Summit hop experiences?

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rth97601

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For reasons both financial and practical, I'm experimenting with Summit hops, and trying to take advantage of the super high alpha to stretch my budget. I just made my first experimental batch yesterday, a partial-mash Pale Ale, and it seems like I added hardly any--1/2 oz. for 60, 1/4 for 10, and a pinch at the end. The brew calculator I'm using estimated 65 IBUs, which would blow this out of the water. I realize that the alpha is high, but it seems that summit is often used in larger amounts than this--how does the bitterness and flavor play out here? I tasted the gravity sample, and it was kind of nice ... a sharp hop zing that quickly faded, which is different from the lingering Glacier and Golding I've been using lately. Still, it didn't seem like a 65 at first taste ...

Anyhow, I'll be brewing the next before I have a chance to taste this first one--any comments or advice on Summit recipe formulation?
 
I LOVE summit hops!! There i said it! weighing in at 18.1%AA it only takes 1/2 oz to bitter a 5 gallon batch to even hop head standards. however that's where i stop with these hops because i think Cascade and centenial are superior american IPA flavor and aroma hops. I wouldn't use the summits just because i don't think you get the aroma from a pinch of summit that you could from an ounce of cascade. My 1/50th of a dollar.
 
To get proper aroma, you'd need to up the last addition to something more like a half oz i think. Move it to 0min and you shouldnt get much IBU change but a great deal of aroma.

I think i prefer it to both Cascade and Centennial for flavor and aroma. It gives off an intense tangerine aroma/flavor, but i guess that it just personal preference.

I just wish i could find them.
 
Summit is awesome, I still have some leftover from a 1lb purchase last year. I put at least one addition in nearly every APA or IPA I make lately. It's that awesome!
 
I just tasted an all Summit IPA out of secondary and so far the comments in this thread are right on as far as the aroma. Holy orange-tangerine!

However, I hopped this up to be a pretty decent IPA (65 IBUs) and I'm really quite displeased at the perceived bitterness I'm getting from it. I think I'm going to have to add a hopshot to get some bitterness into this beer. I'm going to wait and carb it up but the first tastes I was disappointed considering the high alphas Summit advertises.
 
I just tasted an all Summit IPA out of secondary and so far the comments in this thread are right on as far as the aroma. Holy orange-tangerine!

However, I hopped this up to be a pretty decent IPA (65 IBUs) and I'm really quite displeased at the perceived bitterness I'm getting from it. I think I'm going to have to add a hopshot to get some bitterness into this beer. I'm going to wait and carb it up but the first tastes I was disappointed considering the high alphas Summit advertises.
Yeah...for a high alpha hop...summit is about as mild as they come.

I did notice that once the beer finished out and was carb'd up, the bitterness came through more.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone--It'll be useful on the next round. From my perspective, since I'm only going for a PA rather than and IPA, Dude's comment on the lower perceived bitterness fits the mark, since I was afraid I way overhopped this batch. We'll see, but I'll probably stick with the same amount next time and go on faith.

As for the aroma, I love the smell right out of the bag, so I'll add more at the 0 mark on the next batch to see if I can get a good whiff, especially with the descriptions here. I tried a beer in Kalamazoo MI last year, called Hopmouth, I think, and it was fantastic, with a ton of aroma but not too much bitterness--I wouldn't mind that effect, if I could pull it off.
 
Summit is my current favorite hop. Plays well with other hops, or can be used by itself.

Ok BM now I have to try your Sacred Summit. I've been swapping out 1/2 late addition cascade for summit in Cent Blonde plus adding 1 oz summit for dry hopping. Wonderful. The last batch I also tossed in 1/2 oz of simcoe at 10.

Just hunt around. My lhbs still has plenty.
 
Are you kidding me, just half an oz? I use 4-8oz of summit hops per batch of beer I use it in. Truly flavorful and delicious hop to be used liberally! I find that it makes truly unbelievable DIPAs, Belgian Pale Ales, and hoppy session ales - our first communal on tap beer is 4oz Summit, 6lbs northern brewer wheat LME, american wheat yeast and its amazing - I wouldn't want to make beer less hoppy. The first two recipes I created tied for first place in a homebrew competition, and were extract summit-only beers.
 
I love them, but have found they can overpower other hops. So what I do is use them to punch up the hop aroma and flavor as opposed to being the star. I treat them a lot like Columbus. Use your typical hop combos (simcoe/Amarillo), (cascade/centennial), etc and add a smaller portion of summits, usually half of what the other hops are to give it a punch and a little different background complexity.

I do like them for bittering too. I like to use them at 60 and 30 mins to give me a smooth bitterness
 
I did an all-Summit IPA, came out pretty tasty. I won't be using it alone in an IPA again but I can imagine they'd be delicious with other hops.
 
I think summit hops taste like a dead hookers arse. Case in point, Santa Fe Brewing Happy Camper IPA or Gubna. Both are oniony and are horrific IMO. How people like this stuff is beyond me. Y'all can have all of it.
 
Irrenarzt said:
I think summit hops taste like a dead hookers arse. Case in point, Santa Fe Brewing Happy Camper IPA or Gubna. Both are oniony and are horrific IMO. How people like this stuff is beyond me. Y'all can have all of it.

You're right about those beers. It's not the hop itself, but how it's used. I wouldn't make an all warrior or magnum IPA either. Every hop has it's place and purpose. Just like simcoe can give off cat pee if used wrong, summit can be onion/garlic. However, when used properly they can provide a nice bitterness and an awesome orange/tangerine flavor that's unique, but needs to be part of a blend.
 
I just tasted a sample of my all summit pale last night and so far I am not really pleased. I am getting lots of onion/garlic. More so in the nose than the flavor.

I used .8 oz 60 min, 1 oz 10 mins, 1.2 oz 5 mins, 1.2 oz 3 min, and 1.2 at knockout.

Can one of you guys having good luck with summit list an appropriate hopping schedule
 
I made an all-summit IPA this fall with whole summits that was spectacular with the following hop schedule:

5.5 gal OG 1069 FG 1015 Yeast: 1272

1/2 oz 60 min (all alpha 16%)
1 1/4 oz 15 min
1 1/2 oz 10 min
2 oz 5 min
4 oz 1 min
1 oz pellets dry hop

Hope this helps.
 
hampshirebrewer said:
I made an all-summit IPA this fall with whole summits that was spectacular with the following hop schedule:

5.5 gal OG 1069 FG 1015 Yeast: 1272

1/2 oz 60 min (all alpha 16%)
1 1/4 oz 15 min
1 1/2 oz 10 min
2 oz 5 min
4 oz 1 min
1 oz pellets dry hop

Hope this helps.

This isn't really all that different than what I did, this beer is still young, and gravity is still falling, so maybe it will age out in the next couple weeks
 
I have a pack of Summit i purchased before i heard about the onion/garlic aroma. Is this a result of the cultivating of the hops or is it a defect in the hop itself.
 
Maybe it's just some of us like onions? I sense more tangerine than onions in my summit forward brews. And I agree it's a more mellow flavor than some of the more aggresive hops like centennial or chinook.

I too don't like aging my brews (they don't last long anyway).

Hope this isn't going off topic but I brewed a primarily simcoe APA this fall that took about two months to taste great to me. Others liked it but I found it took some getting used to. It peaked just as it disappeared from my cold cellar.

This year I have a pound of whole summits in the freezer and plan three brews with it including the IPA. I'll report back, especially if I find the onion thing.
 
I just tasted a sample of my all summit pale last night and so far I am not really pleased. I am getting lots of onion/garlic. More so in the nose than the flavor.

I used .8 oz 60 min, 1 oz 10 mins, 1.2 oz 5 mins, 1.2 oz 3 min, and 1.2 at knockout.

Can one of you guys having good luck with summit list an appropriate hopping schedule

Only use them as a bittering addition only if you plan on using them. They present onion if used as an aroma hop.
 
I made an all summit hopped APA. I used 7 oz. in a 10 gallon batch. Tons of tangerine flavor and aroma. I've heard of the onion/garlic that some detect with this strain of hops, but I haven't pulled that before.
 
MaltnHops said:
I made an all summit hopped APA. I used 7 oz. in a 10 gallon batch. Tons of tangerine flavor and aroma. I've heard of the onion/garlic that some detect with this strain of hops, but I haven't pulled that before.

I'm hoping it ages out in mine, at the moment it tastes like it was dry hopped with chives
 
I made an all Summit IPA from a Two-Hearted Clone recipe substituting Summit for Centennial.

Hop Schedule I used:
1.00 oz Summit Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Summit Boil 15.0 min
0.50 oz Summit Boil 0.0 min
2.00 oz Summit Dry Hop 3.0 Days

No onion aroma or taste...just citrus.

I liked it so much that I just ordered more Summit hops.
 
I just made an APA with Summit and it was delicious. There was a hint or onion garlic, but not enough to bother anything. It does have quite the orange/grapefruit character.

Hop schedule
.5 oz Summit 60 min
.5 oz Summit 10 min
1 oz Palisade 10 min
 
Out of fairness the only examples of Summit use that I have had have been commercial in nature (Oskar Blues Gubbna) which I thought was gut wrenching - like drinking a can of carbonated cold onion soup. My guess is that they used to much in the bittering because most of you that favor this hop have higher additions at the end/flameout. I plan on ordering some Summit and using it to see if it reveals the flavors that others have been alluding to. Crossing my fingers...
 
Just made a single hop variety of my house IPA using only summit. It had a lot of onion and garlic in the nose and back of the tongue. Some loved it, others hated it (I hated it); either way, all 5 gallons were gone within a month of kegging. I will also say that it got noticeably smoother as time went on.
 
What are some commercial brews that use Summit other than Gubna? I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a 1/2 lb but want to see how I perceive it first (tangerine or garlic).
 
I think it's crop variations. 3 years ago Summit was a Tangerine bomb and amazing. the 2010 crop (or atleast what i got) had an zero citrus and all onion. So i haven't tried any since.
 
Chello said:
I think it's crop variations. 3 years ago Summit was a Tangerine bomb and amazing. the 2010 crop (or atleast what i got) had an zero citrus and all onion. So i haven't tried any since.

This is the only reasonable explanation I have heard yet. These are such contrasting flavors that I have a hard time believing that this is a matter of personal taste.
 
What are some commercial brews that use Summit other than Gubna? I'm tempted to pull the trigger on a 1/2 lb but want to see how I perceive it first (tangerine or garlic).

Not many that I know of (thankfully) but I know Santa Fe Brewing Company uses it in their Happy Camper IPA. Beachwood uses it in the Laurel IPA also. Other than these and Gubna, I'm not sure. Hopefully it doesn't become trendy to use Summit.
 
Great Divide in Colorado uses it. I love the stuff and brew several beers with it. I have a SMaSH that is my favorite IPA and use it in an American Brown. I always pick up the onion/garlic hint.
 
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