How much Chinook is too much?

I'm working with a friend who has grown a bunch of Chinooks (est. over 600 cones this year) but he doesn't brew at all. He's a huge fan of hoppy Americans like Arrogant Bastard. I want to take some of his Chinooks and make something that would showcase their bitterness well, like an Imperial IPA, but I don't want to overdo the Chinooks because I know they can impart a sort of one-dimensional harshness that can drown out other subtleties.

Here's my first draft of the recipe:

Grain bill:
15.0 lb Pale American 2-row malt
2.0 lb Caramel malt (40L)
.5 lb wheat malt

Hops:
2.0 oz (leaf) Chinook - 60 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Centennial - 30 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Amarillo - 30 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Centennial - 0 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Amarillo - 0 mins
2.0 oz (pellet) Centennial - dry hop
2.0 oz (pellet) Amarillo - dry hop

Yeast: Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Would Chinooks be useful as a dry hop? I really like the aroma and flavor of Centennials and Amarillo (can you tell?) but if the Chinooks are going to provide a nice flavor and/or aroma I would be more than happy to substitute--after all I plan on sharing much of this brew with my friend and I'm sure he'll appreciate every bit of deliciousness that his harvest can provide.

Thoughts?

I would brew something small and fast to test how bitter the homegrown hops are. Do a recipe you know and compare the bitterness and then proceed with the big one.

I love the piney-ness of chinook. I'd definitely consider them for dry hopping.

Chinook is a great hop but it certainly can be overpowering. As to how much is too much, I'm afraid I can't help you just yet but I do have 6 oz that I'll be brewing with in the near future.

i just made an imperial ipa w/ chinook, centennial, cascade, and crystal hops.. i used 2 oz chinook for boiling (60 min) and it turned out great! it didn't seem to drown out the flavors to me. I was using chinook pellets though, so with the leaves it may be different.. My recipe was somewhat similar to yours except i was using extract

Chinook can be a little harsh, especially when the beer is young. However Chinook is also great for a single hop beer. Arrogant Bastard is an all Chinook beer as is the Brown Hoppy in my signature. Search for some of the AB clones and you will see alot of Chinook used. My brown hoppy was really a good IPA type beer with a great hop bitterness. However some people may not appreciate the more intense flavor than is more piney than floral.

I say you can't use too much Chinook in an IIPA but that is up to your tastes.



Craig

I would change that hop bill up a little! Those Amarillo and Centennial will drown out those Chinook in a second. I would treat the Chinook, being that they're homegrown, like the other additions. I wouldn't be afraid of them being 2 bitter. You do have a good amount of Crystal 40 in there which will give the beer a sweetness. I think the Chinook will combat that beautifully and go nicely with that grain bill. Good luck with the HG hops. I plan on doing the same thing with some Nugget and Cascade.
Cheers, Gabe

Yea, you might want to sneak up on those Chinooks so you don't get a bad surprise.

I've been going back and forth with my options... I think I might drop the Amarillos, and replace them with some Chinooks. I think the Chinooks and Centennials will complement each other nicely. I'll also leave the dry hop additions out until I try a sample after primary. The nose should tell me a lot at that point.

So for hops I'm thinking:
2.0 oz (leaf) Chinook - 60 mins
1.0 oz (leaf) Chinook - 30 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Centennial - 30 mins
1.0 oz (leaf) Chinook - 0 mins
1.0 oz (pellet) Centennial - 0 mins

Dry hop - TBD

IBUs are right at the high end of the style guidelines, based on 13.0% alpha for the Chinooks. I figure this way if they end up being lower I'll have some breathing room.

Let me know if he wants to unload more chinook, I could always use it.

I find chinook quite harsh. I brewed an american pale ale with chinook for bittering and centenial and amarillo for flavor/aroma. I found the bitterness rough. I have one bottle left that has aged a while and I'm going to try tonight to see if it has mellowed.

sounds like you have plenty of chinook, so try it. If you aren't happy with it, let it age and revisit it.

Similar grain bill to an IPA that I brewed last year. Obviously mine is smaller than the IIPA. The caravienne and caramunich added a nice touch of toast that went great with the Wy#1968. I think the IIPA proposed would be quite tasty. If you are going to go crazy with the chinook and use it for aroma too I'd go with an americna ale yeast though. Also, maybe move the centennial addition to the 10 or 15 mark to get some hop flavor in there.

11# 2-row
1# wheat
1/2# caravienne
1/2# caramunich
1 oz chinook (60)
1 oz cascade (30)
1/2 oz cascade (15)
1/2 oz cascade (0)
Wyeast 1968 - London ESB Ale

I wanted an answer to the OP's question regarding Chinook so I brewed an all Chinook IPA last week and will reports results after my party on the 30th and if it's any good I'll post it in the recipe db as usual.

1 oz in the mash
1 oz first wort
1 oz @ 60 min
1 oz @ 15 min
1 oz @ 2 min
1 oz dry hop

ohiobrewtus said:

I wanted an answer to the OP's question regarding Chinook so I brewed an all Chinook IPA last week and will reports results after my party on the 30th and if it's any good I'll post it in the recipe db as usual.

1 oz in the mash
1 oz first wort
1 oz @ 60 min
1 oz @ 15 min
1 oz @ 2 min
1 oz dry hop

Click to expand...

I like the looks of that hop schedule. I may have to change the plans for my 3C IPA to be an all Chinook.

Or even better, brew both and see which one works best. I need some more IPAs any ways, and I should have plenty of hops after the harvest.

Craig

Jeebus, that seems awfully early to be drinking an IPA! I have never found any IPAs to really be ready before about 8 weeks. 10-12 weeks seems to be when most of them start really hitting their stride. W/ Chinooks I'd be leaning toward 12.

The recipe I posted will be brewed some time soon (I hope) and I'm planning on tasting it around Thanksgiving at the earliest.

But do let us know how it works out! And definitely set some aside for aging!

Can I please have a friend that grows hops but doesn't brew?!

Well you could make a Arrogant Bastard clone for him with them.

As a nooby, what is the flavor difference from pellets at the LHBS versus straight from the vine? Anybody do a real taste test?