Summit Hops: Onion/Garlic Flavors?

I'm interested in some summit hops, and have read 80% good things about them.

But I've read some people have gotten onion/garlic flavors from using them. Any idea what they might have done "wrong" to get those flavors?

In my Hopinator batch 1 & batch 2 IIPAs I used summit and both batches have come out stellar. However, even moving the Summit to FWH and boiling for a heft 90 minutes I think the Summit is responsible for this slight spicy (kind of like a fresh onion or garlic) character that comes through in the finish, its not awful and its kind of interesting but I think I'd rather it not be in the beer.
Batch 3 will not use any Summit and instead use all Warrior @ FWH. I'll let you know how it goes.

I also did two 40-45 IBU APAs with some summit and didn't notice these characteristics at all, could be a cohumulone kind of deal like chinook where you need to use a pretty fair amount to notice it.

My "Bloody IPA" recipe uses summit hops (along with palisade) at 60, 20, 10, 0 minutes, and I dry-hop with 1.5 oz of nothing but summit. It's LOADED with Summit 2008 crop 18.5% AA. It tastes amazing, I'd say its one of the tastiest and most unique IPA's around.. just scored a 43/50 at a big comp. in Florida, one judge giving it a 46 (World class! yay). Not one judge mentioned oniony flavors or aromas.
In raw pellet form, they do smell pretty oniony and pungent to me. Give the beer some decent malt background and the hops will do wonderful things to the beer!

Cheers

Budzu said:

My "Bloody IPA" recipe uses summit hops (along with palisade) at 60, 20, 10, 0 minutes, and I dry-hop with 1.5 oz of nothing but summit. It's LOADED with Summit 2008 crop 18.5% AA. It tastes amazing, I'd say its one of the tastiest and most unique IPA's around.. just scored a 43/50 at a big comp. in Florida, one judge giving it a 46 (World class! yay). Not one judge mentioned oniony flavors or aromas.
In raw pellet form, they do smell pretty oniony and pungent to me. Give the beer some decent malt background and the hops will do wonderful things to the beer!

Cheers

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Don't mean to go off topic, but maybe you should post that recipe! I would love to see it.

As for those odd Summit flavors, I made an all-summit pale ale, and my early sampling (4 weeks) had a slightly onion-ish taste. It was definitely a bit green then, so I'll try it again and see what I get.

I had a couple small bags of summit hops from a beer I made 6 months ago.....I had planned to use the leftovers from an open bag in an APA, but when I stuck my nose in the bag I was repulsed instantly by a very "off" smell, not dissimilar from Onion/Garlic though there was also some earthy cat-pee like stuff going on too. These were definitely stale (I didn't seal the pouch back up - just tossed into the freezer), so maybe freshness plays a part in this onion note.......I was really bummed because I have read a lot of good things about summit too and was hoping to make an all summit brew one day, but now I'm a little scared.

I think we need a more thorough weigh in on this matter. those with odd experiences using Summit please speak up and elaborate your issue!

I just made a big single hop APA with summit. After 3 weeks it tastes like pure onions and garlic.

I have heard that the onions fade and it becomes tangerine. Here's to hoping.

I have used literally pounds of the stuff, and have never had any off flavors with Summit hops. In every ale I've brewed, I've gotten great flavors ranging from sweet grapefruit-to strawberry with a nice, round bitter finish. You have to keep in mind that this hop boasts an alpha acid of at least 18%! So, start small-use only .25 ounce your first use for 60 mins. and increase from there until you get the intensity you want. I would say a whole ounce for 90 mins. is complete overkill in a 5 gallon batch, but I might try it someday with the appropriate high gravity recipe. You have to remember that high alpha acid has to be balanced by high malt profile (high gravity).