Single Hop Madness

So I'm finally getting around to it. Here's the goals for my single hop brew:

1. Experiment with a single hop the entire boil
2. Use the hop in all phases of boil (Bittering, Flavor, Aroma)
3. Use a grain bill that is not complex, so that the hop flavors can come through
4. Use the same grain bill for all single hop experiments for comparison
5. Use a the same clean yeast strain for all brews
6. Use up whatever I have on hand, so that all I have to buy is the grain

Although the recipe is for 6 gallons, I am going to split wort into 3 two-gallon brews and adjust hops accordingly.

Grain Bill for 6 gallons 1.051 OG at 75% efficiency
10 lb. 2-row
0.75 lb. Crystal 35
0.75 lb. Victory

Hop Schedule Totaling around 30 IBU
17 IBU 60 min
8 IBU 30 min
3 IBU 15
2 IBU 5 min
1 oz dry

White Labs 001 CA Ale

Possible hop choices include:
Chinook, Columbus, Liberty, Magnum, Nugget, Target, Tettnanger

I'm going to try this with columbus soon--slightly different grain bill but same basic idea.

Chinook seems like it might be a little harsh.

Amarillo might also be an interesting one to try.

I love the idea. I am doing a nugget/magnum pale ale soon, having used neither hop before. I actually think he chinook will turn out quite nice--I have dry-hopped with it before.

I just did a big one (20 Plato) with all Simcoe..

Okay, you know a what I'm liking most about your plan? Even with 3 gallon batches, it sounds as though you're still gonna end up with a lot of beer!

All of it should be good, too.

I wouldn't calculate the flavor and aroma hop additions by IBU. If you use hops with different alpha acid units you'll end up with very different intensities as far as flavor and aroma go. Just change the bittering charge and keep the other additions constant. By the way, I'm planning to do this some time during the summer. My grain bill is very similar (90% Pale, 5% Biscut, 5% Crystal).

Single hopping can be great and it is a fantastic way to get a sense of particular hop varieties and their unique characteristics. I also think that the process Brewsmith is describing is a great way to develop a strong brewing palate/tool chest. The guy who really got me going advised the same thing for me. Start simple, make one change at a time, see what it does, try one other variable, check it out...

Good luck!

I plan on using other hops later, like amarillo, simcoe, and others, but like I said upfront, I want to clean out the fridge first . I have heard that the chinook might be a little harsh, but I still want to try it, just to see what chinook tastes like. If it's bad, I'm only out two gallons .

Well I did it yesterday. After 7.5 hours I now have three different beers fermenting from the same wort. I used the grain bill in the above post and split it into three batches of the same size. The first I used all chinook hops, the second columbus, and the third liberty. One mash and three one hour boils. Clean up went fast because I had down time waiting for things to come to a boil, so I cleaned up as I went along. Started at 3 pm and finished at 10:30. Maybe next time I'll do two instead...

Brewsmith said:

Well I did it yesterday. After 7.5 hours I now have three different beers fermenting from the same wort. I used the grain bill in the above post and split it into three batches of the same size. The first I used all chinook hops, the second columbus, and the third liberty. One mash and three one hour boils. Clean up went fast because I had down time waiting for things to come to a boil, so I cleaned up as I went along. Started at 3 pm and finished at 10:30. Maybe next time I'll do two instead...

Click to expand...

Sweet! I'd like to try something similar myself some time.

I'll post some tasting comments in a few weeks when they're in the bottle. By that time I'll probably do another round with two or three more different varieties. Probably Magnum, Nugget and Target. That will use up most of the hops I have in the fridge. I still want to do an all Cascasde, Centennial, Amarillo, Simcoe, Tettnanger, E.K. Goldings, and Willamette.

The efficacy and beauty of the scientific method cannot be overstated.

I transferred all three to secondary tonight. I had to buy two more 3 gal. carboys, Oh Darn! I got the volumes pretty close between all of them, and fermentation was the same. They all started at 1.049 and finished at 1.011. Now they are all dry hopping with 1/3 oz. of each respective hop. The Chinook and Columbus are high AA hops, and you can tell the difference. They have more bite and a stronger bitterness to them compared to the Liberty, which was around 4% (This is still accounting for the fact that all three have about 30 IBUs) The bitterness is not harsh, or overpowering, it just has more presence. The Liberty is softer, and more rounded. I'll update more when they get bottled in about 10 days. Here's the picture of the primaries:
View attachment 128
And here are the secondaries:
View attachment 129
Left to right: CA Doppelbock, Chinook Ale, Columbus Ale, Liberty Ale, Sanitizer

Brewsmith said:

I transferred all three to secondary tonight. I had to buy two more 3 gal. carboys, Oh Darn! I got the volumes pretty close between all of them, and fermentation was the same. They all started at 1.049 and finished at 1.011. Now they are all dry hopping with 1/3 oz. of each respective hop. The Chinook and Columbus are high AA hops, and you can tell the difference. They have more bite and a stronger bitterness to them compared to the Liberty, which was around 4% (This is still accounting for the fact that all three have about 30 IBUs) The bitterness is not harsh, or overpowering, it just has more presence. The Liberty is softer, and more rounded. I'll update more when they get bottled in about 10 days. Here's the picture of the primaries:

Click to expand...

Sounding great! I REALLY want to do something like this soon.

And if you keg them, you'll be able to test combinations!

I've only done yeast comparisons.