IPA hop combinations

Looking to start my next recipe for an IPA. Something around 60-70 ibu. These are the hops i have on hand.

Cascade 1 oz
Fuggle 1 oz
Citra 4 oz
Simcoe 4 oz
Amarillo 1 oz

Any interesting combinations? This will be my second design beer, sixth batch.

FWH with Simcoe. Use more Simcoe and some Amarillo in the boil. Dry hop with Citra. This combination will make a fantastic beer.

I am not a believer in the flavor aspect of FWH. Show me some data on that and I'll believe it. Sensory panels don't back it up.

Hop burst with Citra, amarillo, and simcoe and then use the fuggle or cascade to get to the IBU you're looking for. Cascade should be used at every late interval to "back up" or "boost" the other hops you're using.

Get to 70 IBU and 1.070 on the nose to get you in IIPA range and make a beer to rival Pliny. You have a great selection of hops- don't mess it up with grains. What do you have as far as grist goes?

I haven't ordered any grain yet... I was going to check out clones for grain bill and mess around a bit before ordering. What is fwh or hop bursting?

aeviaanah said:

I haven't ordered any grain yet... I was going to check out clones for grain bill and mess around a bit before ordering. What is fwh or hop bursting?

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Oh Sorry, FWH is first wort hopping, where you add your hops to the first runnings before you sparge or start the boil. You leave them in through the whole boil, though. It is supposed to give you a smoother bitterness, less harshness, and some people say that it allows flavor to be maintained from the bittering hop additions, but I have never experienced that. It does marginally increase your IBU's, but that's sort of offset by the softer bitterness you get.

I do experience a less harsh bitterness, but don't get any flavor from my bittering hops.

Hop bursting is loading up your hops in the late additions, deriving a large portion (or all) of your IBUs from late hops, which means using more. I usually pick out the late hop additions I want to use and then just add enough bittering hops to get the IBUs I need.

I agree with daksin completely, aside from using Fuggles for an American IPA. Save that earthy noble hop for a Non-IPA, or an English IPA.

I would get ahold of some high alpha Warrior or Columbus for bittering. Save the aromatic hops you have for late boil and dryhop additions.

bobbrews said:

I would get ahold of some high alpha Warrior or Columbus for bittering. Save the aromatic hops you have for late boil and dryhop additions.

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this. don't waste precious amarillo, citra or simcoe on bittering.

Thanks for the replies everyone. I learned a bit about hopping.

I also have magnum and tettnager.

How well do you think using magnum and or cascade for bittering and simcoe, Amarillo and citra for aroma?

aeviaanah said:

Thanks for the replies everyone. I learned a bit about hopping.

I also have magnum and tettnager.

How well do you think using magnum and or cascade for bittering and simcoe, Amarillo and citra for aroma?

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magnum is the superior choice here. nice clean bittering.

ok im designing recipe today. ill use the magnum for bittering. how well will all three amarillo, citra and simcoe do in late additions?

aeviaanah said:

ok im designing recipe today. ill use the magnum for bittering. how well will all three amarillo, citra and simcoe do in late additions?

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Perfect. I use that combo all the time.

Use Magnum for bittering, I'd suggest FWH the magnum for a great rounded soft, yet strong bittering.

Then decide how you want to pile on the hops.

I'd try:

Simcoe @ 15
Citra @ 10
Simcoe @ 5
Amarillo @ 5
Citra @ 1 or flame out, whichever you want.



Dry hop it with Amarillo and Citra to finish. You'll have a nice slight piney grapefruit flavor, with some wonderful orange citrusy nose.

I love this part of recipe development...here's what I have, what can I make. Those are all very tasty hops, so I don't think anything you come up with will be bad.

I've only used Citra once (in combination with Amarillo), but I was very impressed with it's "potency" from an aroma perspective. I would therefore reserve a good chunk of it for dry hopping, personally. The schedule, below, is somewhat like Jamil's "Hoppiness is an IPA" recipe, substituting parts of Citra and Cascade additions for the Centennial in the original recipe:

[edited - I missed that you also have Magnum...agree to using that for the bittering addition]

.7 oz Magnum (or .75 oz Simcoe) @60
1 oz Cascade @15
1 oz Citra @10
1 oz Simcoe @ 5
1 oz Amarillo @0
Dry hop with 2 oz Simcoe + 2 oz Citra 10 days

Looks like it should give you about 64 IBU's in a 1.064 OG wort.

Have fun and let us know how it turns out!

hows this? i think i should keep citra and cascade sealed for another day

first wort 80 min 0.2 Amarillo ~ pellet 7.0 » 4.7
boil 60 min 0.3 Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 14.1
boil 50 min 0.1 Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 4.5
boil 45 min 0.1 Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 4.3
boil 40 min 0.1 Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 4.1
boil 35 min 0.1 Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 3.9
boil 30 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 2.5
boil 30 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 3.3
boil 25 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 2.3
boil 25 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 2.9
boil 20 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 2.0
boil 20 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 2.6
boil 15 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 1.6
boil 15 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 2.1
boil 10 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 1.2
boil 3 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 0.4
boil 3 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 0.5

Bitterness
57.2 IBU
ƒ: Tinseth
9 HBU

You might want to do more 15/10/3 additions, and maybe a more substantial 60 min addition. The 50-20 aren't going to do much, and I think you'll want more flavor and aroma up front. Just my .02

libeerty said:

You might want to do more 15/10/3 additions, and maybe a more substantial 60 min addition. The 50-20 aren't going to do much, and I think you'll want more flavor and aroma up front. Just my .02

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I was trying to make a combination of Yoopers DFH 60min clone and hop bursting...you dont think this is a good idea?

I agree with those stating to fwh your bittering addition then hop-burst from 15min on. I love simcoe and amarillo together. Smells like tropical fruit and definitely has a grapefruit flavor.

48% Great Western Premium 2-Row Malt
32% Alexander's Pale Extract
16% Alexander's Amber Extract
3% American Crystal 40L
2% Gambrinus Honey Malt

Specific Gravity
1.064 OG
1.016 FG

Color
8° SRM
17° EBC
Gold to Copper


first wort 80 min 0.2 Amarillo ~ pellet 7.0 » 4.7
first wort 80 min 0.2 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 8.9
boil 60 min ½ Magnum ~ pellet 14.7 » 23.6
boil 15 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 1.6
boil 15 min ¼ Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 4.1
boil 15 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 2.1
boil 15 min ¼ Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 5.2
boil 10 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 1.2
boil 10 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 1.5
boil 5 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 0.7
boil 5 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 0.8
boil 3 min 0.1 Amarillo ~ pellet 10.3 » 0.4
boil 3 min 0.1 Simcoe ~ pellet 13.2 » 0.5

Bitterness
55.5 IBU


Yeast
American Ale 1056

My software wont allow me to change anything other than 5 minute intervals...only when under 5 min addition. I plan on adding continues hops every minute from 15 minutes to flameout...i know excessive but it gives me something to do.

What you think?

aeviaanah said:

I was trying to make a combination of Yoopers DFH 60min clone and hop bursting...you dont think this is a good idea?

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You'd be better with doing a 60 min addition and then slamming it 15 minutes left in the boil and keep going until flame out.

If you want to just toss hops in, do the schedule you have there.. Will be somewhat of a waste, IMO.

FATC1TY said:

You'd be better with doing a 60 min addition and then slamming it 15 minutes left in the boil and keep going until flame out.

If you want to just toss hops in, do the schedule you have there.. Will be somewhat of a waste, IMO.

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Take a look at the above post...

I've had good luck with Simcoe and Cascade used together as late additions, and then again for dry hop. It produced an awesome grapefruit/pineapple/mango aroma.

Magnum is great for that bittering addition, I'd keep the A, C, S for within 15 minutes, whirlpool, dry hop.

Save some citra and amarillo and a little less simcoe for dry hopping.

I have been experimenting with various hop additions and combinations for an IPA over the last year. My favorite combination is Citra and Simcoe in relatively large amounts, late in the boil, and in dry hopping. I just bought 12 oz. of Citra's at my LHBS, enough for three (or two 10 gal. batches). IMHO Citra is the best aroma hop, the citrus/tangerine aroma is out of this world.

I like both Centennial and Columbus for bittering hop additions early in the boil.

I just tried my first shot at FWH this past weekend, with 2 oz. of Citra (10 gal. batch), it is fermenting away now. I will be interested to see how it comes out. Keep up the replies on this thread, I love discussing hop combinations. I have yet to get ahold of Amarillos, they are on my list!

Redhawk96 said:

I have been experimenting with various hop additions and combinations for an IPA over the last year. My favorite combination is Citra and Simcoe in relatively large amounts, late in the boil, and in dry hopping. I just bought 12 oz. of Citra's at my LHBS, enough for three (or two 10 gal. batches). IMHO Citra is the best aroma hop, the citrus/tangerine aroma is out of this world.

I like both Centennial and Columbus for bittering hop additions early in the boil.

I just tried my first shot at FWH this past weekend, with 2 oz. of Citra (10 gal. batch), it is fermenting away now. I will be interested to see how it comes out. Keep up the replies on this thread, I love discussing hop combinations. I have yet to get ahold of Amarillos, they are on my list!

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I went ahead and brewed a batch I call rainy day APA. I collected rain water, ran through carbon and brewed an IPA.

I used amarillo and simcoe as FWH. Bittering was Magnum. For aroma I used amarillo and simcoe from 15 to flameout for an IBU of 57. Beer is still quit young, its not the best but i think with some time it will mellow out. It screams with flavor. I like the hop combination just needs a bit of mellow.

I then paired Horizon (bittering) with amarillo (aroma) and cascade for a 1 gallon batch, dry hopped with cascade. I wanted to try yeast harvesting from a 6 pack of sierra nevada. Its getting ready to be cold crashed.

After that I made a 6 gal batch of ale using horizon and simcoe. I used both as bittering and aroma. Not sure what I should use to dry hop. Any suggestions? I still have 4 oz of citra. I also have warrior, tettnanger and summit. Not sure if any of these would meet the criteria. Possibly the citra?

I just ordered hallertau, cascade, uk kent goldings and australian galaxy. See any good combinations with what I have on hand? Ill be using kent and hallertau for a lager.

Similar question: I've got Fuggles, Kent Goldings, Warrior, Challenger and Simcoe. What would be the best combinations?

walcotteric said:

Similar question: I've got Fuggles, Kent Goldings, Warrior, Challenger and Simcoe. What would be the best combinations?

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if you're looking to make an american IPA, i would bitter with Warrior and for late additions i'd go with Simcoe and some Challenger.

sweetcell said:

if you're looking to make an american IPA, i would bitter with Warrior and for late additions i'd go with Simcoe and some Challenger.

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I would also suggest the same, but if you want to toss a earthy note which I think is nice in some cases, toss in some EKG in there late. It's a nice balance.