Summit Hops

I know this has been discussed before, but I wanted to revive some discussion on this hop variety.

I have a pound of super high alpha, 18.1, summit hops and I have a few beers fermenting using these hops. I am wondering if this hop is smooth and flavorfull enought to act as the bittering, flavor and aroma hop for a nice pale ale.

I was thinking of doing a summit hop pale ale, 6 gallons.

10 pound marris otter
1 pound crystal 60

1/2 oz summit at 60
1/2 oz summit at 15
1/2 oz summit at 10
1/2 oz summit at 5
1/2 oz summit at Flamout

OG around 1.055 or so...FG around 1.012

safeale us-05

3 weeks in primary with no dry hop.

I brewed this up yesterday, 6 gallon batch

OG = 1.052 for over 75% efficiency.
Mashed at 151 for 60

Is marris otter really 3.0 SRM? This beer turned out way darker then I thought it would. I was hoping for a pale ale...it looks like I got a copper ale. Regardless, I rehydrated US-05 per their recomendation and had fermentation starting in 9 hours after pitching or so. I am hoping this thing turns out.

Looks like a good hop. Lagunitas uses it in their IPA. That that FWIT.

permo said:

I brewed this up yesterday, 6 gallon batch

OG = 1.052 for over 75% efficiency.
Mashed at 151 for 60

Is marris otter really 3.0 SRM? This beer turned out way darker then I thought it would. I was hoping for a pale ale...it looks like I got a copper ale. Regardless, I rehydrated US-05 per their recomendation and had fermentation starting in 9 hours after pitching or so. I am hoping this thing turns out.

Click to expand...

No. Maris otter is 3Lovibond. SRM is used to gauge finished beer color. Different scales.

If you can get Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, pick up a bottle. It's a Summit hop bomb, and it's fantastic. Drifter is one of my favorite beers.


If you have more summit, I'd go ahead and toss in an ounce for dry hopping, too. Why not?

dwarven_stout said:

If you can get Widmer Drifter Pale Ale, pick up a bottle. It's a Summit hop bomb, and it's fantastic. Drifter is one of my favorite beers.


If you have more summit, I'd go ahead and toss in an ounce for dry hopping, too. Why not?

Click to expand...

widmer drifter is one of my favorites, as is widmer brrr. If I come even close to drifter I will happy.

Now that I think about it, I am certainly going to dry hop with an ounce of summit on this one. All summit all the way.

A little off topic, but where can I get a pound of Summit? I'd love to find that.

The recipe looks good.

permo said:

Is marris otter really 3.0 SRM? This beer turned out way darker then I thought it would. I was hoping for a pale ale...it looks like I got a copper ale.

Click to expand...

I recently made an IPA with a U.S. "Pale Ale" malt(3.0), however, and also found the final color to be a bit darker than I'd have thought. I used Cyrstal 15, so it would have been quite light with a standard 2-row(1.9). I just never knew it would make as big of a color shift as it did.

Association of Brewers has defined an American-style pale ale as ranging in color from deep golden to copper. So copper IS in the range of a Pale Ale, but on the high end.

I'm planning on doing a Marris Otter/Summit SmaSh Pale Ale this week. Planning on aorund 5.2% and 35-40IBU. I haven't used Summit before so I'm excited to try it out in a basic brew and see how it tastes/smells.

Myke_J said:

I'm planning on doing a Marris Otter/Summit SmaSh Pale Ale this week. Planning on aorund 5.2% and 35-40IBU. I haven't used Summit before so I'm excited to try it out in a basic brew and see how it tastes/smells.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I was going to do, but when I was at the LHBS I couldn't resist the crystal 60.

I have around 44 IBU and if I drop down to 1.012 I should be in that 5.2% range.

For some reason, marris otter has become my standard basemalt. I seem to get just a slightly deeper malt flavor with it. There is something about it.

Don't know if you've used US-05 much or not, but at least for me, with that OG, grain bill, and mash temp, I would finish at 1.010 or 1.009. Just so you're not surprised if it gets way down there.

Ketchepillar said:

Don't know if you've used US-05 much or not, but at least for me, with that OG, grain bill, and mash temp, I would finish at 1.010 or 1.009. Just so you're not surprised if it gets way down there.

Click to expand...

1.010 or even a little less would be fantastic. I am fermenting at 66 degrees right now using a glass carboy with a blowoff tube and tons of gunk is coming out of there and it is fermenting like crazy. I am sure it will attenuate well.

I've used US-05 on my last 4 batches and each one has attenuated at least 80%. The second runnings beer I made shows an apparent attenuation of 93%!! 1.030 down to 1.002. Way more then I expected and it pretty cool since that whole batch was just leftovers except for the yeast.

All that I know know is it looks like a freekin whirlwind blizzard storm in the fermenter. A much more violent fermentation than the kolsch I recently brewed. If this yeast attenuates well in this batch, I am going to wash it and save 4-5 jars for use on heavier gravity ales. It's always good to save a yeast that performs well.

permo said:

Is marris otter really 3.0 SRM? This beer turned out way darker then I thought it would. I was hoping for a pale ale...it looks like I got a copper ale. Regardless, I rehydrated US-05 per their recomendation and had fermentation starting in 9 hours after pitching or so. I am hoping this thing turns out.

Click to expand...

I think the copper color came from your pound of Crystal 60L, that'll definitely give you a nice copper color. I think it'll give you a nice flavor to balance out the summit hops.

EDIT: I ran the recipe through Beer Smith, and it looks like you're right in the middle of the BJCP Style guidelines for color. You're a little on the bitter side (55.8 calculated IBUs versus 45 max BJCP) but that's no big deal, almost all of my brews are a little hoppier than style.

I think you've found yourself a good, simple recipe. Let me know how it goes.

Myke_J said:

I've used US-05 on my last 4 batches and each one has attenuated at least 80%. The second runnings beer I made shows an apparent attenuation of 93%!! 1.030 down to 1.002. Way more then I expected and it pretty cool since that whole batch was just leftovers except for the yeast.

Click to expand...

I just finished an IPA that was fermented at mostly 62 degrees (actual wort temp, not room temp) with US-05. It was also mashed at 151 degrees with about 74% efficiency. Starting gravity was 1.062; ended at 1.010. So I know his beer will finish below 1.010. I'm predicting 1.007 on his!

RichBenn said:

I just finished an IPA that was fermented at mostly 62 degrees (actual wort temp, not room temp) with US-05. It was also mashed at 151 degrees with about 74% efficiency. Starting gravity was 1.062; ended at 1.010. So I know his beer will finish below 1.010. I'm predicting 1.007 on his!

Click to expand...

That would be nice! I know the pound of caramel/crystal may yield a few more unfermantable sugars, but below 1.010 would be great. If that happens, i am on US-05 bandwagon. I am currently a nottingham guy, and I also have an affinity for kolsch yeast and technique.

With this recipe and getting back to brewing basics. So many of my brews have 4-5 different malts, 2-4 variety's of hops..etc..etc. I think I lose focus that is about simple recipes, quality ingrediants, and sound technique. You really can't go wrong with Marris Otter.

permo said:

That would be nice! I know the pound of caramel/crystal may yield a few more unfermantable sugars, but below 1.010 would be great. If that happens, i am on US-05 bandwagon. I am currently a nottingham guy, and I also have an affinity for kolsch yeast and technique.

Click to expand...

I used:
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) and
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - (20 SRM).
So I had some unfermentables too. But the percentage is a bit lower than yours due to the other grains.

I used Nottingham on a previous beer, my first time. They are similar, both being fairly neutral, but the 05 is the Chico(Sierra Nevada) strain, heavily used on the west coast for APAs and IPAs. I'm kinda used to that yeast, so I use it alot. It doesn't settle and compact as well as Nottingham, but sure ferments clean and attenuates well.

RichBenn said:

. It doesn't settle and compact as well as Nottingham, but sure ferments clean and attenuates well.

Click to expand...

I couldn't believe how clear my beers started to get when I started using nottingham and leaving it in primary for 2-3 weeks and then bottling. THe nottingham was glued to the bottom of the fermenter, especially if feremented 60-62 degrees.

I love all of sierra nevada's brews, so I am excited to start washing US-05 and keeping it around. S-04 has been a dissapointment for me thus far.

I should note that I initially expressed concern over how dark this beer was. Straight out of the kettle into the fermenter is was very dark, almost brown/black looking. Now after 4 days of fermentation it's true color is starting to be evident. The beer is a beautiful "light rust" or "burnt orange" type of color. It just looks tasty.

The US-05 has shown no signs of slowing down either....I think it is going to be below 1.010. I hope it still tastes good! I think all the caramel/crystal should help.

Well I didn't get to make the MO/Summit smash that I wanted. LHBS didn't have Summit so I made a porter on the fly, had a terrible brewday, broke my mash tun, made a new one, finally mashed in 4 hours later and it went smooth from there. Now I need to find a local place that has Summit or order some.

Myke_J said:

Well I didn't get to make the MO/Summit smash that I wanted. LHBS didn't have Summit so I made a porter on the fly, had a terrible brewday, broke my mash tun, made a new one, finally mashed in 4 hours later and it went smooth from there. Now I need to find a local place that has Summit or order some.

Click to expand...

I ordered my pound of summit from www.northernbrewer.com for $16.99. They are no longer on sale, but still only $23 a pound. That is a good deal for all the awesome aroma and bittering power you get.