Warrior Hop SMASH

[DGibb]

I have a pound of Warrior hops in my chest freezer, and I wanted to explore the character of the Warrior a little bit, so I have been considering a Warrior SMASH, but I don't do all grain yet.

My main goals:

• Learn about the character of Warrior hops for bittering, flavor, and aroma
• Make a IIPA from this (since the AA is 13.7%)
• Create a simple recipe that I can use with other hops for similar brews
• Enjoy some beer
• Live up to the name I chose: Hulk SMASH!

I was planning on running this type of recipe:

Hulk SMASH!
Extract with Specialty Grains
5.0 gallon batch
3.0 gallon boil

3 lb Crystal 20L
6 lb Light DME (3 lb late extract addition)
1 lb honey

.75 oz Warrior @ 70 min
.50 oz Warrior @ 40 min
.50 oz Warrior @ 20 min
.50 oz Warrior @ 5 min
1.0 oz Warrior @ Dry Hop for 5 days

WLP001 California Ale Yeast

Primary 3 weeks, Secondary 5 days.

According to Hopville, this should come out with 7.6% ABV, 71.2 IBUs, and 12 degrees SRM. I have read that people have used Warrior for aroma and flavor resulting in a light citrusy lemon, but that's usually secondhand. Some people said they were trying a Warrior SMASH, but never posted results. I want to know a little more about the hops I have, so I think this could be a good way to learn.

And yes, I know that having the Crystal 20L, DME, and honey makes it not a strict SMASH, but I wanted it to turn out as an IIPA. If you could suggest another way to achieve this in a more traditional SMASH style, please let me know!

 

[meschaefer]

Why not forgo the honey. Use a single hop addition with a single specialty grain, in a light dme base

Edit: I mean a single hop choice, not a single "addition".

 

[Zamial]

Feel free to do what you want. IMO this is going to be almost undrinkably bitter. Warrior is a fantastic clean bittering hop. I use warrior almost exclusively to bitter my beers.

I would do something like:
.25-.50 warrior 60-90 minutes (Leaning closer to .25)
.50-.75 warrior 20 minutes
.75-1 warrior 7 minutes
.75-1 warrior 0 minutes
1 oz dry hop

It is going to be difficult to get much other than bittering out of them so I would start really light and build up the later additions. Also the times I posted will give you the maximum results for each addition.

I would also ditch the honey because it will make the beer seem thinner in the mouthfeel. In a very bitter beer like this that is not going to be welcomed. I would actually sub in 1/2 to 1 lbs of dextrose (corn sugar) this is a common practice in IPAs to give the drink more mouthfeel.

You can still make this a SMaSH if you sub out your specialty grains for plain 2-row and do not use the adjuncts: corn sugar/honey. If you do not, that is fine to, it is your beer after all...

Good luck!

 

[dcp27]

3lbs of crystal is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. I wouldnt go over 1lb.

since warrior is a high AA and pretty mild flavor/aroma, I'd just hop burst this. something like this:
2oz @15
2oz @5
2oz @dry hop
(~50-60IBUs)

 

[BeerBrent]

i would replace the honey with light DME. and definately lower the boil time to a max 60mins. since you are only boiling 3 gallons and its all extract, as to help not darken up the batch.

 

[BrewMU]

I don't know how you can do a 'true' smash with extract - do any of them use a single labeled grain variety? Otherwise, I'd say go for it - it's still a single hop brew, and should be educational. You could just add more extract to up the gravity if you want to replace some of the crystal.
One thing I'd change - I'd knock .25 oz. off the earliest addition and put it in the last 15 minutes.