Crystal Hops with Cascade in "APA"?

I've got some homegrown Crystal hops I was looking to use up. How do you folks think a little Crystal will work with Cascades?

Here's what I was going for:

Style: American Pale Ale
Batch: 5.25 gal Extract

Characteristics
---------------
Recipe Gravity: 1.054 OG
Recipe Bitterness: 41 IBU
Recipe Color: 11° SRM
Estimated FG: 1.013
Alcohol by Volume: 5.2%
Alcohol by Weight: 4.1%

Ingredients
-----------
CaraPils 0.25 lb, Grain, Steeped
Crystal 20L 0.50 lb, Grain, Steeped
Light D.M.E. 6.00 lb, Extract, Extract

Cascade 1.00 oz, Pellet 6.0 AA, 60 minutes
Cascade 1.00 oz, Whole 8.7 AA, 20 minutes
Crystal 1.00 oz, Whole 4.0 AA (est.), 20 minutes
Cascade 1.00 oz, Whole 8.7 AA, 0 minutes


Irish Moss 1.00 unit, Fining, One teaspoon
American Ale yeast 1.00 unit, Yeast, Safale 05 American Ale

Just a basic extract recipe using some hops on hand. Would it be better to go straight Cascade? I don't have any other "ale hops", and I thought the Crystal might add some complexity. Of course I can shuffle the hopping schedule around. I was thinking (perhaps wrongly) that whole hops would be best used for flavor and aroma. BTW, 8.7 seems high for Cascades, but that's what they're labeled as.

I was hoping to have this one ready for the 4th of July, but time has slipped by and now it's sneaking up pretty quick. I wonder if going with a lower IBU wouldn't help avoid the need for more conditioning time. At this point I was planning on 2 + 2 or maybe 3 + 1, then a week in the keg. I know it's really pushing it, but I do know people here have discussed how quickly the can push a brew through the process, and I'd like to have something to share at the party.
Any input is greatly appreciated!

Chris

I've not used crystal hops personally but a guy in my homebrew club made a double IPA with all crystal and it was great. It had a nice unique floral aroma that I think would go quite well with cascades. Give it shot!

I LOVE Crystal hops. One of my favorites. While I'm not exactly sure if it has a more citrusy edge than the other American Hallertauer Triploids, it somehow works well with those other citrusy hops. I've used it in a lot of IPAs in conjunction with, yes, Cascade, but also with Columbus, Chinook and Centennial.

It's a great hop. Proceed without fear!

If I were you, though, I would take those same measurements and split 'em. Put .50 oz each of Cascade and Crystal at 15 and 5 or 0 minutes. Your call naturally. But this is indeed a tasty hop that works nicely with the other Citrusy Washington hops. I'll post my IPA recipe using it one of these days.

From here:

http://www.probrewer.com/resources/hops/crystal.pdf

This:

A triploid variety developed from the German Hallertauer aroma hop variety with primary contributions from Cascade, Brewers Gold and Early Green.

Click to expand...

I'm so in love with Crystal, I do three posts!

Anyway! Crystal is a sibling of Mt Hood and Liberty, the other Hallertauer Triploids. I've also had great success using both Liberty and Crystal in small amounts in Belgians that require a clean and noble type hop. Crystal is a nice, versatile hope. Enjoy it.

Oops. Fourth post!

Also, if you're able to get Rogue beers, try their Brutal Bitter if you want to see what Crystal hops are like if you put in a HUGE amount of them. It's a single hop, Crystal monster.

Rogue Ales

Style: Bitter Food Pairing: Beef, Seafood


Tasting Notes:

An Imperial bitter with exotic traditional floor malts, citrusy, hoppy flavor, stupendous hop aroma.


6 Ingredients:

Malts: 100% Floor-malted Maris Otter, Cara Vienna, Cara Wheat.

Hops: Crystal.

Yeast & Water: Rogue's Pacman Yeast & Free Range Coastal Water.
Specs:

15º PLATO

59 IBU

76.1 AA

14.2º Lovibond


World Class Package:

Draft, 22oz Bottle, Six Pack

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input! Especially Matt!
Brewed this last night and it's now bubbling away in the basement. I was going to use your suggestion, Matt, of changing the hops around some, but things were moving quickly and I wound up going with my original plan. My brew sessions tend to borderline on chaos. heh

Either way I'm sure it will be great. The smell was awesome! I'll try to remember to let you know how it turns out.

Chris

ChrisS68 said:

Thanks for the input! Especially Matt!
Brewed this last night and it's now bubbling away in the basement. I was going to use your suggestion, Matt, of changing the hops around some, but things were moving quickly and I wound up going with my original plan. My brew sessions tend to borderline on chaos. heh

Either way I'm sure it will be great. The smell was awesome! I'll try to remember to let you know how it turns out.

Chris

Click to expand...

I'm sure it'll be tasty. Let us know how you like it.

ok, got this batch done and kegged in time for the 4th, and if I do say so myself, it's pretty AWESOME!
In deference to the holiday, I'm calling it my I(ndependence)PA .

The only changes I made to the original recipe was that I used Crystal 10 rather than 20, and I don't think I had quite a full ounce of Crystal hops. Oh, and no Irish Moss. Not sure how much the Crystal adds, but it sure doesn't hurt. According to the numbers. the changes shouldn't have made a notable difference in color or bitterness.

Spent 3 weeks in primary, then a week in secondary. Still a little hazy, but no problems there, it's a great looking brew. This was kinda fast-tracked and the secondary was really to help remove sediment. When kegging, I normally set and forget for two weeks, but wanting to have it ready for the weekend I force-carbed at 30 PSI for 2 days, and after a test I gave it another 14 hours or so at 20. It was pretty good after the 2 days, but I thought it might be able to use just a little more sting. That and I had to bottle up a sixer for the Father-in-law this morning, so a little extra carbonation would be a good thing.

I'll try to get some pics on Saturday when we really break into it. The group I'll be with aren't too into "craft" brews, so we'll have to see how the keg holds up. Even my wife, who isn't into such beers, said it was quite drinkable.

Chris