Citra as a dry hop, how much?

[Grossy]

I have two 5 gallon batches of pale ale that I need to dry hop today.

I have 2 oz of Cascade and 2 oz of Citra.

So there are two ways I can think of to go about this.

1 oz cascade and 1 oz citra per batch.
2 oz cascade for one batch, 2 oz citra for the other batch.
(I kind of like this idea because I have never used citra before, and I really want to get a feel for it, but I also do not want to ruin the beer.)

Would 2 oz of citra be to much, just over the top with tropical aromas?

Here is the recipe:

18.00 lbs Pale Malt 2-Row (USA)
3.00 lbs CaraPils malt,
2.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L,
0.50 lbs Acid Malt,

1.00 oz Cascade (60min)
1.00 oz Cascade (25min)
1.00 oz Chinook (20min)
1.00 oz Citra (15min)
1.00 oz Cascade (10min)
1.00 oz Cascade (5min)

IBUs: 43​

 

[Waynep005]

If you have not brewed yet I would move the citra at 15 min down to the 5 min addoition ot get more flavor out of them or take it out all together and add it to the dry hop. If you have brewed I would go with the 2oz citra in one batch and 2 oz cascade in the other just for the contrast.

 

[hawgwild81]

I used 1oz of citra as a dry hop in my pale ale. It worked good for me. I wouldn't use 2oz. Citra can be overpowering. But that's my personal opinion.

 

[day_trippr]

Two ounces isn't too much to dry hop a five gallon batch, I use at least that much myself and enjoy the result.

Of your options, I'd definitely go with the latter - use the Citra on one batch and the Cascade on the other. That'll let you appreciate the difference: the Citra will be tropical/mango and the Cascade will be citrus/grapefruit...

Cheers!

 

[lestershy]

I've dry hopped with 1.5oz of each before and got a wonderful citrus aroma. But since you have two identical batches (right?) I'd try using the citra in one and cascade in the other. I brew 5 gallon batches now, but when I move to 10 I'm planning on trying this with my beers.

 

[OldWorld]

Tropical aromas is just a buzzword people use to describe those hops. There is no way dry hopping with the citra is going to transform your pale into a "tropical fruit cooler" beverage.

I think you can probably get to know the citra very well even if you mix dry hops. You probably know cascades well by now...Investigate the synergy of hops. It's all a preference. Two ounces of Citra might be what you were looking for.

I would dry hop with 2 ounces of cascade and 2 ounces of citra

 

[Soma]

I just kegged a pale ale that was dryhopped with 3oz Citra leaf (6 gallon batch), huge tropical aroma.

 

[jaynik]

I would go with option 1.

If you keg, you could always dry hop another ounce in the keg if the first ounce didn't give you the desired effect.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

If you have not brewed yet I would move the citra at 15 min down to the 5 min addoition ot get more flavor out of them or take it out all together and add it to the dry hop. If you have brewed I would go with the 2oz citra in one batch and 2 oz cascade in the other just for the contrast.

In my experience, 5 minutes is definitely passed the 'flavor addition' mark. 15-10 is the sweet spot for that. At 5, you're mostly going to get aroma out of it.

 

[bobbrews]

0.25 oz. to .35 oz. dryhops per gallon of American pale ale.

-If you want grapefruit, use Cascade.

-If you want tropical fruit, use Citra.

-If you want both, then use both. Be advised, Citra is more potent so you won't need as much.

In my experience, 5 minutes is definitely passed the 'flavor addition' mark. 15-10 is the sweet spot for that. At 5, you're mostly going to get aroma out of it.

I'll have to agree to disagree. Many folks are hung up on flavor additions vs. aroma additions just because they saw it written down in a cool chart somewhere... they really go hand in hand. The later you use hops like Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe... the more character you'll get from them. The fact is that if you want the absolute most Citra character as a whole, then use a lot of it in the dryhop.

 

[Waynep005]

In my experience, 5 minutes is definitely passed the 'flavor addition' mark. 15-10 is the sweet spot for that. At 5, you're mostly going to get aroma out of it.

With hops like citra I think that the aroma and flavor are so intertwined that the moire aroma you have the more you get of the flavor att he same time. This may not be the same for more earthy hops but in my mind it sure is with citra hops and those like them.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

I'll have to agree to disagree. Many folks are hung up on flavor additions vs. aroma additions just because they saw it written down in a cool chart somewhere... they really go hand in hand. The later you use hops like Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe... the more character you'll get from them. The fact is that if you want the absolute most Citra character as a whole, then use a lot of it in the dryhop.

Not something I read on a cool chart. It's from personal experience doing IPAs with Citra and Amarillo (never used Simcoe). My most recent batch using Zythos for the first time at 15 minutes definitely has more character in the flavor than the aroma.

You may notice things differently. This is just what I've gathered over many batches of IPAs.

 

[bobbrews]

The fun fact is that most homebrewers learn how to brew the same literature sources. And I hear the same stuff regurgitated time and time again. But unless you actually try different things with hops and realize that everything you read from 1999 is not 100% true, you will never know the whole truth.

I've also had plenty of experience with Citra and Amarillo, along with being a professional chef where I gained similar experience with ingredients like delicate fresh herbs and lemon zest used late in the boil or at flameout for a variety of soups and dishes. Similar concept... The more you boil them, the more their overall character is boiled off. Around 15-10 minutes is the cap for which you still gain some character, but it's not completely lost.

Throw that **** you read about bittering addition, flavor addition, aroma addition out the window... The truth is that every kettle addition bitters to some degree, even whirlpool, and flavor/aroma is best upheld when not vigorously boiled for the longer amounts of time. And before you ask, No, I don't recommend just doing one bittering addition and one Dryhop addition because you lose some hop complexity of the other additions as the recipe melds together. For instance, Citra in the dryhop is extremely melony. But not so much at 5 minutes or flameout. If you followed it up with a heavy dryhop of something like Apollo, Simcoe, Summit then their character will overtake those melony Citra notes without completely destroying them. In closing, late hops are definitely the key to flavor/aroma in certain styles like IPAs, where later is better. Think of flavor/aroma as one concept... like Spacetime.

 

[rexbanner]

The fun fact is that most homebrewers learn how to brew the same literature sources. And I hear the same stuff regurgitated time and time again. But unless you actually try different things with hops and realize that everything you read from 1999 is not 100% true, you will never know the whole truth.

I've also had plenty of experience with Citra and Amarillo, along with being a professional chef where I gained similar experience with ingredients like delicate fresh herbs and lemon zest used late in the boil or at flameout for a variety of soups and dishes. Similar concept... The more you boil them, the more their overall character is boiled off. Around 15-10 minutes is the cap for which you still gain some character, but it's not completely lost.

Throw that **** you read about bittering addition, flavor addition, aroma addition out the window... The truth is that everything bitters to some degree, and flavor/aroma is best upheld when not vigorously boiled, as we see from heavily dryhopped beers. And before you ask, No, I don't recommend just doing a 60 minute addition and a Dryhop addition, because you lose some hop complexity as the recipe melds together... but the later hops are definitely the key to flavor/aroma in certain styles like IPAs. Think of flavor/aroma as one concept... like Spacetime.

QFT. I only do 60 and 5 min/flameout additions and dry hops.