer.

How did the chinook and williamette turn out?

EarthBound said:

How did the chinook and williamette turn out?

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It's a very nice change from the hoppy, citrus West coast IPA's that I normally go for. The Willamette has a softer bitterness. My wife really likes the combination. I've brewed it twice, but we managed to kick both kegs. It's on the top of my brew list. Hope to get to it within a week. Give it a try!

I'm glad it turned out so well!

I'll brew your recipe within the next couple months, for sure.

I posted the recipe that I'm brewing today in this thread. EDIT: It's a chinook and williamette recipe, BTW...

Let me know whatcha think of it.