I'm using unfamiliar hops

[atabrown]

I'm fairly new to brewing. I'm on my third batch and am using 2 hops that are new to me. I'm making an APA using Amarillo and citra hops. Does anyone have experince with the combination of those two and how did it turn out? Here's my hop schedule

60 min 1oz Amarillo
18 min 1oz Amarillo
12 min .75 oz Citra

Dry hop in secondary 1oz amarillo, 1oz citra.

I'm really just curious if it's going to be drinkable. I've made a similar APA using cascade and centennial and it was good. Hoping this one is a little more crisp and citrusy.

Thanks

 

[BrewinHooligan]

I think those hops work well together and I use them in a combination with Simcoe regularly as they are my favorite hops. The Amarillo has more tropical fruit and Citra has an extremely strong citrus flavor/aroma. I think you will be happy with that hop schedule.

 

[LouBrew13]

I recently used Amarillo exclusively in a what beer. They were very expensive and I probably could've used something less expensive as my bittering hop. The beer was delicious though.

 

[duboman]

I think those hops work really well together however, I am not a fan of Amarillo for bittering additions as I think they produce a somewhat nasty bitterness but your palette may be different. I prefer Centennial or Warrior for bittering and leave the fruity, tropical, citrusy additions for flavor and aroma and dry hops

 

[redshift76]

Amarillo/Citra are great together. My hop schedule:

First Wort 1.2oz Warrior

60min hopstand @ 180 degrees 3oz Citra
60min hopstand @ 180 degrees 3oz Amarillo

Dry hop in primary: 1oz Amarillo, 1oz citra

Citra/Amarillo/Simcoe/El Dorado/Mosaic all work well together in any combination IMHO.

 

[Yooper]

Amarillo is very grapefruity, and citra is very tropical. Citra screams MANGO to me, and I'm not a huge fan of the tropical flavor, but I love amarillo. It's like cascade, but with even more grapefruit flavor and aroma.

I would probably change the hopping (60/18/12 is sort of weird) to 60 for bittering/15/5 or 60/15/0 but you still should get quite a bit of flavor and aroma from the late hops. The 60 minute bittering addition won't provide the grapefruit flavor of amarillo, and I'd probably sub a neutral bittering hop variety like magnum.

 

[atabrown]

Responses are encouraging. It's almost time to move it to the secondary. I'm still unsure if I should dry hop with both Amarillo and Citra.

Yooper, why is 60/18/12 weird? I was aiming for about 60IBU, should I have approached it differently?

 

[Yooper]

Responses are encouraging. It's almost time to move it to the secondary. I'm still unsure if I should dry hop with both Amarillo and Citra.

Yooper, why is 60/18/12 weird? I was aiming for about 60IBU, should I have approached it differently?

Generally, the IBUs come from the bittering hops, or rather the majority of the IBUs. The 60 minute hops provide bittering, but little to no actual hops flavor and no hops aroma. The later the hops are added in the boil, the less they are isomerized so they have flavor and aroma. Hops added at 20-15 minutes left in the boil tend to be considered flavor hops, and you get flavor from them. I prefer 15 minutes, which seems to maximize the flavor hops.

Aroma hops tend to be added 10-0 minutes, with the latter times being optimal for aroma.

While your schedule isn't bad, it won't give much hops aroma as the 12 minute boil will mean that more of the hops oils are isomerized- so the 18 and 12 minute additions are basically both flavor additions.

 

[atabrown]

Thanks for the explanation! I'm definitely a rookie brewer and knowing the difference between bittering/flavor/and aroma will change my whole approach.

 

[TheRussMeister]

Also, aiming for 60IBUs sounds more like an IPA to me! At first I thought that schedule was for a 10 gallon batch as an APA. That will be one bitter, hoppy and delicious APA. Enjoy! Have you dry hopped before? If not, you're in for a treat!

 

[atabrown]

I have dry hopped once before, and what a difference it made. My plan is to dry hop this batch with 1oz Amarillo and 1oz Citra. My goal on this batch was to have more of the citra flavor present. I've never used either of these hops though and from the responses on this string and from what I've read, I'll likely be pleased with the Amarillo. I've also come across some opinions that say Citra hops are not good for dry hopping so I'm a little conflicted on adding those to the dry hop. The recipe I'm using was an APA that my brother gave me and I've tweaked the hopping and it's become more of an IPA.

 

[BeerCutter]

I've dry hopped apa's with Citra several times, delicious!!

 

[TheRussMeister]

I can't say I have heard anyone say dry hopping with citra was not good. I heard that of Amarillo, and tasted some I didn't prefer, but citra is great. It's a really fresh citrus taste, I have dry hopped with it several times in APAs as well.

 

[Maltyman]

Love those two hops. Use both for bittering and dry hopping purposes. That being said, some folks don't care for the tropical/grapefruit thing but I do in a big way. On the way to the keggerator now