Check my Dry-Hopped Blonde

[jeeppilot]

Looking to brew a hazy, hoppy blonde. Not bitter, just tropical fruit hoppy. Like Left Hand Juicy Goodness. BUT, I’ve not had great success designing hoppy beers... they always seem to be a little lacking. So, let me know. Especially, how’s my hop schedule?

1.044 OG, 1.012 FG, 20 IBU

Pale 2-row 6 lbs (67%)
Flakes Oats 2.5 lbs (28%)
Crystal 10L .5 lbs (5%)

60 min - Ekuanot - .25 oz
5 min - Ekuanot - .25 oz
Azacca - .25 oz
0 min - Ekuanot - 1 oz
Azacca - 1 oz
5 d Dry Ekuanot - 1.5 oz
Azacca - 1.75 oz

150F single infusion mash
Nottingham Yeast
Ferment at 65F till done

 

[thehaze]

Is that a 5 gal. batch?

My latest hazy Blonde Ale, is all Golden Promise and Loral hops. US-05 as the yeast, mashed low at 149F and skipped the dry hopping. However, I used 9 oz hops for many late additions and a big whirlpool, at a low temperature.

It is aromatic, flavourful and hoppy enough, without being astringent, pungent or overly bitter.

I think you are very low on hops, especially when you have not had great success with dry hopping. Although close related to the process itself, a well-done dry hop also consists of fresh hops, low oxygen intake and of course, the amount of hops added.

5-6 oz hops in the boil and 5-6 oz for dry hopping should suffice, but everyone's taste is different.

 

[cooper]

You could also throw in a 30 minute whirlpool addition of 5-6 oz at a temp of 160F and get lots of flavor and aroma.

 

[thehaze]

I strongly second cooper's recommendation. It will get you lots of aroma and flavour.

3 of my latest batches, were not dry hopped ( Rye Pale with Simcoe, Pale with Amarillo and Blonde Ale with Loral ) and they are so good. Granted, I used 9 oz hops each for heavy late additions and whirlpool. ( late additions in the last 15 minutes - NO classic bittering at 60 minutes - whirlpool with 5 oz at 158F - came out amazingly good for something not dry hopped )

 

[jeeppilot]

Yes, 5 gal batch. I have suspected most of my batches have been short on dry hop additions. I haven’t used Loral before either.

So if I went with no bittering charge and say 15 IBUs at 10 minutes, 5 IBUs at 5 minutes and 5 oz whirlpool at 160F, that should do the trick?

Also, the Azacca and Ekuanot are both pretty high (15) alpha. Would I be better using more oz of a lower alpha to bring out the flavor and aroma while minimizing the bitter?

 

[thehaze]

I think if you hop enough in the last 15 minutes and do a really good whirlpool at a lower temp., you should be OK. I've used high AA hops in the whirlpool with good results.

Both Azacca and Ekuanot are pretty fruit-forward, and I think it will yield very good results. Do post back when you have brewed and tasted the beer.

Cheers!

 

[jeeppilot]

I think if you hop enough in the last 15 minutes and do a really good whirlpool at a lower temp., you should be OK. I've used high AA hops in the whirlpool with good results.

Both Azacca and Ekuanot are pretty fruit-forward, and I think it will yield very good results. Do post back when you have brewed and tasted the beer.

Cheers!

I rearranged to do 1.5 oz Ekuanot at 10 min, 1.5 oz Azacca at 5 min and 2.5 oz of each in whirlpool at 160F. The recipe software says that puts it at 39 IBU, which is almost double what I want, but I doubt I’ll get the utilization the software calculates. I’ll let you know how it comes out!

 

[bleme]

I rearranged to do 1.5 oz Ekuanot at 10 min, 1.5 oz Azacca at 5 min and 2.5 oz of each in whirlpool at 160F. The recipe software says that puts it at 39 IBU, which is almost double what I want, but I doubt I’ll get the utilization the software calculates. I’ll let you know how it comes out!

Did you drop the 60 min addition?

How much bitterness you get will depend on how long it takes you to get from boil to 160F.

 

[cooper]

And if all the hop additions are going in around the flameout and whirlpool then you won’t get near as much bitterness. I’d whirlpool for at least 30 mins though.

If it were me I’d throw in one oz of each at flameout, then chill to 160F and toss in 3oz of each and whirlpool for 30 mins. If you want a bittering addition then do about 5 grams of magnum. Should turn out great.

Also, make it a hazy NEIPA by adding another 3oz of each on day 3 of fermentation.

 

[cooper]

Another thing is to use soft water, make sure your mash pH is in the 5.2-5.5 range, and add a tsp of gypsum and 2 tsps of calcium chloride. And as always try to minimize oxygen exposure when packaging.

 

[brew703]

For me, I find homebrew hops are not the same as hops the commercial breweries get. With that said, my brews have lacked hop aroma and flavor.
I have a blonde I will be brewing in about a month using Huell Melon and Mosaic. Will be using 3oz in a WP then 3 oz DH. I increased the IBU's to 45, most of which show coming from the WP. In my experience, I have not noticed a huge amt of IBU's from WP's but that's just me and my system.
Let us know how it turns out.

 

[jeeppilot]

Did you drop the 60 min addition?

How much bitterness you get will depend on how long it takes you to get from boil to 160F.

Yeah I dropped the bittering charge. It’s supposed to be really hot tomorrow and I brew outside so it won’t cool very quickly.

 

[jeeppilot]

And if all the hop additions are going in around the flameout and whirlpool then you won’t get near as much bitterness. I’d whirlpool for at least 30 mins though.

If it were me I’d throw in one oz of each at flameout, then chill to 160F and toss in 3oz of each and whirlpool for 30 mins. If you want a bittering addition then do about 5 grams of magnum. Should turn out great.

Also, make it a hazy NEIPA by adding another 3oz of each on day 3 of fermentation.

I’ll try this! Thank you!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Yeah I dropped the bittering charge. It’s supposed to be really hot tomorrow and I brew outside so it won’t cool very quickly.

This is a concern IMO. Your hop additions will continue to isomerize until you get below 160F. A 5 minute addition can behave more like a 15 minute addition or more depending on how long it takes to chill. You'll definitely want to take that into account.

I second @cooper on the water. Getting the right levels of sulfate, chloride and a solid pH is critical. If you're working with RO water, you're probably going to want some acid or acidulated malt to get your pH into a reasonable level. I didn't run this through Bru'n water, but you'll probably want between 1-2 oz of acidulated malt if you're starting with RO water, otherwise the beer may exhibit some astringency.

Finally, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that that's a boatload of flaked oats. I've never used more than 10% in my NEIPAs and they've had great mouthfeel. The haze was good too, but I don't target the haze, it's just what comes with the process. If it were me, I'd cut that down to 3/4 lb at most and maybe add 1/2 to 3/4 lb flaked wheat.

 

[jeeppilot]

This is a concern IMO. Your hop additions will continue to isomerize until you get below 160F. A 5 minute addition can behave more like a 15 minute addition or more depending on how long it takes to chill. You'll definitely want to take that into account.

I second @cooper on the water. Getting the right levels of sulfate, chloride and a solid pH is critical. If you're working with RO water, you're probably going to want some acid or acidulated malt to get your pH into a reasonable level. I didn't run this through Bru'n water, but you'll probably want between 1-2 oz of acidulated malt if you're starting with RO water, otherwise the beer may exhibit some astringency.

Finally, I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned that that's a boatload of flaked oats. I've never used more than 10% in my NEIPAs and they've had great mouthfeel. The haze was good too, but I don't target the haze, it's just what comes with the process. If it were me, I'd cut that down to 3/4 lb at most and maybe add 1/2 to 3/4 lb flaked wheat.

I used my pump and HERMS coil to chill then wort to 160F. Took about 10 minutes using only ground water. So I should be okay there. As for the whirlpool I was nervous about trying to pump that much hop debris through my CFC, though probably shouldn’t have been. So I used my BIAB bag as a hop filter and ran a recirculation with the pump for 30 minutes before cooling with the CFC.

Sadly I haven’t yet sprung for a pH meter, but I did run it through Bru’n water. Used my most recent water report (good water where I live) and 4 ml of lactic acid to shoot for 5.4 pH.

As for the oats, I saw several recipes using upwards of 30% oats combined with a low mash temp. I’ve never used this much, but I’ve never done several things in this recipe. So, it’ll be interesting to see what turns out!

Oh and go Hawks!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I used my pump and HERMS coil to chill then wort to 160F. Took about 10 minutes using only ground water. So I should be okay there. As for the whirlpool I was nervous about trying to pump that much hop debris through my CFC, though probably shouldn’t have been. So I used my BIAB bag as a hop filter and ran a recirculation with the pump for 30 minutes before cooling with the CFC.

Sadly I haven’t yet sprung for a pH meter, but I did run it through Bru’n water. Used my most recent water report (good water where I live) and 4 ml of lactic acid to shoot for 5.4 pH.

As for the oats, I saw several recipes using upwards of 30% oats combined with a low mash temp. I’ve never used this much, but I’ve never done several things in this recipe. So, it’ll be interesting to see what turns out!

Oh and go Hawks!

Sounds great. I'm looking forward to hearing how it turns out. I don't have a pH meter yet either, but I've been really close with Bru'n water when I've borrowed one. It's on my short list so that I can brew a kettle sour for my son.

Go Hawks!

 

[jeeppilot]

**UPDATE** Well, I tapped this beer a few days ago and the results are in. It’s a good IPA. Medium body with a nice foamy head. Very drinkable. All the tropical fruit is there on the nose and palate, but so is the bitterness. I’d guess 40-50 IBU worth.

Samples from the fermenter were citrus bombs, very NEIPA, and quite hop bitter. I guess between the crash cool and transfer to keg, a bit of that citrus went elsewhere. Still fruity, just not like an Orange Julius beer.

Given 2 oz at flameout, nothing before that, and 6 oz at 165F or less, I’m really surprised how much bitterness came out. It’s a good beer, just not what I was shooting for. Time to try again!

 

[cooper]

Let us know how it is after a couple weeks and has settled down a bit. I find these need that little extra time to in the keg to really develop.