Opinion on my hops schedule

[xxHelderxx]

Hey Guys-

Brewing up a belgian IPA tonight and I wanted to make sure my hops schedule looked right. I'm trying to make this a hop forward beer (kind of like Houblon Chouffe) but I still want the hops to be traditional in the sense of a belgian beer. Here's what I've got:

1.5oz Perle 60 Min @ 8.2%
.5oz Spalt 20 Min @ 5.8%
.5oz Saaz 20 Min @ 4.0%
.5oz Spalt 5 Min @ 5.8%
.5oz Saaz 5 Min @ 4.0%

.5oz Saaz Dry hop 7 days
.5oz Spalt Dry hop 7 days

I've read that Saaz hops can be easily dominated because they're very delicate, but I do love their spicyness and was hoping to encorporate that into the overall hop profile of this beer. That being said, should I move some of these additions around? One thought was to move the 20 min Saaz addition to 5min making the total Saaz addition 1oz at 5 min.

I've also read mixed feedback on dry hopping with Saaz, so I'm open for suggestions.

How do you guys feel Spalt and Saaz will pair up?

Thanks!

 

[Oldsock]

You've probably already brewed this, but for something called an IPA (even Belgian) I'd expect more hops towards the end of the boil (especially since these European varieties tend to lend themselves less to dry hopping).

Worse comes to worse you can always make a hop tea to add at bottling, that way you get similar aromatics without to late boil additions without having them scrubbed out by CO2 during fermentation.

 

[xxHelderxx]

I ended up going a different route and changed the hop schedule to this:

1.25 Bravo @ 14.5% 60 Min
.25 Bravo @ 14.5% 30 Min
.50 Spalt @ 5.8% 10 Min
.50 Saaz @ 4.0% 10 Min
1oz Spalt @ 5.8% 1 Min
1oz Saaz @ 4.0% 1 Min

Will be dry hopping with 1 oz Amarillo for 10 Days.

My thoughts were by using the Bravos I'd get a nice clean bitterness and from the 30 minute addition possibly some fruity/zesty flavor as these hops can sometimes lend that character. I want the noble hops to really shine here though so I figured by boiling for 30 I would drive off a lot of the harshness that can sometimes result from a high AA hop. I also upped the addition at flameout hoping to get some more aroma out of the Spalt and Saaz as I'm hoping it will play nicely with the spicyness of the yeast.

Amarillo now instead of Saaz/Spalt for dry hopping. I too read that noble hops can be tricky/grassy when dry hopping so I played it safe and went with Amarillo, which I love.

thoughts now?

 

[moose123]

would you mind sharing your grain bill?

 

[xxHelderxx]

Sure- here she is:

8# 2 Row
3.25# Belg Pils
1# Flaked Wheat
1.5# Table Sugar