Recipe with equinox hops?

I am trying to come up with a recipe with equinox hops. I used 1oz dry hop in Rye IPA with Centennial and cascade and they came out good. The Equinox was unique, it had a dank and tropical fruit flavor. No green pepper I could detect. What other hop combinations would go with equinox? And malts? I have 2-row, pilsner, pearl, and Marris Otter. Thanks.

 

Lagunitas makes a beer that is dry hopped with equal parts equinox and simcoe, and it is fabulous.

 

Yes, I have had that. It's is real good. Really dank and citrusey. It just so happens I do have some simcoe. It's says it's an oat pale ale but more like an IPA to me. Is there a clone recipe around, I have checked.Not that I want to exactly clone it but to get a better idea.

 

Here's my recipe:



The Dankness

American IPA (14 B)



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 10.50 gal
Boil Size: 11.44 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 10.94 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 10.10 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage


Date: 03 Feb 2017

Equipment: 10 gal Home depot cooler
Efficiency: 85.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 85.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0



19 lbs Pearl Malt, (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.4 %
2 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
2.00 oz Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 55.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 8.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 7.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 7 9.4 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 8 8.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.015 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 89.4 IBUs
Est Color: 6.9 SRM

 

That looks great! I might replace some or all of the Crystal 20 with Golden Naked Oats. I have a (completely unsubstantiated) suspicion that that's a part of the malt profile of the Lagunitas. Plus, GNO is just yummy.

I wonder about the 2 oz dry hop... On one hand, that seems low for an IPA. On the other hand, Equinox (and Simcoe to a lesser extent) has a reputation for getting weird when used with too heavy a hand. Maybe up it to 1.5 or 2 oz each?

 

Sure, lets do some golden naked oats. And I will add 2oz dry hops per 5 gallons. Will update recipe soon.

 

OK updated recipe. Sub crystal 20 for golden naked oats. Added 2 more oz to whirlpool and to dry hop.

The Dankness

American IPA (14 B)



Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 10.50 gal
Boil Size: 11.44 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 10.94 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 10.10 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage


Date: 03 Feb 2017

Equipment: 10 gal Home depot cooler
Efficiency: 85.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 85.0 %
Taste Rating: 30.0


19 lbs Pearl Malt, (Thomas Fawcett) (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 86.4 %
2 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.1 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.5 %
2.00 oz Apollo [17.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 55.3 IBUs
1.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 8.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 6 7.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 7 18.7 IBUs
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30.0 min Hop 8 16.2 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 ml] Yeast 9 -
2.00 oz Equinox (HBC 366) [15.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
2.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


Gravity, Alcohol Content and Color

Est Original Gravity: 1.067 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.8 %
Bitterness: 106.7 IBUs
Est Color: 5.9 SRM

 

Yeah! Only one caveat: you have flaked oats in the recipe, which are not the same as golden naked oats (which are a crystal oat malt).

 

OK got it, didn't know if they were flaked or malted. But golden kinda means malted so I will sub them in. Should I double crush the oat malt separately? Thanks.

 

They are malted, yes. But again, not the same thing as "oat malt" (which is the oat equivalent of pale malt). They are malted like a crystal/caramel malt, using a higher moisture content. This is what you're looking for.

As for crushing them, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to double crush. Maybe run them through once on their own, then a second time along with the rest of the grain.

 

Awesome, can't wait to see how the final product turns out with the golden oats. Sounds like something to keep in the arsenal.

 

Do let us (or just me, since no one else has really been on this thread so far) know how it turns out! I hope it's just plain awesome.

 

How did the beer turn out?

 

Beer is still in the primary. Three and a half weeks. Waiting for a keg to free up. Maybe I should drink more. Anyway, it smelled good coming from the airlock. Had this lime-tangerine thing going on. We'll see. I am going to keg hop this. Any other suggestions hop combos to dry hop with Equinox besides Simcoe? Thanks.

 

I've got a beer in the fermentor as well with about equal parts of Equinox and Simcoe, and a couple oz of Columbus for some added dank. About 7 oz total in the boil/whirlpool and about 7 oz dry hop. So far, tastes amazing. This combo comes across a lot like Mosaic to me, really complex; dank, lime sherbet, tropical fruity, "catty", "green". But the thing to me about Equinox (-after having experimented with a pound over a couple months) is that it imparts a dankness that overpower some other more one dimensional hops.

I liked how it tasted in an equal Citra/galaxy/Equinox blend, but I feel it muted some of those subtler tropical notes.

I'm thinking the key to Equinox is pairing it with more intense ones like Mosaic, Simcoe. I think Equinox/Nelson may be super interesting.

 

I did a beer with mostly Red X malt and Equinox only as late and dry hop additions and while good, it was a little too much of the green pepper some talk about. I have about 8 oz left and think I may try this with rye malt and Simco and Nelson Sauvin. Maybe leave the Equinox to only whirlpool and dry hop.
I don't find the green pepper taste bad, it's just not my favorite in a beer. I've been looking for that more tropical side of Equinox I've read about......or whatever they changed the name to now.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. The Rye IPA I brewed previously I had dry hopped with 1 oz Citra, 1 oz Equinox, an .5 Columbus. The Citra was totally drowned out by the Equinox, but the Columbus seemed to complement the Equinox. So I am leaning towards using Columbus and Mosaic as I have some on hand. Equinox/Neslon sounds like a real interesting combo. I only wish Nelson was cheaper and easier to find cause I would be picking up some this instant.

 

Hi.

This is my future recipe, which I will be brewing in the near future. This is for a 5 - 5.5. gallons

Malt & sugar

6000 gr Pale Ale Malt
1500 gr Vienna Malt
250 gr Carapils
250 gr Victory Malt

Hops

25 gr Azacca 30 minutes

25 gr Azacca 15 minutes

25 gr Amarillo 5 minutes
25 gr Mosaic 5 minutes
25 gr Azacca 5 minutes
25 gr Equinox 5 minutes

25 gr Amarillo Flameout
25 gr Mosaic Flameout
25 gr Azacca Flameout
25 gr Equinox Flameout

50 gr Amarillo Dry hopping 3 days
50 gr Mosaic Dry hopping 3 days
50 gr Equinox Dry hopping 3 days

Yeast

2 x Safale US 05

 

I don't know how Azacca will play with Equinox. My guess is you would have use 2:1 or 3:1 ratio with Equinox as it really does dominate. That is one of my reasons to find out what goes well and to justify combinations with Equinox, not just to throw hops in only to find they are muted. I did see a 30 min, 15 min addition of Azacca in your recipe. I would scratch that I would put all Azacca in 5min/flamout and add to dry hop.

 

Not to side track the thread but... You should look into getting the "Last Straw" or a beer gun. I purchased the "Last Straw" for reasons like this. If I don't have an empty keg when my next batch is ready ready to be kegged, I just bottle the rest of the beer to free it up. It's been an awesome tool to have.

Ok, back to the topic! Cheers!

 

UPDATE: Ok, so I finally I had some empty kegs and racked the IPA them. The first keg I kegged hopped with 1 oz of Equinox, Simcoe, and Columbus. The second keg with 1oz of Equinox, Mosaic, and Columbus. After a week carbing the first keg tasted good. The Columbus was a little sharp but knew it would settle down. So after two weeks, it is a lot more balanced. Now it is simply amazing. The flavor is lime, citrus, diesel, pine, dank with tropical undertones. There is a resiny punch from the Columbus at the end. The nose is awesome too. Very crisp and easy to drink, too easy. This was my first time using Pearl malt and it gives it a good biscuity, bready backbone to layer hops with. The second keg with the mosaic is equally as good, definitely some more tropical notes there. The golden naked oats adds like a oat cereal taste and adds to the mouth feel. I am trying to steer clear of crystal malts and I think adding some layers of higher lovibond base malts helps add complexity.

 

Awesome! I'm so glad both kegs came out tasty!

 

I don't think I have ever heard this as a descriptor before, can you explain this flavor somewhat?

 

just a nitpick here- naked oats are a crystal malt. 10L. and they are delicious.

 

Correct. We had actually established that earlier in the thread. I think this was OP's first time using GNO, and wasn't quite sure what they were at first. But I think what he means by "avoiding crystal malt" is not using the standard barley crystal malts (C10,20,30,etc).

 

Yeah, basically standard crystal barley. The NO is not caramely like crystal barley. More of oily oat flavor. This beer is unique in a good way. The equinox gives it a diesel nose and taste used in quantity. Not complaining, actually like it. I remember armarillo one harvest year doing the same thing.

 

Probably meant as a descriptor to use for the "wacky weed".

 

It could be discribed this way.

 

I would have just used "dank", but it looks like the kids are taking that away from us olds, and using it to mean "good" now.

Damn kids!

GET OFFA MY LAWN!

 

I challenge somebody to brew this recipe then you know what I am talking about. Trust me, its bangin. Just ferment low- 62F then raise after a couple days. If you can't get some Pearl malt you could sub American pale or two-row. Really digging the Pearl though. It's crisp with Wyeast American I, American II could be used as well.

 

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1491117273.099668.jpg

Here is mine; all GW 2 row OG 1.065, fermented with Conan. 2:2:.75 parts Equinox, Simcoe and Columbus. I agree about the sharpness, but over the past few days it has calmed down to a nice level. Definitely get a lot of the same flavor descriptors as you; dank, lime sorbet, pine, lime zest, diesel/resin, papaya, Juicyfruit gum... very complex hop profile. Made it a few IBU too bitter I think, but still super drinkable and delicious. Not for the faint of heart, it's a pretty intense experience.

 

Definelty not for the faint of heart. This recipe is something I would brew again. My previous brew was a NE style IPA. I loaded it with mostly flavor/aroma hops, 12 oz of hops per 5 gallons. It's is very good, but miss the bitterness bite from boil addition hop. This recipe has real good flavor/aroma and a bitterness kick.

 

Exactly the same here. Been doing ipas/pale ales with very low bittering hops and just a large flameout/whirlpool addition and just as you, started missing the bitter bite that defines IPA. Think in this one (5gallon batch) I tried .5 oz mash hop, .75 oz 60, both Columbus, .5 oz Simcoe (20), .5 oz Simcoe (15), 1 oz Columbus 10 then 2 oz each of Simcoe and Equinox at flameout then a 30 min hop stand. Calculated, it's like 150 IBU or something crazy... definitely doesn't that intense, but maybe next time I'd skip the mash hop and maybe shift some of those boil hops back by 5-10 mins and it'd be perfect WC IPA.

 

I just did this one and it turned out pretty good.
https://beerandbrewing.com/366-extra-brett-pale-ale-recipe/

 

Here's my 2016 GABF Pro Am silver medal recipe. That's if you like English IPAs.

https://ibb.co/e6MKkk

 

85% efficiency is pretty good. What's your process?

 

I set my grain mill very fine. There is some dust but get no astringent or tanic flavors. Also, I fly sparge. Just remember to drain slow, it will definitely help in efficiency. I started out doing all-grain batch sparging but turns out I was doing a hybrid fly sparge cause I didn't know what I was doing. I finally settled on straight fly sparging because I didn't have to mix grain and vorlauf several times.