Achieving Hop Balance??

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HungerJack

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Looking to brew another IPA in a couple weeks. Looking for feedback on a hop schedule I'm working on. Looking to achieve a balance in the hop flavor. I've brewed IPA before, as well as CDA, and it seems on hop flavor always comes through the most. My IPA was more citurs forward, and CDA was piney and resiny. Not that I'm complaining because they both turned out well, but I'm looking for citruisy with pine in the background to support, with hints of floral/spice.

Anyway here is where I'm at.

5 gallon batch.

9 lbs. Two Row
3.5 lbs. Maris Otter

FWH - .5 oz Centennial
60 min - .75 oz Nugget
15 min - .5 oz Centennial & .25 oz Simcoe
10 min - .5 oz Centennial & .25 oz Simcoe
5 min - .5 oz Centennial & .25 oz Simcoe
F.O. with 15 minute whirlpool .5 oz Centennial, .25 oz Simcoe, & .25 oz Nugget

White Labs WLP001

Any thoughts on how the ratio of Cent, to Simcoe, to Nugget will turn out?
 
In general, if you're looking to reduce your hop flavor, I'd reduce the amount of late addition hops (15 minutes or less) and to compensate for the bitterness loss, add a little to the early addition hops in order to keep the bitterness similar.
 
I'm looking for citruisy with pine in the background to support, with hints of floral/spice.

Given your goals, I would bitter with Nugget, add whatever mid/late additions you want, then focus on Simcoe/Centennial at whirlpool, and Centennial/Nugget in dryhop.

Centennial = pine, grapefruit, fruity
Nugget = woody, herbal, musty, peach, citrus
Simcoe = musty, pine, fruit, citrus, tropical

None of these hops are particularly floral or spicy. You are also lacking a dryhop. The dryhop tends to dominate the direction of an IPA. So consider focusing about 30% of your total hop weight in the dryhop. The whirlpool steep is typically the second most important slot for adding hops to an aromatic IPA... But it needs to be long and warm... Not short and piping hot. Or else the whirlpool addition is really no different from a 5 or 1 minute addition. Lastly, without a hefty enough early addition, a heavy whirlpool + dryhop can yield an IPA that is more juice-like and fruity.

Title is also misleading, since American IPA's are not balanced. They're extremely unbalanced in the grand scheme of beer styles, since they are hop heavy beers that are innately bitter.
 

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