The Trinity - an APA featuring the new Citra hops

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saq

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Tomorrow is brewday and I'm brewing a nice hoppy APA, something I can drink more or less every day when I get home from work. Plus it was a great excuse to try something new with the some new 2009 harvest leaf hops I got from freshops.com, Amarillo, Simcoe and Citra. A new hop that is similar in some ways to Simcoe but with a different flavor profile.

The inspiration for this APA came from Three Floyds Alpha King and Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, the latter is the only commercial beer currently featuring Citra hops that I know about. You can read all about it in last months BYO.
Heres the runsheet for tomorrow. I'll take some pictures and post them later

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: The Trinity
Brewer: saq
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.62 gal
Estimated OG: 1.061 SG
Estimated Color: 8.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 44.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 92.97 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 4.04 %
0.25 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2.02 %
0.12 lb Special B Malt BYOB (140.0 SRM) Grain 0.97 %
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 12.8 IBU
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 10.1 IBU
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (FWH 90 min) Hops 14.8 IBU
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (5 min) Hops 2.8 IBU
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (5 min) Hops 1.9 IBU
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) Yeast-Ale

Dry Hops
0.33 oz Amarillo Freshops Leaf 2009 [8.70 %] (Dry Hops 10 days)
0.33 oz Citra Freshops Leaf 2009 [11.00 %] (Dry Hops 10 days)
0.33 oz Simcoe Freshops Leaf 2009 [12.70 %] (Dry Hops 10 days


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 12.37 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
75 min Mash In Add 20.50 qt of water at 159.7 F 151.0F
10 min Mash Out Add 12.00 qt of water at 200.2 F 168.0F


Water Profile

CA: 78.38
MG: 13.05
NA: 32
HCO3: 92.84
SO4: 110.4
CL: 76.44

SO4:CL Ratio = 1.45:1 moderately bitter
 
Yesterdays brewday went pretty well, the citra hops smelled amazing! Kind of like simcoe but not as heavy, and more of a lime/melon smell instead of a pine/grapefruit. The hopbag's smelled absolutely amazing with all three hops in there.

My preboil OG was 1.042, just a hair under the 1.044. I overboiled a little bit and ended up with 1.062 OG. So more or less 75% eff. The wort tasted pretty damn good. Fermentation was pretty explosive as I pitched on the yeast cake for an english barleywine I used the same yeast on. I wouldn't be surprised if it was done fermenting in the morning. I O2'd the hell out of it to help get the yeast broken up and in suspension, I think this will help contribute to a really low ester profile from the yeast.

trinity_preboil.jpg
 
Can't wait to hear how this one turns out. I am probably going to try an all-citra brew within the next few weeks.
 
Yeah, sounds like it could be tasty! Was a little confused when you were comparing to Torpedo (one of my favs), which is an IPA, not an APA, but your starting gravity is pretty much in the IPA camp, it seems....
 
This is definitely an APA, just on the higher end of the scale, it COULD come in at the very low end of an IPA, but anyone knows me knows that my IPAs are much hoppier than this :)
APA = 1.045 - 1.060 OG & 30-45 IBU
IPA = 1.056 - 1.075 OG & 40-70 IBU

It was inspired by Alpha King (touch of special-B and british yeast) and by Torpedo (crystal-60 and citra hops) with my own hop schedule, its not really a clone attempt of either.
 
I'm much a hophead too, and tend to formulate my APAs more like IPAs as far as hops go. I hadn't really looked at your IBUs, just got stuck on the hop bill. The flavor and aroma of these citras with the centennial and amarillo you are using is what is intriquing to me instead of the bitterness. And that touch of special B sounds interesting, too!

Please give us all updates on when it's ready! Sounds like a tasty experiment!
 
No true bittering addition? Its got hops in at first wort which are then boiled for 90 minutes... I do this for all of my bitterness/hop focused (APA/IPA) style beers.
 
I'm not saying your doing something wrong, I'm genuinely interested in your technique. It's been widely discussed on here that FWH is closer to a 20 minute addition, and that you don't get the same bitterness as a 90 or 60 minute addition where you would add your initial hops to already boiling wort.

I may try this on my next brew.:mug:
 
I think there is a lot of misinformation about FWH and the comparisons of a 20 minute addition.
From some of the more scientific things I've read about the studies of FWH, you get more bitterness than a first boil addition (5-10%) but some of the volatile aromatic compounds create permanent bonds at the lower wort temperatures that would otherwise be boiled off after a few minutes. Not as much aromatics as say a 20 minute addition but still more than your first boil addition because the hops aren't hitting as high of temperatures as your first boil additions.

So I think (wish I could find that article) its more like the bitterness effects of a first boil addition WITH some of the aromatics that stick around in a 20 minute and less addition. I don't really count on the aromatic addition from the FWH, thats what the 5 minute hops are for :)
 
I think there is a lot of misinformation about FWH and the comparisons of a 20 minute addition.
From some of the more scientific things I've read about the studies of FWH, you get more bitterness than a first boil addition (5-10%) but some of the volatile aromatic compounds create permanent bonds at the lower wort temperatures that would otherwise be boiled off after a few minutes. Not as much aromatics as say a 20 minute addition but still more than your first boil addition because the hops aren't hitting as high of temperatures as your first boil additions.

So I think (wish I could find that article) its more like the bitterness effects of a first boil addition WITH some of the aromatics that stick around in a 20 minute and less addition. I don't really count on the aromatic addition from the FWH, thats what the 5 minute hops are for :)
You do get more iso-alpha acids in the beer than from a 60 minute addition (per lab testing) but it 'tastes' like it's a 20 min. addition regarding bitterness. At least that's the claim but it agrees with my experience on it. I've FWH'd every beer I've brewed for about the last 20 batches or so and I always just calculate it as a 20 min. addition and it seems about right. However, I never FWH with a high AA% hop...always low AA% hops so there's more room for error in my observations.

Also, it doesn't seem that I get any aroma from FWH but it does seem that I do get flavor. Sometimes my hop schedule will be FWH, bittering @ 60 minutes, and then aroma hops at flameout and there is plenty of hop flavor.

Now that there is a 'trinity' of hops...there needs to be a 'hop-epoix' (like mirepoix). :D Maybe that's just the big C hops?
 
Looks good saq. My citra hops just came in today. Can't wait to try them.
 
After reading this, I don't think I will be doing an all citra-brew. Will probably cut it with something less pungent, like crystal... Well there I am, imitating SN Torpedo, haha.
 
Did a gravity reading tonight, 1.012 final gravity, 80% attenuation on the nose.
The yeast hasn't settled out yet so I got a lot of bready flavors from the sample, but I know that will go away once I cold crash and transfer. I forgot to take a picture of the sample before I finished it. It seems a little more bitter than the 44 IBUs would indicate.

I added the dryhops, god I love the smell of citra. I'll probably keg this a week from Friday, let it chill, and then filter to another keg and carb. I'm thinking of adding in .33oz of citra outside the filter for some torpedo-like filtering action :)
 
Been chilling the beer in the conical at 40f for the past few days after I added the dryhops, smells so great that I decided to pull out a test pint and carbonate in a bottle with a carbonator cap.
trinity_test1.jpg


Aroma is quite nice, needs a few more days with the hops to get the rest of the hop flavor infused.
Flavor is pretty clean with a little bit of breadiness (from some of the yeast I roused up I'm sure), some hop flavors, and some nice light malt character from the crystal & special B. Very balanced bitterness that is quite pleasant.
This beer is going to go fast once its on tap!
 
Racked this tonight, smelled like heaven! Had a small sample before throwing it in the kegorator to properly chill and then I'll carb tomorrow. It's a nice clean APA with a good solid mildly sweet backbone and some balanced bitterness and nice fresh hop aromas.
I'll give it a full BJCP style breakdown tomorrow along with pics.
 
No pictures yet as its not clear, I'll probably be able to pull one out tomorrow night that will be clear.
However I can tell you how it tastes and give you a critique. Consider it a rough draft.

Appearance: Light copper that is mostly opaque and a bit of yeast floating around at the moment due to a little bit of stuff making it through the racking. Medium dense head that forms a solid 1/4 inch crown that sticks around and leaves behind nice lacing.

Why I decided to just throw the hops in the conical instead of putting them in a weighted hop bag I don't know, I might have been planning on filtering it but right now I don't have an extra corny and just want to drink it.

Aroma: Hoppy, but not overpoweringly so. A touch of toffee/caramel and light breadiness on the nose marries well with some nice fresh bright hop aromas. I really like the way the flavors have blended together here instead of the Simcoe usually stealing the limelight. I actually think the aroma is improved over Simcoe by itself which is something I don't think I've ever said before.

Flavor: Sweet light clean maltiness that has a bit of a bready note (probably from the yeast content of the beer), with a touch of caramel on the front of the palate and a touch of toffee coming through in the finish. Some big citrusy notes of peach come through with smaller amounts of grapefruit and lime.

Overall impression: Take an english pale ale (yeast, special B) and attenuate it out a little bit more, and kick up the bitterness and hop level with american hops, and you get the idea of this beer. No thin malt flavor here, but it doesn't get to be TOO big, even without the hop presence.

Pretty damn enjoyable, in a day or two when it clears up I'll post an updated review and a proper picture.
 
Here is a picture to start things off.

trinity_done.jpg


Updated review

Appearance: Dark hazy gold with a good dense white head that sits around and leaves mild lacing. The iPhone pic you see above makes it look a bit darker than it is.

Aroma: Hops and light malt sweetness/breadiness mingle together in a refreshing way, touch of toffee.

Flavor: Light malt sweetness backed by some caramel and toffee on the finish. Light clean bitterness supports the malts and the fresh citrusy hop flavors. Some bready characters weave in and out.

Overall Impression: The malt and hop flavors are well married and form a nice balance. Beer is dry but not too dry, clean and easy drinking. It is a little bit heavier than the numbers might indicate given an 80% attenuation, probably the special B. Its kind of like an english pale ale kicked up a little, with higher attenuation and a big punch of american hops. I dig it. Might rebrew this again with Pacman to see if a cleaner yeast lends itself to the beer better.

I think it succeeds in straddling the line between APA and IPA, the influence of Alpha King and Torpedo definitely make their way it, but it is very much its own animal.
 
I brewed a batch of this from an order of citra hops from freshops. Very grapefruit. I even dialed back the citra because the AA was 13.4%. So far so good. I'm taking it in for a taste test tomorrow. The color is great. The hop flavor is not too over the top, its really between APA and IPA.
 
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