Citra, my God citra

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Bertramus

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Ok, so my interest is making hoppy beers just now. Previous thread details my inability to get any hop flavour out of Amarillo.
Still a total noob but I am getting really bitter notes, along with some decent tropical flavours from using citra as a single hop.

Is citra a particularly bitter hop when used as a 60min addition?

Thanks for reading,

Bertramus.
 
Yes it is.

I often do a half oz FWH and then go nuts with 3 oz at 15 mins and 3 oz at flameout for hop standing.
 
Focus on flame out and dry hops for a real hop presence. One of the best IPAs I ever had was a commercial all Amarillo hop ipa so it can be done ;)
 
I've been experimenting with Citra and Mosaic. They both have a broad profile, with lots of different aromatic components. Some are more volatile that others, and are more easily lost in the fermentation and dry hopping process.

I've had really interesting results by focusing on the primary fermentation dry hop temperatures, and keeping them cool.

With Citra, I fermented at 64 and dry hopped in secondary at 66 and only 8 days, then cold-crashed and racked off. The cooler temps keep the more volatile components from evaporating out of the beer during fermentation. If you smell it in the room, it's lost from the beer.

Same with the dry hop, and the cold crash then fixes the aromatics.

This yielded some nice pineapple notes from Citra, followed by grapefruit.

Using the same technique (primary at 62), Mosaic yielded mango, tropical, and peach. No kidding. It was amazing. I finished the last bottle yesterday, and my second batch -- modified just to tinker with it -- turned out too big and thin. Lots of hoppiness going on, but just too much alcohol and not enough body.

Sadly, that means I'm at least 4-6 weeks away from another stupendous batch.

Hope this helps.
 
I've been experimenting with Citra and Mosaic. They both have a broad profile, with lots of different aromatic components. Some are more volatile that others, and are more easily lost in the fermentation and dry hopping process.

I've had really interesting results by focusing on the primary fermentation dry hop temperatures, and keeping them cool.

With Citra, I fermented at 64 and dry hopped in secondary at 66 and only 8 days, then cold-crashed and racked off. The cooler temps keep the more volatile components from evaporating out of the beer during fermentation. If you smell it in the room, it's lost from the beer.

Same with the dry hop, and the cold crash then fixes the aromatics.

This yielded some nice pineapple notes from Citra, followed by grapefruit.

Using the same technique (primary at 62), Mosaic yielded mango, tropical, and peach. No kidding. It was amazing. I finished the last bottle yesterday, and my second batch -- modified just to tinker with it -- turned out too big and thin. Lots of hoppiness going on, but just too much alcohol and not enough body.

Sadly, that means I'm at least 4-6 weeks away from another stupendous batch.

Hope this helps.

Would love to hear more details on this
 
It is usually high in AA's so can be used as a bittering hop (but somehow it feels like a waste using it for that?). I've grown to be careful with Citra when using it for late additions and especially for dry-hopping: last one was a really pale summer ale that we dry-hopped heavily with Citra and Amarillo (like 3 ounces of each to 12 gallons of beer for 7 days), and the result was mango juice. The aromatics were amazing but really it was like drinking alcoholic fruit soda.

The one time I think I succesfully used it for aroma was when it was only 20% of the late additions along with Centennial and Simcoe, that way it didn't get out of proportion.
 
Ok, so my interest is making hoppy beers just now. Previous thread details my inability to get any hop flavour out of Amarillo.
Still a total noob but I am getting really bitter notes, along with some decent tropical flavours from using citra as a single hop.

Is citra a particularly bitter hop when used as a 60min addition?

Thanks for reading,

Bertramus.

The level of alpha acid listed on the hop package will give you an indication of how much bitterness it will give you with a 60 minute boil. The current stock of Citra lists an alpha acid of 14% while the Czech Saaz is only 3.2%. That's quite a difference in bittering ability. I usually choose a 60 minute hop based on its alpha acid and flavoring ability after the 60 minute boil and adjust the amount of hops I add to get the bitterness I perfer. If I want more flavor/aroma, I add that hop late in the boil and/or dry hop with it.
 
I agree with the comments for using Citra as a late hop. On my IPAs, I've stopped doing 60-90 minute additions and just starting at 30 minutes. I find I get more than enough bitterness and a ton of flavor and aroma. Citra is great for this type of hopping.
 
I'm in agreement re: some of the comments about late hop additions.

I don't even bother with anything other than 30 min and on hop additions for super hoppy beers. But I'm dumping hops in like crazy at 0, whirlpool, dry hop.
 
It is usually high in AA's so can be used as a bittering hop (but somehow it feels like a waste using it for that?). I've grown to be careful with Citra when using it for late additions and especially for dry-hopping: last one was a really pale summer ale that we dry-hopped heavily with Citra and Amarillo (like 3 ounces of each to 12 gallons of beer for 7 days), and the result was mango juice. The aromatics were amazing but really it was like drinking alcoholic fruit soda.

The one time I think I succesfully used it for aroma was when it was only 20% of the late additions along with Centennial and Simcoe, that way it didn't get out of proportion.

Worse- mango with strong notes of cat pee for me in an all-citra beer.

I think it's nice when mixed with other hops in late additions, say, centennial and cascade with citra in a dryhop. But the first all-citra beer I made screamed MANGO in an unpleasant way, and then a friend from this forum sent a fresh all-citra IPA that when opened was 100% kitty litter box until it aged a bit. The second bottle, opened about two weeks later, was much better but still had mango/cat pee as the dominant aroma.

Oddside Ales makes a 100% citra beer, and it totally is all cat pee to me.

I know other people like the hop, but it's got some weird notes to it for me.
 
Would love to hear more details on this

Sure! And I'm aware that a lot of people don't like vivid mango or other fruity bombs, but if you like it, I've had success with this method. I have the whole project tracked here, and I'm attaching a video in which I discussed it (and compared two different batches of this Mosaic IPA).



I really just starting with all this, so I still have tons of experience to get. A lot of what I'm doing is experimentation, for the fun of it -- I just really liked the results of this low temperature experiment.
 
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:drunk:
Sure! And I'm aware that a lot of people don't like vivid mango or other fruity bombs, but if you like it, I've had success with this method. I have the whole project tracked here, and I'm attaching a video in which I discussed it (and compared two different batches of this Mosaic IPA).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxLTzu9ygS0

I really just starting with all this, so I still have tons of experience to get. A lot of what I'm doing is experimentation, for the fun of it -- I just really liked the results of this low temperature experiment.

You're a natural. Keep it going. All good stuff there.



On a side note, you aren't that far from me. I could see a project in our futures...
 
Worse- mango with strong notes of cat pee for me in an all-citra beer.

I think it's nice when mixed with other hops in late additions, say, centennial and cascade with citra in a dryhop. But the first all-citra beer I made screamed MANGO in an unpleasant way, and then a friend from this forum sent a fresh all-citra IPA that when opened was 100% kitty litter box until it aged a bit. The second bottle, opened about two weeks later, was much better but still had mango/cat pee as the dominant aroma.

Oddside Ales makes a 100% citra beer, and it totally is all cat pee to me.

I know other people like the hop, but it's got some weird notes to it for me.

All Citra is too much for me as well. I get an over-ripened fruit character from it.
 
I love Citra, but even so I would choose to bitter with something else and even late hopping with Citra can yield various results depending on how much you use when.

I've started liking it as a Dry Hop, though. In a lighter Pale Ale or IPA I think I'm preferring it to Centennial as my go-to dry hop. it kind of depends on what I'm going for in the beer, Fresh and refreshing or strong and hoppy.

Our perception of hop flavor can drastically change depending on the grain bill and hopping amounts and times. Using too much doesn't necessarily just give you "more" of a hop flavor. It can actually completely change how you taste it.
 
I love an all citra beer. Makes a great golden ale and one of my favourite cask IPAs is all citra, Oakham Green Devil. Lovely pint
 
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