Variations On A Theme

After talking with a good friend of mine who I consider to be a master brewer regardless, I decided to experiment with a recipe that he shared with me. The basic gist is a somewhat highly hopped apa using low alpha hops and a single hop bill. But before we get any farther, here's the basic recipe...

For 10 gallons...

22# 2-row
2# crystal 60

1oz low-aa hops @ first wort
1oz low-aa hops @ 60m
1oz low-aa hops @ 30m
1oz low-aa hops @ 15m
1oz low-aa hops @ 1m
3oz low-aa hops @ 30 days (dry hop in keg or secondary)

So, the beer that is getting all the love based on the recipe above is brewed with williamette hops @ about 5.4aa. I knew I wanted some kind of "control" for this little experiment of mine so for the first batch I used a higher-aa hop instead, galaxy @ 12.4aa. Just for the record I brewed this about a week ago, around the 15th of October.

Next batch was about a week later or this past Saturday... For this batch I followed the recipe exactly and used williamette hops exclusively. I think it will be interesting to taste these beers against one another just to taste the subtleties of the hops and how aa's effect the schedule or vice-versa.

For the next batch (the next day) things got a little crazy. I had some pilsner malt laying around that I needed to use up along with a bit of two row, even threw in a pound of special b for good measure, guess I saw it sitting there and just couldn't help myself. So here's the grain bill, hops were the same schedule and same with williamette though I did a 90m boil this time...

16# 12oz pilsner
5# 8oz 2-row
1# spec b

This one's the wild card, if I could do it over again I'd add a good amount of honey at flame out just to offset the bread flavor from the pilsner and give it some kick. Either way though, I doubt it will be anywhere in the same ballpark with the other two but we will see how it pans out and we shall drink it as well, oh yes we shall.

So now I've got 30 gallons of pristine "experimental" wort (at least that's what I'm telling the old lady) fermenting away downstairs and I don't think I could be prouder of myself even if I tried, especially when I wander down there and smell all the wonders of my fermenting exploits first hand... it nearly brings a tear to my eye, sniff.

I think that the concept is sound, "hoppy" beer w/o all, or a good amount, of the bitterness... seems like it would appeal to many and from what I've tasted so far, for good reason. Not that I don't like the bitter but rather that I think this style may change the way people think about "hoppy" beers all-together.

At any rate, it will be a real pleasure tasting and critiquing these three brews and reporting back, one that I'm really looking forward to, I mean really... I need a beer!

They sound awesome. I'm a little more toward the hoppy/bitter preference side.

Send mr you address and I'll come over and sample them with you if you'd like. ;-)

It is actually a great learning tool to do these kinds of experiments.

It sounds like you have a large brewing set-up.

Good luck.

Thanks man, try the first recipe if you want a nice drinking hoppy brew that's fairly bitter. Been drinking on it for a while now and really like it. Of course you can sub out any hops you want for the galaxy.