Apollo Hops!

[brewtus-maximus]

Anyone have any insight into this beastly botanical? I ordered 8 ounces of it from MoreBeer! with the intentions of creating my own Single Hop Series IPA with it. Admittedly, I am absolutely terrified of what the results will yield. I added 2 oz at 60 minutes, 2 oz at 30, 1 oz at 10 and 1 at flame-out. I was going to try and dry-hop the last 2 oz but I am already very scared. I have one week until I want to rack to secondary. I do intend to taste it to see if I will go forward and that is really going to be the determining factor, however, I do want to know if anyone has had any fortune with this herb (or misfortune).

I am really looking forward to it regardless. I am a MASSIVE hop-head and even if this beer sucks, it will be drank (unless it is poisonous). From what I can tell from its fragrance, this hop is very, very spicy. I tried to counter it with some extra body but I messed up my OG reading so it will be hard to say if I was successful or not. I'll let you know.

 

[Gameface]

I have used it for bittering and I like it a lot. Not so sure about using it as a finishing hop.

Not to go there, but I see you're kind of new, racking to secondary after 7 days may not be the best way to go. I'll just leave it at, do a search for "are secondaries necessary" and read a few hundred of the thousands upon thousands of posts that have been made on that subject. But certainly, you shouldn't transfer at 7 days for the sake of transferring at 7 days, it should be based on gravity readings and you shouldn't transfer until fermentation is complete.

 

[brewtus-maximus]

No offense taken... I am very new at this so feel free to treat me like a brew-noob. I have had it in primary for a week already so I was planning on racking at 14 days. Sorry, my first post was not clear on that. I have seen a ton of people, including some of my personal friends, who all say that secondaries are not necessary. Personally, I don't care too much about clarity at this point, I just want to learn the process.

 

[Gameface]

No offense taken... I am very new at this so feel free to treat me like a brew-noob. I have had it in primary for a week already so I was planning on racking at 14 days. Sorry, my first post was not clear on that. I have seen a ton of people, including some of my personal friends, who all say that secondaries are not necessary. Personally, I don't care too much about clarity at this point, I just want to learn the process.

Sounds good, let us know how the single hop IPA turns out.

Just because I can't help myself, but secondaries and clarity are not really related. You can get crystal clear beer with or without a secondary.

 

[hotwatermusic]

Whoa! That's a lot of hops. At some point you will push your IBU's past an appreciable difference. You could probably do 2 hoppy beers with that amount. Apollo is a great bittering hop. I too have no experience with using it in late additions. Often high alpha hops do make for interesting dry-hopping character, I would go ahead. It won't make your brew any more bitter and could actually give you a little more balance towards the aroma side. As a bit of counter point I often rack to secondary strictly due to lack of ferm space. I don't think it helps to introduce O2 more than necessary but if you develop good habits it can be done relatively safely. The dangers are often over stated... but we need something to argue about right? Usually the issues that are debated the most are the ones that will make the least impact on your finished product. As far as the Apollo experiment goes, the only failed experiment is the one you don't learn from. If you don't like it, drink the **** out of it anyway until you understand every nuance of the hop and know exactly what you would do different next time. I've had some awesome times learning from pitching onto odd yeast cakes and clearing out leftover hops from the freezer. Cheers.

 

[aprichman]

That's a half pound of hops I would consider making a IIPA around 7.5 - 9% ABV to balance those hops.

 

[brewtus-maximus]

That's a half pound of hops I would consider making a IIPA around 7.5 - 9% ABV to balance those hops.

It is indeed a lot of hops. I have, however, already commenced brewing. In fact it's been fermenting for a week. It did cross my mind to make it a double but I chose to beef up the body on specialty grains instead of fermentables. Hopefully I gained enough balance to make it potable (balance be a very relative term here).

 

[Baldy246]

I am a MASSIVE hop-head and even if this beer sucks, it will be drank (unless it is poisonous)..

For some reason this line made me laugh out loud!!

I'm fairly new to this as well but I've learned two things.

1. You'll learn what to do/or not to again.

2. In the end, you will still have beer!

Good luck!

 

[treacheroustexan]

It is indeed a lot of hops. I have, however, already commenced brewing. In fact it's been fermenting for a week. It did cross my mind to make it a double but I chose to beef up the body on specialty grains instead of fermentables. Hopefully I gained enough balance to make it potable (balance be a very relative term here).

Let us know how it turned out.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

I would've dropped to 1oz @60 and removed the 30 all together. That's going to be a bitter bomb, not likely in a good way. Those 3oz would have been moved to the last 15, along with what you already had.

 

[bobeer]

I bought the same 8oz bag of apollo hops from more beer and I made a few beers with it. I mixed apollo with amarillo, centennial, and liberty in the whirlpool and dryhop and the beer turned out great. I think a single hopped apollo beer would be good so let us know how it turns out.

I kept the ziplock bag the hops came in too. It helps to store the 2oz bags in a sealed environment so they don't get that weird freezer smell to them.

 

[Natdavis777]

I like them for bittering hops, but the LHBS hasnt had any in stock lately.

 

[brewtus-maximus]

Not trying to run some cheese ad campaign but you should check out morebeer.com. They have a crazy awesome selection. They ship crazy fast and if your order is $60 or more you get free shipping. I can usually find $60 worth of crap I need (or my fiends need) or I can just buy for the next two brews. I have loved it so far.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I regularly use Apollo for late additions, hop stands and dry hopping. It's my secret weapon. I love the aroma and flavor from hop stands and dry hopping. It's a grapefruit bomb! I do an IPA with Centennial for bittering and Apollo and Citra for late/hopstand/dryhop. It has become my house IPA. If you like grapefruit (think Cascade on steroids), I highly recommend it.

 

[homebrewdr]

Admittedly, I am absolutely terrified of what the results will yield.

Don't be scared, have a homebrew!

I did almost the same thing with El-Dorado hops. The next brew I split it with Nugget and El-Dorado. I'm gonna make a black IPA with 100% German Herkules hops. Who knows why? Cause its mine and I wanna.

If you are worried about the bitterness, don't. The tongue can only perceive 100 IBUs. If you happen to find it too bitter, just be sure to either add more hops at the end for flavoring next time, or get into the habit of using BrewersFriend to calculate your IBUs.

 

[nimboden]

It will definitely be a big bitter bomb. I've done an Apollo smash beer and was not a huge fan, Apollo tends to go the onion and garlic route in terms of flavor and aroma. But as a bittering hop with some Columbus and cascade for flavor and aroma it's great. When I first started brewing I was all about intense flavors and iipas but I find as I brew and understand what I'm tasting more that I prefer subtle flavors and a nice firm bitterness 40-60 ibus in most of my ipas. Can't stress that importance of balance and keeping it simple in recipe design.

 

[MileHighBrewer]

Super high ibu's, AA's, don't really equal "hoppy", just very unpleasant bitter. What most hopheads desire, is actually huge aroma and flavor, not bitterness. In my experience as of late, i get "hoppier" beers really pounding the last 10-15 min, especially flame out, with 75-90% of my hops. You can even go way above style guidelines for ibu, because it's a different type of perceived bitterness.

Something to think about for the next brew

 

[brewtus-maximus]

I regularly use Apollo for late additions, hop stands and dry hopping. It's my secret weapon. I love the aroma and flavor from hop stands and dry hopping. It's a grapefruit bomb! I do an IPA with Centennial for bittering and Apollo and Citra for late/hopstand/dryhop. It has become my house IPA. If you like grapefruit (think Cascade on steroids), I highly recommend it.

I love cascade. Sierra Nevada is one if my favorite breweries (although I haven't tried as many of their brews as I'd like). I am still holding out hope for this one. Not getting my hopes too high but there is no way that I won't enjoy this beer in one way or another.

Dry hopping really is sounding like a possibility. I think at this point I can't hurt.

 

[brewtus-maximus]

So I just took my gravity and taste-tested it last night. It really wasn't all that bad (however, I may have already been drinking just a little bit and I also may have been drinking Union Jack so my pallet was pretty well saturated with hops already) but regardless, I decided to Dry Hop with my last two ounces of Apollo. We shall see...

 

[brewtus-maximus]

Bottled this weekend... Tasted like dish soap. I really hope that goes away but I won't hold my breath. I did also just learn that my city uses a fair amount of chlorine in the water so I have acquired some Campden tablets. Hopefully that helps my cause. We'll see if the taste gets any better after priming (and maybe a couple years of bottle conditioning).

 

[brewtus-maximus]

Soooo..... I just tried my first after only a week of being bottled (I got antsy and had to try) aaaannnndd.... It totally tastes like soap. lol

Couple things to note. In a different style beer (aka not an IPA) this might have been ok in smaller doses as an aroma hope. Let's hope that the taste fades a bit. I also found out that I have an overabundance of Chlorine in my city water so Campden Tablets are on the next recipe.

 

[aprichman]

Soooo..... I just tried my first after only a week of being bottled (I got antsy and had to try) aaaannnndd.... It totally tastes like soap. lol

Couple things to note. In a different style beer (aka not an IPA) this might have been ok in smaller doses as an aroma hope. Let's hope that the taste fades a bit. I also found out that I have an overabundance of Chlorine in my city water so Campden Tablets are on the next recipe.

They can't all be winners

 

[brewtus-maximus]

No joke. It's all good though. It might take like 2 years of bottle conditioning but I'll drink it.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Tasting at a week won't tell you much. Not sure what the dish soap flavor is. I've never heard of any hops described as giving that flavor. Could be the chlorine (or chloramine) or something in the fermenting process or just green beer. Give it some time and see how it mellows.

 

[brewtus-maximus]

So I think that the soapy flavor is the Chloromine (or whatever that chlorine containing chemical in my water is) because it always seems to go away after time. I also used some Campden tablets on my last brew and that terrible flavor went away.

As for the actual flavor of the Apollo hops, the Spicy character that you see advertised is very accurate. I will definitely use this hop again for not only it's kick ass bittering efficiency but also it could be really good in a green chili IPA. Dry hop some Apollo with some Cascade and I think you could have a fantastic Green Chili IPA.

The batch that drove this thread is way too bitter. I will drink it all and enjoy it to a small extent but... way less hops next time.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I've actually never used Apollo for bittering. I mainly use it for hop stands and dry hopping. Also, maybe a 5 or 10 minute late addition. My wife wanted a "citrus bomb" IPA so I did a brew with minimal early hops and then late additions, hop stand and dry hops using Apollo, Cascade and Citra. Great flavor and aroma. Used about 10 oz of hops and still only 65 IBUs since most of it was added from the last 5 minutes through dry hopping. I called it Blonde Bombshell. Gotta keep her happy