Citra Curiosity/Fear

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ErieShores

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I have an ounce of Citra that was given to me by a fellow brewer. "Try it, it is such a great hop", he says. Then I read this...
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/whoa-citra-154505/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/citra-ipa-170113/#post1967369
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/citra-hop-burst-experiment-1-a-233687/#post2755083
These, along with several other posts from reputable posters in this forum have me very concerned about using Citra. I plan to use Ed Worts's Haus Pale Ale as a base, and use the following hop additions...
.75 Centennial 50
.25 Citra at 15 10 5 and 0 giving me 41 IBU's

Any suggestions on using this schedule or Citra, would be much appreciated.
 
Some people absolutely love the tropical fruit flavor given by citra. I do not.

I made an all-citra APA and it screamed MANGO at me. I ended up dryhopping with cascade, and it was better but still had a real Juicy Fruit gum flavor to it that I didn't get into.

It's definitely got a tropical fruit flavor and aroma that blends well with other hops, but I'm not a fan of it on its own.
 
I think it's delicious. It does have to be used in moderation/combination with other hops or else it is overpowering. I've never detected a "catty" taste or aroma though
 
I love it. Perfect for a summer IPA, the one I did being entirely hopped with Citra. It was around 6.5%, with some vienna and crystal 20 on the bill. If you do use it, remember to dry hop; it's aroma is probably its best quality.
 
made an all Citra IPA with 4 oz of Citra and we loved it. very citrusy for sure, but we like that. Also we split the batch and did a half batch of it on Pineapple for a Pineapple Citra IPA, man that was a Citrus Explosion of awesome.
 
I really like what it does, but in small doses. I use 10-12 oz of hops in a 10 gallon batch, and .5 - 1 of that will be Citra. Then I usually dryhop with .5 oz of Citra and similar amount of something else.

I get a mango / tropical flavor out it, and find that just a touch of it is good.
 
Add me to the Citra fanboi list. Perhaps more importantly, my wife is a big fan of Citra. Bought a couple of pounds of pellets last winter that I've been husbanding along, almost time for the 2011 buy.

I've never picked up any negative notes from it, but I do only use it for late additions and particularly for dry hopping. The favorite house brew is a quite hoppy IPA using Chinook for bittering, Cascade for middle addition, and Citra at flameout and dry hopping. Even peeps that don't actually like beer (ie: BMC drinkers) love it. I have to brew a batch every couple of weeks to keep some on tap - it can actually be a problem!

Cheers!
 
HMMM... I will take it off your hands if you want, lol... Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA uses Citra, maybe sore some of that and see what you think, also, I think Widmer Bros has an IPA using Citra that might give you an idea of what to expect. Ultimately it is your taste that will decide, but they are super popular right now, right along with Simcoe.
 
I think it's delicious. It does have to be used in moderation/combination with other hops or else it is overpowering. I've never detected a "catty" taste or aroma though


Yes. I love it but find that too much and it overpowers the brew. I do an Amarillo/Citra Pale Ale that is very good but use less Citra than Amarillo.

Used in moderation it is great.
 
I would only use it early in the boil, don't care for the Tropical punch.
You and Yoop are both saying Tropical. I respect both of your opinions and have shied away from Citra, but am still curious. I just dry hopped an IPA that had a lot of Summit, mostly late additions. Even before the dry hop, it had a very nice, strong orange and tangerine citrus flavor and aroma. What is considered "Tropical?" Yooper mentioned Mango (not one of my favorites.) Is that the main contribution of Citra?
 
Some people (me) are unusually sensitive to cilantro and can't stand it and find it overpowering no matter how small an amount is present. Others (SWMBO) love it and think I'm crazy.

I think it's the same way with Citra and Simcoe. Some folks are just more sensitive to certain flavors that come from them, while others just aren't and don't get what all the fuss is about.
 
Everybody's tastes are different....It's subjective. The only way YOU are going to know if you like something or not is if you try it for yourself. Either go look for a commercial IPA with citra, or make a small batch of beer with some of the pound of it.

Make a SMaSH and see if you like it or not....don't go by what other folks say about it.
 
I personally love the hop. When it's right out of the fermenter, it screams Mango/guava, but after a little while in the keg/bottle that fades, and I get more citrus from it. It plays really well with a hop that has some resin character like Simcoe or CTZ (i've found).

What is considered "Tropical?" Yooper mentioned Mango (not one of my favorites.) Is that the main contribution of Citra?

I personally get a mango, guava, papaya kind of aroma from it. I've heard other people throw out other fruits that I've never smelled, and i doubt they have either (passion fruit, gooseberries, etc). It kind of smells like juicy fruit when it's fresh from the fermenter. As I said above, I've found that fades after a week or two into a more citrus character.
 
Citra™ is a special aroma hop variety developed by the Hop Breeding Company (a joint venture between John I. Haas, Inc. and Select Botanicals Group, LLC). It was released in 2007. Citra™ has fairly high alpha acids and total oil contents with a low percentage of cohumulone content. The variety imparts interesting citrus and tropical fruit characters to beer.

http://www.usahops.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hop_info&pageID=8
 
I think you should try it in all its glory as an aroma addition and see if you like it.
 
I think it's certainly worth trying. I just used it as a flavoring/aroma addition and a dry hop (in addition to cascade) in a simple pale ale. I split the batch into two secondaries, one with just straight Citra/Cascade dryhop, the other included the same dryhop but sat on some mangoes and half an habanero pepper.

They both tasted and smelled wonderful. Definitely a fruity/citrusy centered hop, but it was one of the few beers I tasted before bottling that I could down a glass warm and uncarbed and be perfectly delighted...
 
I get floral & citrus aroma from the hop (while in the package). My wife and kids both described it as piney. I brewed up an APA using all Citra and loved it. I had read through the threads that the OP listed and decided that I if I didn't try it I wouldn't know if it was for me or not. I'm going to be rebrewing that APA very soon.
 
paraordnance said:
this thread makes me want to pull out that 4 oz bag of Citra out of freezer and experiment

That's exactly what I did a couple weeks ago! A 2.5-gal test batch: 2-row with a little c-40 for color, a 60 min addition, I think 10 and flameout additions and then dry hops. No tastes yet (bottling tomorrow!)
 
I love it. Tropical fruit flavor/aroma. My Citra IPA is the most popular IPA I brew. It's bittered with Warrior or Magnum and then all Citra.
 
That's exactly what I did a couple weeks ago! A 2.5-gal test batch: 2-row with a little c-40 for color, a 60 min addition, I think 10 and flameout additions and then dry hops. No tastes yet (bottling tomorrow!)

I did the same hop schedule, minus the dry-hop. Just enough aroma and lots of flavor.
 
Sithdad said:
I did the same hop schedule, minus the dry-hop. Just enough aroma and lots of flavor.

I basically used a Two Hearted clone and subbed Citra for Centennial.
 
You and Yoop are both saying Tropical. I respect both of your opinions and have shied away from Citra, but am still curious. I just dry hopped an IPA that had a lot of Summit, mostly late additions. Even before the dry hop, it had a very nice, strong orange and tangerine citrus flavor and aroma. What is considered "Tropical?" Yooper mentioned Mango (not one of my favorites.) Is that the main contribution of Citra?

Yeah, it's definitely MANGO to me, but with a Juicy Fruit gum thing going on. Very tropical-ish. Not pineapple, exactly, but maybe like a pineapple/mango combo.

It's ok in Torpedo, because it mixes well with other hops. But on its own, it's Juicy Fruit gum all the way.
 
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