Any recommendations on hops comparison recipes?

[marc1]

I'm looking to compare Citra and Simcoe side by side in similar brews. Something pale ale-ish with a creamy mouthfeel and head sounds good to me (brewing to style is not a concern). Here's what I've planned out for a 5 gallon recipe with a ~3 gallon boil:

The base will be the same for both

6.6 lbs Gold LME
0.5 lbs honey malt
1 lb golden naked oats

Batch #1 Mostly Citra

0.5 oz Cascade 60min
0.5 oz Citra 20 min
0.5 oz Citra 10 min
0.5 oz Citra 5 min
0.5 oz Citra 0 min
1 oz Citra dry hop

Batch #2 Simcoe

0.5 oz Simcoe 60 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 20 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 10 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 5 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe dry hop


This is my first try at designing a brew on my own.

From my browsing here, people seem divided as to whether Citra is good for a bittering addition or not, so I did a little Cascade instead (I've used Cascade for bittering before and I liked the result, and I've also read that Citra and Cascade play nice together).

The description of the golden naked oats at Midwest sounded really good when I was putting my order together, so I went with those.

I've used honey malt before and liked it with a cream ale, but it was at a little over 0.75 lb/ 5 gallons and it was bordering on too much. I figure 0.5 lb for something that will be much hoppier should be OK.

I'm planning on using Wyeast 1056 for yeast, but I'll also have White Labs 002 available if there's a compelling reason to try that instead.

Am I doing anything way out of line here - is the oats + honey malt too much? Any other hop schedules I should consider?

What would you change if you were brewing these?

 

[sptaylor70]

To reduce your variables to just the single one of flavor:
1. If you're going to use a 60-minute Cascade addition in the Citra batch, the use one in the Simcoe batch, too.
2. Get your IBU totals close to the same value in both batches. Then you're isolating the flavors.

1056 is a good choice - neutral, nothing to complicate the situation. My only other suggestion would be to possibly have a first wort hop addition instead of the 20 minute addition in each case. Keeps the bittering values the same, but adds a dimension to the flavors.

 

[code3rog]

I'm looking to compare Citra and Simcoe side by side in similar brews. Something pale ale-ish with a creamy mouthfeel and head sounds good to me (brewing to style is not a concern). Here's what I've planned out for a 5 gallon recipe with a ~3 gallon boil:

The base will be the same for both

6.6 lbs Gold LME
0.5 lbs honey malt
1 lb golden naked oats

Batch #1 Mostly Citra

0.5 oz Cascade 60min
0.5 oz Citra 20 min
0.5 oz Citra 10 min
0.5 oz Citra 5 min
0.5 oz Citra 0 min
1 oz Citra dry hop

Batch #2 Simcoe

0.5 oz Simcoe 60 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 20 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 10 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 5 min
0.5 oz Simcoe 0 min
0.5 oz Simcoe dry hop

This is my first try at designing a brew on my own.

From my browsing here, people seem divided as to whether Citra is good for a bittering addition or not, so I did a little Cascade instead (I've used Cascade for bittering before and I liked the result, and I've also read that Citra and Cascade play nice together).

The description of the golden naked oats at Midwest sounded really good when I was putting my order together, so I went with those.

I've used honey malt before and liked it with a cream ale, but it was at a little over 0.75 lb/ 5 gallons and it was bordering on too much. I figure 0.5 lb for something that will be much hoppier should be OK.

I'm planning on using Wyeast 1056 for yeast, but I'll also have White Labs 002 available if there's a compelling reason to try that instead.

Am I doing anything way out of line here - is the oats + honey malt too much? Any other hop schedules I should consider?

What would you change if you were brewing these?

I'm just a sucker for the Willamette valley hops! If you want to keep in the honey and neutralize it, look into either centennial or Willamette.

 

[marc1]

Thanks for the replies!

To reduce your variables to just the single one of flavor:
1. If you're going to use a 60-minute Cascade addition in the Citra batch, the use one in the Simcoe batch, too.
2. Get your IBU totals close to the same value in both batches. Then you're isolating the flavors.

1056 is a good choice - neutral, nothing to complicate the situation. My only other suggestion would be to possibly have a first wort hop addition instead of the 20 minute addition in each case. Keeps the bittering values the same, but adds a dimension to the flavors.

Good points! I'll fine tune the amounts when the hops get here and I can see exactly what the %AA are for them.

Maybe I'll first wort hop and hop stand.

I'm just a sucker for the Willamette valley hops! If you want to keep in the honey and neutralize it, look into either centennial or Willamette.

I've brewed an all centennial IPA and liked it a lot.

I've never tried willamette. From the descriptions I've read it is not similar to centennial. Have you brewed anything all willamette? What did you brew and how did it compare to centennial?

 

[sptaylor70]

Willamette is a British-style hop - resembles Fuggles and Goldiings. It's mild, with earthy and floral qualities. Great for bittering, nice for aroma. I've used it in a brown ale, a blonde ale, a Scotch ale, an Irish red ale, and a porter. Good results.