Citra pale ale

Wanted to brew a citra pale ale for the summer to get the nice fruity notes of citra hops but kick the citrus taste up a notch. I was thinking of going with a citra pale ale kit obviously and adding oranges, lemons, limes or a combo of those to the brew. Any advice on what to go with and what amounts to use in a 5 gallon batch?

Thanks

Check out the MoreBeer site. They have a Citra Pale in extract and all grain versions. I have made this recipe (all grain) many times and its amazing every time. In the event you can't buy the kit out right you can look at the ingredients and purchase them individually. This is a beer you won't regret as it uses Citra hops which will give off a lot of lemon, mango, grapefruit flavors in the smell/taste.

dozer is right, Citra is pretty damn fruity alone, don't think you would really need to add anything to it. Especially when dry hopping.

I just did a Citra/Centennial APA, and after dry hopping with Citra, there certainly wasn't a need to add any fruits. I'd say leave them out.

Thanks for the replies...my local homebrew store ha a citra extract kit that I'm going to go with... I've had it before and know its got a nice fruity flavor... I'm trying to add a little more for summer time beer thats extra citrusy but don't want to go with a fruit beer.

bdkelly said:

I just did a Citra/Centennial APA, and after dry hopping with Citra, there certainly wasn't a need to add any fruits. I'd say leave them out.

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What was your recipe? I'm trying to formulate a citra and centennial APA myself

jmcm_brew said:

Thanks for the replies...my local homebrew store ha a citra extract kit that I'm going to go with... I've had it before and know its got a nice fruity flavor... I'm trying to add a little more for summer time beer thats extra citrusy but don't want to go with a fruit beer.

Click to expand...

Most kits are very skimpy on the hops and I doubt they include dry hopping hops.

You may want to use the kit as the base and do your own citra dry hop on top of that. Nothing wrong with modifying kits. Dry hopping will give you that burst of aroma (and flavor) you're looking for.

Do a search here to get some additional ideas. For a 5 gallon batch, I'd dry hop with 1-2 oz of citra for 7 days.

gcdowd said:

What was your recipe? I'm trying to formulate a citra and centennial APA myself

Click to expand...

For a 5 gallon batch I did:

10 lbs Pale Ale Malt (87%)
12 oz. Munich (6.5%)
8 oz. Caramel 40 (4.3%)
4 oz. Flaked Barley (2.2%)

Hop Schedule (Citra was leaf, Centennial pellets):

0.25 oz Citra [15.60 %] - First Wort 90.0 min - 14.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min - 15.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min - 11.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Citra [15.60 %] - Aroma Steep 2.0 min - 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Citra [15.60 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days

US-05 for the yeast

Estimated OG: 1.052 SG (actual 1.059)
Estimated Color: 7.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 42.3 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Mashed at 151 for 60 min, then batch sparged.

It came out really well. My wife and I don't really like pale ales, but we enjoy this one.

Sounds great, my malt bill is eerily similar. Hops are close but a little different. Thanks for the input

No problem. Hope you're happy with yours.