help with my hop selection

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stirlingtrent

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So I went into my LHBS to stock up to brew my first IPA, and I didn't get exactly what I went in for in terms of hops. I came out with 4 oz. Centennial, 3 oz. Columbus, 2 oz. Cascade, and 1 oz. of Citra. Somewhere in there is there the potential for a good IPA? Any suggestions for hop schedule/dry hopping would be awesome. Thanks!
 
Use some of the higher AA hops to get 50-60 IBUs at 60 minutes, then use the rest in the last 20-0min plus dry hop (Citra at the very end or dry hop). Can't go wrong with hops that all start with C for an IPA.
 
4 oz. Centennial
3 oz. Columbus
2 oz. Cascade
1 oz. of Citra



All good hops. Bummer you only got 1 ozs of Citra. Also a little low on Cascade.

Stone IPA uses Centennial as the main flavor/aroma hop.
Sierra Nevada PA uses Cascade as the main flavor/aroma hop.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo uses Citra as the main flavor/aroma hop.

Columbus is an excellent bittering hop for any American style beer.

If you want to make 2 beers, I think I would use the Columbus for bittering, and mix some of the Centennial and Cascade for the flavor and aroma hops in one brew, and the rest of the cent and Citra for another.

If it is one beer, and could only use these hops, I would (just winging it here):

Columbus bittering to get beer around 60 IBUs.

0.5 ozs Cascade @15
0.5 ozs Centennial @15

0.5 ozs Cascade @10
0.5 ozs Centennial @10

0.5 ozs Cascade @5
0.5 ozs Citra @5

1 ozs Cascade @ 0

0.5 ozs Cascade Dry
0.5 ozs Citra Dry

I like to add lots of finishing hops continually at the end of an APA.
 
You got some of my favorite hops, so yes I'd say you could make an awesome IPA (or two)!

What do you have in mind? Citrusy, dank, floral, bitter, not-too-bitter but hoppy, etc? We'll help you make a couple of bang up recipes.
 
Thanks all for the tips. I'm thinking floral, and hoppy, but not too bitter. I think I'll actually go and get some more citra for dry hopping, and I'll use the oz. I have now at flameout. Good idea? I'm all ears!
 
Thanks all for the tips. I'm thinking floral, and hoppy, but not too bitter. I think I'll actually go and get some more citra for dry hopping, and I'll use the oz. I have now at flameout. Good idea? I'm all ears!

Ok, if you want floral I'm thinking centennial for the most part. It's citrusy, too.

Have you ever had Bell's Two Hearted? That's an all-centennial IPA and I definitely get a floral citrus (or a citrusy floral) from it. I get MANGO from citra, and I don't like too much of it but an ounce late in the boil and some for dryhopping would be really nice.

I think maybe a great beer would be columbus at 60 (bittering), and then centennial at 15 and 5, with citra at 5 and dryhopping.

If you know what you want for a grainbill and the approximate make up (sweet/dry/crystal malt-like/malty/etc) we can put it all together for you!
 
Here's my grain bill, and I'm using WL001 yeast with a starter.

12# 2-row
1# crystal 40
1# CaraPils

I'm doing BIAB, and this will be my 3rd batch. Thanks again for the help, I am constantly amazed by the generosity of all y'all with good advice.
 
Here's my grain bill, and I'm using WL001 yeast with a starter.

12# 2-row
1# crystal 40
1# CaraPils

I'm doing BIAB, and this will be my 3rd batch. Thanks again for the help, I am constantly amazed by the generosity of all y'all with good advice.

I think IPAs should end up dry. 1 lb Crystal and 1 lb Carapils will result in a relatively high FG.

If it were me. I'd go with the 2-row and half pound of crystal. With a decent attenuation you should get something around 1.070. Mash low (148/149 F), and maybe even add a little sugar.

I'm sure others will chime in with different (but equally good) advice.
 
I think IPAs should end up dry. 1 lb Crystal and 1 lb Carapils will result in a relatively high FG.

If it were me. I'd go with the 2-row and half pound of crystal. With a decent attenuation you should get something around 1.070. Mash low (148/149 F), and maybe even add a little sugar.

I'm sure others will chime in with different (but equally good) advice.

That sounds about right to me. I'd go with 1 pound (total) of cara malts at the most, so either .25 pound carapils + .75 pound crystal 40L or something similar.

So, here's my suggestion:
.5 oz columbus 60 minutes
1 oz centennial 15 minutes
1 oz cascade 10 minutes
1 oz citra 5 minutes
1 oz centennial flame out
1 oz cascade flame out
dryhop with cascade and centennial or centennial and citra


I love columbus, centennial and cascade, but not citra, so that's why I came up with what I did. If you love citra, you could sub it for the cascade.
 
I love columbus, centennial and cascade, but not citra, so that's why I came up with what I did. If you love citra, you could sub it for the cascade.

OK, this is the second thread where I have seen you ditch Citra. I'm interested in what your issues are with it. I've only used it once and it came out pretty good, and am looking forward to using it again as a dominant hop.
 
Yooper, thanks for the suggestion! One concern though, I put your hop schedule into beersmith, and the IBUs came in pretty low, maybe that's the rest of my setup, but do you think there'd be a problem bumping up the 60 minute columbus to 1 oz, instead of .5? Thanks again.
 
OK, this is the second thread where I have seen you ditch Citra. I'm interested in what your issues are with it. I've only used it once and it came out pretty good, and am looking forward to using it again as a dominant hop.

It's way too tropical for me- it screams MANGO and overpowers everything. In a small amount as a dryhop with an all-chinook beer, I liked it alot. But in a pale ale, as the sole hop, it tasted like Juicy Fruit gum. Not my thing at all, but like I said with other hops it is good.

Yooper, thanks for the suggestion! One concern though, I put your hop schedule into beersmith, and the IBUs came in pretty low, maybe that's the rest of my setup, but do you think there'd be a problem bumping up the 60 minute columbus to 1 oz, instead of .5? Thanks again.

Oh, no, if you need the bittering then increase it would be fine. If your OG is, say, 1.070, a good IBU level would be 60-65 with 35-40 IBUs coming from the 60 minute hops.
 
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