Almost smash IPA experiments

i decided to try 3 different IPA recipes with the same grain bill (96% 2row and 4% crystal 40) and using Columbus hops to add the majority of bittering and finish with each; amarillo, calypso and simcoe.

I'm going to boil the Columbus for 60mins and add each hop at 10,5,0 mins and dry hop.

I want to get a better feel for the hops and eventually develop a nice tropical, fruity IPA with about 80-90 ibu.

Anyone have success with this sort of thing? I did the simcoe batch tonight and it smelled fantastic.

Will be interested to hear the results. I just brewed an IPA with Citra/Amarillo for flavouring hops (similar to your schedule) and dryhopped with Citra/Amarillo/Simcoe. Resulted in a really tropical, fruity IPA just like you're going for. Love it!

Awesome! There isn't a nice tropical/fruity IPA available locally so I want to craft my own... Or tweak an existing recipe. It's fun to do small test batches, if they turn out awful at least I learned something.

Stay tuned for the results

A low amount of Columbus for bittering followed by plenty of late, whirlpool, and dryhop additions of Citra & Amarillo will give you exactly what you desire.

If you don't have Citra then use the Amarillo, Calypso, and Simcoe as a team. Don't separate them; they pair beautifully together.

bobbrews said:

A low amount of Columbus for bittering followed by plenty of late, whirlpool, and dryhop additions of Citra & Amarillo will give you exactly what you desire.

If you don't have Citra then use the Amarillo, Calypso, and Simcoe as a team. Don't separate them; they pair beautifully together.

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Well it's too late for not separating them.. My goal was to see which I liked best and then combine. Trying to get a feel for different hops.

However, I can see ,y next batch being a blend of them!

When brewing excellent IPAs or hop forward styles, I've always felt there was more merit of knowing what combos of hops work best vs. spinning wheels with single hop ideas.

There are hundreds of hop varieties out there with detailed reviews. You basically know what they bring to the table simply by reading the description. However, there is virtually no detailed analysis out there for hop combos. Amarillo/Columbus/Citra will be noticeably different than a Simcoe/Columbus/Citra combo.

Don't forget the contributions of freshness and vintage. I did a gorgeous all citra IPA a couple years back. Fast forward and I just can't seem to get my hands on the same Citra. It's out there, but I get the feeling that homebrewers are getting the shaft, while the big boys buy out all of the good stock. ;(

PLOVE - I 100% agree. It's almost like you need to develop the IPA recipe around the quality of the hops after the purchase. My whole Chinook from crop year 2014 are not as nearly intense as the 2013 crop.

These hops were the ones I was drawn to after a deep 'sniff test' along with prior reseach and some talking with the guy who owns the local shop.

I would agree with the argument of combining them. I still have to see for myself how they are on their own and then go from there. I'm definitely going to try citra next alongside of another one or two.

I just love how most of the replies completely ignored the original idea of the post.

The great thing about what you've proposed is you can try them separately and of course you can blend in the glass and find out what combination you like.

I would just make sure your overall bitterness is where you like it.

BackAlley said:

I just love how most of the replies completely ignored the original idea of the post.

The great thing about what you've proposed is you can try them separately and of course you can blend in the glass and find out what combination you like.

I would just make sure your overall bitterness is where you like it.

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I was thinking the same thing!

I had considered combining them before I bottled but I think waiting until they carb and then carefully pour them in combination would be a good experiment! Thanks for the tip

The results are in. They were all noticeably different but I really enjoyed each of them. I found that alone, Amarillo tasted the best while simcoe had the smell I was going for which was tropical The calypso was great, but it was the most mellow of the three in all areas. I think it would compliment the other two really well with more early additions of Amarillo and more late additions with simcoe