can you brew with any kind of hop combination?

[basilchef]

Im thinking of using nugget to bitter, amarillo to flavor and citra for aroma. Does this seem doable? Will I get bad ipa? Oh yeah im using 2 row and crystal 40.

 

[nebben]

You can, absolutely. There might be a better combination of ounces/alpha acid % and time additions, but who knows. That combo sounds doable.

 

[cmybeer]

Best way to figure out is to do it. Your tastes are not the same as ours so no matter what we say it may or may not apply to you. Without experimentation there would only be a very small and boring selection of beers today.

When you do brew it and finally drink it my advice would be to take detailed tasting notes. How it tastes initially, how it tastes when you swallow it and how it tastes after the fact. Then think about those hops and their descriptions and brew it again with any changes you think are appropriate. Then compare notes. That's the best way to learn.

 

[Andrew5329]

You "can" depending on what ingredients your brewing it may or may not be taste great, but that's subjective.

As a metaphor, some people like using sweet onions when they make their spaghetti sauce, while some people like using pungent onions. Both will "work" but the tastes will be somewhat different.

As the other posters said learn your own likes/dislikes and go from there.

 

[bbrim]

That sounds like a great combo. Citra and amarillo will work great together and Nugget for bittering should be pretty neutral. I really like a 2 row/ C60 combo for pale ales, I think C40 also sounds great.

 

[DannPM]

I just did a pale IPA with 2row, c10 and a tad of aromatic to bump up the 2row malt character and it turned out great. That hop combo is similar to what I did and I think it'll turn out great for you. Remember go heavy on those late additions as that is where that real hop goodness comes from!!!

 

[basilchef]

Thank you all so much. Do you guys have any boil time recommendations? Again I was thinking nugget @ 60 most of the amarillo at 30 then citra at 15, 10, 5. Then dry hopping with the rest of the amarillo and citra. How would you do it? I have 1Oz nugget 1Oz amarillo and 3 Oz citra.

 

[bbrim]

Amarillo at 30 min is useless, almost all the flavor will be gone and you will not get a great deal of bitterness out. You could FWH .5 oz of amarillo to get good bitterness and flavor then dry hop with the rest and I'd keep the Citra the same.

 

[jheld00]

I've done a few beers using the same combo. I would skip the 30 min addition. Instead add equal ibu amounts of both @ 20, 15, 10, and 5. Also you might consider some flameout additions additions as well as your planned dry-hopping. That way you get tons of flavor and aroma from those hops. Just my .02 cheers!

 

[duboman]

i've done a few beers using the same combo. I would skip the 30 min addition. Instead add equal ibu amounts of both @ 20, 15, 10, and 5. Also you might consider some flameout additions additions as well as your planned dry-hopping. That way you get tons of flavor and aroma from those hops. Just my .02 cheers!

+1

 

[rexbanner]

To answer the thread title, you can, but don't expect to get anything good. Some hops just don't work for flavor and are really meant to be bittering hops.

 

[basilchef]

Amarillo at 30 min is useless, almost all the flavor will be gone and you will not get a great deal of bitterness out. You could FWH .5 oz of amarillo to get good bitterness and flavor then dry hop with the rest and I'd keep the Citra the same.

FWH?? what doea that mean?

 

[joenads]

First Wort Hop, add it to your boil kettle before you start drawing the wort.

 

[basilchef]

ThNk you. You guys are great.