Calypso hops?

[Jon_TWR]

Well, add me to the list of people who picked up a lb of Calypso from Hops Direct based on the description and price.

I'm finally brewing with them today (A SMaSH with Fawcett MO), and they smell different than most any other hop I've smelled. I'm basically brewing a hopburst blonde, but I'm thinking about dry-hopping, since these have been reported as being so mellow.

I'll update with more details after I actually have tasted them in the beer. ;

 

[stblindtiger]

I was thinking about brewing a Maris Otter & Calypso SMASH this weekend.

stblindtiger - If you were brewing it again would you punch up the 20/10 hops to try for more flavor? 0.5 oz each on 20/10? Take 60 minute down to 05. oz and go 0.75 each on 20/10? Do you think the dry hop did anything/was worth while?

Sorry for the late reply, but if I was going to brew using this hop again I would definitely up my 20 and 10 additions.

To be honest though, I wouldn't have very high expectations. I feel as though this is a very solid bittering hop, but not much else...

 

[AventinusCam]

I recently made a small red ale session that I had a very specific hop schedule picked out for. My local homebrew store usually has any hop you could possibly ever want, but when I went they were picked clean of most things. No Jades, Galaxies, or any other possible backups were there, so I read the descriptors and decided to use calypsos. The smell out of the bag was honestly incredible. It did smell like green apple. The smell continued in primary for a few days after us-05 was still working its magic. After that, it totally died. It got just way too bitter. It brought nothing else to the party. Just grassy bitterness. I realize tastes are subjective, but I know my water chemistry is ideal for brewing hoppy ales...yet somehow this just didn't deliver. Sorry for being wordy, but long story short...never using these again. Hopefully my single malt single hop pale with galaxy makes up for this.

 

[sunnyrepublic]

We use the 2012 harvest of NZ Calypso as our main aroma hop for Sunny Republic Beach Blonde.
Totally amazing aromas of tropical fruit salads, pineapple, grapefruit and lemon/lime.
Highly recommended

 

[mewithstewpid]

Anyone gone big with these?

I have a pound i got for 8$, thinking of this:

Pale ale
Hop extract 60 minutes to 25 IBU
4 oz calypso 0 min with 20min steep at 180deg
4 oz calypso dry hop

 

[22415 Brewery]

I just brewed an all-calypso pale ale using a very standard pale ale recipe and US05 yeast. It has a fruitiness that really reminds me of some of the esters that come from english ale yeasts, particularly stone fruit and a slight oaky ester. The bittering is very smooth and somewhat mellow. There is a distinct apple-like note which reminds me of half-dried apple peel rather than fresh apples. Imagine if you took a crabapple that was slightly decayed after falling off the tree and touched just the outer skin. There is also a very faint pear note that is more of a secondary aroma. I could also distinguish a somewhat herby complexity much like the same herby, dank, and garlicky notes that some find from Nugget hops.

I also brewed a fresh hopped Imperial IPA using a pound of wet Simcoe hops and an ounce of dried Calypso for bittering where all the fresh hops were added with 15 minutes or less in the boil. This is an outstanding beer and the bittering is very very smooth.

I am looking forward to blending this hop with some English Challenger hops in an ordinary bitter or even a draught pub ale. I am also glad to have a pound of these so that I can utilize their smooth bittering for my pumpkin ale, mocha imperial stout, and add some to my normal apa to add complexity.

 

[Mr_Pear]

Where do you get wet simcoe hops!?

 

[22415 Brewery]

Where do you get wet simcoe hops!?

Fortunately I was able to order the wet simcoe from my LHBS. I used the entire pound for a single batch and am freakin proud of it! It's probably my best IIPA yet considering that my last IIPA was a brewer's choice beer in a local homebrew comp.

They went real nice in the 9.1% abv IIPA however I must say that the Calypso hops lended an inexpensive, unique, and very smooth bittering component.

In fact I just had a pint of the IIPA and am now sipping on the all-Calypso pale ale. There is a distinct and very obvious apple peel aroma from the Calypso hops, it's almost cider-like but not really. I know it's not a fermentation flaw because of measured steady ferment temps. Again, I am looking forward to blending this hop with some English Challengers for an ordinary bitter.

 

[22415 Brewery]

I wanted to update tasting notes for the all Calypso APA after it has cold conditioned for the past two months.

There are now very strong bruised apple-like aromas. The pear notes are still there as well as a delicate floral quality. Again as I noted in a previous post, the bitterness is quite smooth.

I'm currently kegging an english pale ale that features Calypso as the bittering hop with Challenger and 1st Gold as aroma hops and am interested to see how the Calypso will influence the marmalade-like Challengers.

 

[Christ872]

I put it in a Belgian Pale Ale that I brewed on 10/6. I bottled on 10/27. I used this as a flavor/aroma addition. My ABV is 5.6% so i may try the first one about the 12/8 or 12/15 weekend.

 

[mewithstewpid]

I put it in a Belgian Pale Ale that I brewed on 10/6. I bottled on 10/27. I used this as a flavor/aroma addition. My ABV is 5.6% so i may try the first one about the 12/8 or 12/15 weekend.

what!!!! try that thing now man (considering its 12/6 when im writing this)

 

[seatbelt123]

what!!!! try that thing now man (considering its 12/6 when im writing this)

I second this! Full tasting report STAT!

 

[BBFCreatureFM]

I had a few pints of a single hop Calypso IPA on draft by Cigar City this evening (Abraxas in Miami Beach). I liked it a lot. Lots of apple and pear, but none of the onion dankness that I have seen others use to describe the Calypso. It was smooth and not too bitter. I think I may make a MO SMASH with it, with a British ale yeast. I was pretty into it, and normally I like IPAs that are far more citrusy than this Cigar City Roaring Lion IPA.

 

[Christ872]

Okay...tried my first one of these this evening.

Sinfully good Belgian. The taste of apple is moreso than pear...I think the pear comes along later on the palate. This is a delicious beer.

Here's the recipe I created for the Calypso hopped Belgian. I named it Angus Dei...Lamb of God

http://hopville.com/recipe/1651089

The aromatic malt comes through a bit in the aroma and the taste is very much of a Belgian. The flavor hops addition of Calypso is the right fit here.

 

[mewithstewpid]

Okay...tried my first one of these this evening.

Sinfully good Belgian. The taste of apple is moreso than pear...I think the pear comes along later on the palate. This is a delicious beer.

Here's the recipe I created for the Calypso hopped Belgian. I named it Angus Dei...Lamb of God

http://hopville.com/recipe/1651089

The aromatic malt comes through a bit in the aroma and the taste is very much of a Belgian. The flavor hops addition of Calypso is the right fit here.

Glad you like it. Also, if you named it after the band, I just saw them a couple weeks ago with in flames. Best metal concert I've seen so far

If its not after the band, well then I'm just happy calypso worked well! Recipe looks good

Edit: after seeing your username I'm guessing its not after the band haha! Oops

 

[CityOChampBrew]

to those of you who have purchase and liked this hop, is anyone else disappointed that it has gone up in price at hops direct

 

[mewithstewpid]

to those of you who have purchase and liked this hop, is anyone else disappointed that it has gone up in price at hops direct

just wait for the end of year sale. unless it becomes the new "in" hop

 

[22415 Brewery]

Just poured the first pint of an extract American Amber Ale @ 1064 using Calypso as primary bittering hop, finished with Challenger and Centennials during the last 10 minutes of the boil.

Again, this hop does not have any presence in the finish, just a smooth bittering. The Challengers and Centennials really shine and do not compete with any other hop flavor. This was a mere 30 minute extract boil and this beer came out excellent.

I'm not sure what the specs are, but the Calypso hop must have a fairly low co-humolone %. The bitterness is unmistakably smooth.

Love this hop and just popped it into another pils as a bittering addition, we'll see how it turns out as I turned up the Tettnanger aroma hops.

 

[Gear101]

I have yet to try this, but have a lb in the freezer.

 

[DacotahBrewing]

I used calypso in an American rye today. The smell was similar to summit in my opinion. Some citrus, slight fruitiness, some what dank, and possibly oniony. I just pitched the yeast and I will follow up when it is finished. It was all late hop additions. 1oz each at 15, 5, 1.

 

[Randy_Bugger]

This American/English Belgian style IPA recipe with Calypso produced a tasty* beer.

Unlike several people in this thread, I got plenty of apple flavor and aroma. The Calypso hops were probably 9 months old, but were stored properly. The beer was sampled fresh after 3 weeks in the bottle and I'm happy with the results.

OG - 1.066
FG - 1.010
ABV - 7.3%
IBU - 62.3
SRM - 6.7
preboil - 7.5-ish gal 
fermenter - 5.75-ish gal   

10 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.5 SRM) Grain  77.7 % 
1 lbs Vienna Malt (Weyermann) (3.0 SRM) Grain  7.8 % 

8.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain  3.9 % 
4.0 oz Acid Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain  1.9 % 
2.0 oz Oats, Flaked (Briess) (1.4 SRM) Grain  1.0 % 
1 lbs Demerera Sugar (2.0 SRM) Sugar  7.8 % 

0.50 oz Calypso [15.40 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop  23.2 IBUs 
2.00 oz Cascade [6.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop  20.4 IBUs 
1.50 oz Calypso [15.40 %] - Boil 7.0 min Hop  18.7 IBUs 
2.00 oz Sterling [7.20 %] - Aroma steep 60mins @ 130F 0.0 IBUs 

1.0 pkg Belgian Ardennes (Wyeast Labs #3522) (1.5L starter)   

2.00 oz Cascade [6.80 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days   0.0 IBUs 
2.00 oz Calypso [15.40 %] - Dry Hop 4.0 Days  0.0 IBUs

*tasty if you like fruity, semi-bitter beers minus the fruit

This is a 62 ibu beer that drinks like a 40 ibu beer. Very smooth bitterness. The Calypso hops paired well with the Ardennes yeast. I will make this again, perhaps with some minor changes like increasing the bitterness a bit.

aroma/flavor notes - apple, sweet pineapple, light herbal/dank, brown sugar/butterscotch-ish from the honey malt, pie spice, light bready malt. Finished relatively dry, but still has some malty sweetness from the honey malt.

Not sure where the pineapple aroma came from, but I'm glad it's there. The Cascade is less prominent than Calypso. They blend together nicely.

 

[Twinkeelfool]

Reading this post as I'm about to mash in a saison. Was going to just use Hallertau at 60 mins, but I might put some in late in the boil.