Citra Summer ale- suggestions?

I'm still new to home brewing. I've got 4 all grain batches done - one of which I cracked the first bottle last night. Drop top clone, looks and tastes just like the widmer brothers brew.
My current set up is 1 gallon batches for various reasons. One, I can't afford a larger stock pot and two it seriously takes my 1 1/3 gallon sparge about 20 minutes to heat up on my electric glass top stove

But I digress.
I want to try something inspired by the Brothers Citra Summer ale. I could use some suggestions.

I'm looking at this for grains:
92-93% American Pale 2 row
7-8% crystal 10l

As for hops, aside from dry hopping Citra hops, I could use some suggestions.
I still have magnum and simcoe left from the Drop top.
I know the Alchemy hops are a proprietary blend, but I'm just looking for a lower ibu summer ale.

I think I'll add a hint of Orange zest as well.

Cheers!

Sounds like a great idea, ive been thinking of adding Citra at flameout for a lighter hybrid ale I wanna piece together. I've been thinking of going 1/4 oz of Columbus for 45 minutes cuz I hvae some left over. Post back what you decide to go with!

I would use magnum for bitter, maybe throw .25 ounces in at 60, then .75 ounces at 40 if you want to lower bitterness, or just do .5 ounces at 60. Simcoe at 20, use the whole ounce. Then an ounce or two of citra at 0 & 2 ounces dry hop. I would also throw about 10% munich, or vienna at the grain bill. This is for a 5 gallon batch. I would not do orange zest, a lot of citra at 0 and dry hop well give you all the flavor you need.

For light summer beers, I really think the noble hops are underrated. You can get a nice, slightly spicy background for citrus hops to play off.

Ok to avoid confusion I'll convert to 5 gallon equivalence.
My original plan was to use 1/4oz of all 3 for the last 15. That would have been around 20 ibu I think.
But now I think I'll do:
1/4oz magnum for 60 and another 1/4 for 20
Then 1/2oz simcoe for 20
And 3/4oz Citra at the end, then 1.5oz to dry hop.

DO NOT use magnum as a flavor hop, it will taste like crap. If you are using magnum only use for bittering.

evancold said:

DO NOT use magnum as a flavor hop, it will taste like crap. If you are using magnum only use for bittering.

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I've never done it, but that's not what I've heard.

Ok then I'll do 1/2 oz magnum for the full 60.
Add honey malt and special b and you've got drop top lol

A different beer, but I do a Surly Abrasive clone and using citra and warrior and love it. FWH citra, bitter warrior, late addition citra, dry hop citra. Granted this was 120 IBU beer scaling it down to a summer would be nice. Hops go well together and brewing with golden promise as part of the base malt adds a nice sweet note to counter the acid citric taste of citra.

Golden promise and the pale 2 row?

Brewmex41 said:

Golden promise and the pale 2 row?

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yeah something along the lines of:

60% 2-row
32% golden promise
8% crystal

Ok here's what I got. I'm doing one gallon, so my grain bill will be 2.0lbs, and I'll show the hops as if it were 5 gal.
60 min mash at 152

59.4% Pale 2 row
31.2% Golden Promise
9.4% Crystal 20L

1/2 oz magnum for 60
1/2 oz simcoe for 20
1/2oz Citra at flame out then 1 oz dry hop for about a week or so in the secondary.

Safale US-05

I'm predicting:
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.014
5.1% abv,
About 35 +/- ibu

Ok so I checked the bjcp guidelines for a blonde and the ibu should be lower.
So I'll cut the magnum to 1/3oz and the simcoe to 1/4.

looks good, let us know how it goes

Brewmex41 said:

Ok here's what I got. I'm doing one gallon, so my grain bill will be 2.0lbs, and I'll show the hops as if it were 5 gal.
60 min mash at 152

59.4% Pale 2 row
31.2% Golden Promise
9.4% Crystal 20L

1/2 oz magnum for 60
1/2 oz simcoe for 20
1/2oz Citra at flame out then 1 oz dry hop for about a week or so in the secondary.

Safale US-05

I'm predicting:
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.014
5.1% abv,
About 35 +/- ibu

Click to expand...

I use less than 1/2 oz Magnum to bitter 5 gallon batches; this is equivalent to 2.5 oz in a 5 gallon batch. Oh my word, would that be bitter! I'd do something like 1/4 oz (7 grams) at 45-50 min. Or just hop burst the bad boy.

The hops were 5 gallon equivalent. I'll use 1/5th of what I posted.

Orrrr, I could call it Citra IIPA Down:
Citra Imperial, Insignificant Punk A** Down

meltroha said:

I would use magnum for bitter, maybe throw .25 ounces in at 60, then .75 ounces at 40 if you want to lower bitterness, or just do .5 ounces at 60. Simcoe at 20, use the whole ounce. Then an ounce or two of citra at 0 & 2 ounces dry hop. I would also throw about 10% munich, or vienna at the grain bill. This is for a 5 gallon batch. I would not do orange zest, a lot of citra at 0 and dry hop well give you all the flavor you need.

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I came here to say this. I recently brewed an extract summer session beer with about that much munich and most of the hops were citra. It had a nice malt character and tons of citrus flavor/aroma from the citra.

Try Sorachi ace as a flavor hop addition. I brewed a wheat IPA with Simcoe and Sorachi ace and I am loving the lemon and grapefruit notes from the Sorachi ace. Cheers!

subscribed. Love this brew

About 3 hours into fermentation.

The leftovers after bottling. Wonderful Citra aroma and flavor with a good malt flavor. These next few weeks are going to drag until it's done.

Subscribed - Just moved to BIAB with AG and really want to drive the Citra around the block.

I put a bottle in the fridge earlier today, got impatient and cracked it open.
Very good, but there was a hint of the "cat pee" aroma. I dry hopped 4 grams in a one gallon batch for 7 days. Next time I'll use less. I'll snap a picture next time I open one.
This batch was a little thin so next time I'll make sure my mash temp stays at 152

Brewmex41 said:

I put a bottle in the fridge earlier today, got impatient and cracked it open.
Very good, but there was a hint of the "cat pee" aroma. I dry hopped 4 grams in a one gallon batch for 7 days. Next time I'll use less. I'll snap a picture next time I open one.
This batch was a little thin so next time I'll make sure my mash temp stays at 152

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I started my brewing journey with 1 gallon batches. I eventually scaled up to 3 Gallons, but I have to say that recipes don't translate well when reduced to 1 gallon. First off, my efficiency was about 64%. A batch scaled to 1 gallon that had 2 lbs of grains needs to be increased to about 2.5 lbs....IMHO.

I brewed Yoopers APA about 4 different times in 1 gallon batches, changing the amount of total grains each time, from 2 lbs all the way up to 2.75lbs. My last batch (2.5lbs) was the best by far.

Good luck.

Get yourself some grains of paradise! Makes an excellent summer brew.

Gold_Robber said:

I started my brewing journey with 1 gallon batches. I eventually scaled up to 3 Gallons, but I have to say that recipes don't translate well when reduced to 1 gallon. First off, my efficiency was about 64%. A batch scaled to 1 gallon that had 2 lbs of grains needs to be increased to about 2.5 lbs....IMHO.

I brewed Yoopers APA about 4 different times in 1 gallon batches, changing the amount of total grains each time, from 2 lbs all the way up to 2.75lbs. My last batch (2.5lbs) was the best by far.

Good luck.

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The only reason I do 1 gallon batches is because of my electric stove. I have a 6 gallon carboy sitting there, patiently waiting. I think I'll do this batch again as my first 5 gallon batch

eksf26 said:

Get yourself some grains of paradise! Makes an excellent summer brew.

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I contemplated tossing them in this brew
I think I'll try the Sam Adams brew with them first.