Too much hops? Pale Ale

So I'm about to start a 5 gal Pale Ale batch that has 1.5oz Simcoe for bittering and 2oz Cascade for Aroma then dry hopping with 4oz Citra and 2oz Sorachi Ace. At a a glance 9.5oz of hops seems like a lot and not sure if the beer will be too bitter, but what do I know, I'm still pretty noob.

Thoughts? Words of wisdom?

I mean, for a Pale Ale, yes its too much (sounds hard to say). But, if it's an IPA or IIPA, then no. I am starting to swing my ideas in that pales should be 40-50 IBUs, IPAs 60-80ish, and IIPA >100. They are different for a purpose and a pale should be ripping the enamel off your teeth b/c it is so bitter. If you want that, make a double IPA.

I think your boil additions are fine for a pale, but maybe decrease the dry hop to a total of 1-1.5 oz's. Other, smarter, people will charm in too, but this is my 2-cents.

Turning this into an IPA wouldn't be too bad of an idea, most of my ingredients outside of the hops are conducive to American Pale Ales. I'm toying with the idea of using 1272 yeast to synergize with these ingredients.

for most of my pale ales, i shoot for about 30 IBU from the bittering addition, then an oz of aroma/flavor hops at 10 mins, another oz at flameout (steep the flameout addition for about ten mins before cooling). if i dry hops a simple pale ale, i'll use an oz or so of either the flameout hops or cascade or amarillo. wy1272 is pretty nice for pale ales, i use it a lot, nice character but still pretty clean.

I dry hopped with Citra once and only once. Cat Pi$$.

That's a ton of dry hop. Personally I would convert a lot of that to mid and late additions. Dry hops have a tendency to provide diminishing returns, and it's possible to overdo it.

seems kinda strong on the dry hopping. plus, those are some fancy hops - why not just use one or the other, and let it shine through? save one of the two for your next batch.

cfonnes said:

I dry hopped with Citra once and only once. Cat Pi$$.

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how long did you let the citra sit in secondary? i believe that citra is a hop that you want to dry-hop on the shorter side, 4-5 days max.

citra is a tough hop to use effectively. when i first heard of it i thought i'd be using it in everything i brew. two batches later, i'm going to be very selective in how i use it. for example it's not a good bittering hop.

sweetcell said:

plus, those are some fancy hops - why not just use one or the other, and let it shine through?

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I agree - Sorachi is very distinctive. It doesn't always play well with the other hops.

thats a waste of simcoe. use it late or dont use it at all