Ahtanum series

[SailorTodd]

I wanted to share a couple of recipes I just put in the orders for and will be trying out in the next few weeks. I was intrigued by a few reviews of Ahtanum hops, and haven't brewed with it before. I decided to do a couple of different brews with Ahtanum to get an idea of its profile and to see how gravity and hop volume can affect the hop flavor in beers. First I will brew a DIPA and then I'll brew a sessionable pale ale. Here are the notional recipes:

DIPA:

14# 2-Row
1# Victory
.75# C-80L
2oz Magnum @ 60min
1oz Ahtanum @ 30min
1oz Ahtanum @ 15min
1oz Ahtanum @ 0min
1oz Ahtanum @ dry hop 5 days
WLP090 San Diego Super

Mash 90min @ 148-150F, batch sparge


Session Ale:

8# 2-row
.75# Victory
.5# C-80L
.5oz Magnum @ 60min
.75oz Ahtanum @ 30min
.75oz Ahtanum @ 15min
.75oz Ahtanum @ 0min
.75oz Ahtanum @ dry hop 5 days
WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Mash 75min @ 152-154F, batch sparge

Anybody have any good, bad or ugly experiences with Ahtanum? How do these look?

 

[bobbrews]

Are you asking for advice, or just telling us what you're doing?

For advice, I would recommend replacing C80 with a much lighter grade of crystal malt (possibly even none at all, or significantly less). Victory and Crystal are both toasty malts. And, the darker crystals are pruney which do not really work well with bright hopped American IPAs. A good amount of Victory in an IPA, would be anywhere from 1-5% of the total grist... the same goes for crystal malt. But when you couple both together, you're looking at more like 1.5 to 3% each. You could forego them entirely too and just focus on the Ahtanum, and how it works with the clean yeast and 2-row base. Use some carapils or wheat malt if you want mouthfeel and head retention without the detracting sweet toasty nuttiness.

Other than this, the 0 minute and dryhops could be bumped up a ways. 6 oz. total hops for a DIPA is extremely weak. I'd use 6 oz. for the Session ale, and 12 oz. for the DIPA.

Ahtanum = orange zest, mild grapefruit, earthy musk, and some herbal & floral traits. As a single hop, it's not very exciting. Pair it with Amarillo, Centennial, and/or Cascade however, and you have something more interesting.

Good luck.

 

[SailorTodd]

Are you asking for advice, or just telling us what you're doing?

A little of both I guess. I was moved, for whatever reason, to share.

I will definitely cut back (or cut out) the C-80L. I was really thinking of a good way to get rid of grain I have laying around, and 80 is the lightest crystal malt I have laying around right now. I may just stick to 2-row and Victory instead, on both recipes.

I'll look at upping the late hop additions. I think I've been getting more and more conservative on hop additions in the last year, and this is a sign I've gone too far. Just because I'm on the East Coast now doesn't mean I have to forget my California brewing roots.

I'll see how Ahtanum is alone for now, so I'll know its characteristics when trying to pair it in the future. I love Centennial. It may make into my Centennial IPA recipe.

Thanks for the input.

 

[tagz]

Musty, herbal orange is pretty accurate for ahtanum in my experience.