Citra Pale Ale - Suggestions Please!

[ManiacalJ]

My second all grain brew was a simple Citra SMaSH.

Not much to it, I used 10 lbs 2-row, and 2oz of Citra (laptop with my notes isn't handy at the moment for timing of additions, but there was a small 60min, and the remainder was near the end), and US-05 for yeast. I calculated it around 30IBU.
Long story short, it was very well received by all who tried it (Not sure what happened, but it all seems to have evaporated or something...), but I think it could be better.

Being such a high AA% hop, I want to start with moving all hop additions to >20 mins, in the expectation that I should get enough bitterness, but hopefully preserve more of the flavor/aroma.

Current plan is as follows (assuming 5 gallon batch)
10lbs 2-row
1lb 60L Crystal
.5oz Citra @ 20mins
.5oz Citra @ 10mins
.5oz Citra @ 5mins
.5oz Citra @ 0mins

I have another 1oz in reserve to tinker with dry hopping as well.
The current batch of hops I have are 14.4%AA.

I welcome any feedback on the first part. However, the thing I really would like some feedback on is yeast. The intent now is to brew a 10 gallon batch, and split it up to use different yeasts (either 2x5 gallon, or 4x2.5 gallon batches). Some relevant details:

- My familiarity of different yeast varieties is near zero.
- I am not set up for lagering or proper temp control.
- I have access to numerous varieties both dry and liquid, and I'm in no rush, so I can order in just about anything.
- I have a spot that holds ~60f very consistently, and another that holds ~70F very well, so I need something that performs well in that range.

What would you recommend, and why?

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

I cannot comment on us05 as I don't have a ton of experience with it. I've used it twice and it was a clean yeast. The general perception is that it's great for showing off malt and hops when fermented cool around the 60s. I would go ahead and use The us05 as part of the experiment to show off the Citra qualities. I would include this yeast regardless of how many splits you do.

I am partial to the English S-04 strain as I've used it a lot (probably too much but it's a trooper, never lets me down, drops clear, relatively clean at relatively higher temps, leaves some nice mealtimes). Some don't like the S-04 because it does tend to leave a tartness, I have experienced this but I do not find it unpleasant. If you were gonna go for 4x2.5 gallon splits, I would include the s-04. If you are only gonna do 2 I would just skip it as to me it's usually pretty clean so it might not differentiate itself from the us-05.

Otherwise personally I would just grab a super clean bittering hop like magnum and get your desired IBUs with that, and saved all your Citra for additions at 5 minutes, 0 minutes, and a whirlpool (I just stir the wort vigorously at 170f). After doing an ESB with fuggles and EKG, everything under 5 minutes really makes that aroma/flavor of the hops explode.

 

[tagz]

Try out Wyeast 1968 in the 60* spot. It's fairly clean in the mid 60s and will drop clear quickly. Great for a hoppy beer, because you can go grain to glass sooner.

It also kicks out a pleasant ester if you go a little higher. The fruitiness goes well with brown ales.

 

[Calder]

Current plan is as follows (assuming 5 gallon batch)
10lbs 2-row
1lb 60L Crystal
.5oz Citra @ 20mins
.5oz Citra @ 10mins
.5oz Citra @ 5mins
.5oz Citra @ 0mins

I have another 1oz in reserve to tinker with dry hopping as well.
The current batch of hops I have are 14.4%AA.

2 ozs is really not many hops in a Pale Ale. Doubling that would probably put you at the lower end.

A quick check in BeerSmith would put your IBUs in the lower 20s (Rager) with the hops as you have them.

I welcome any feedback on the first part. However, the thing I really would like some feedback on is yeast. The intent now is to brew a 10 gallon batch, and split it up to use different yeasts (either 2x5 gallon, or 4x2.5 gallon batches). Some relevant details:

- My familiarity of different yeast varieties is near zero.
- I am not set up for lagering or proper temp control.
- I have access to numerous varieties both dry and liquid, and I'm in no rush, so I can order in just about anything.
- I have a spot that holds ~60f very consistently, and another that holds ~70F very well, so I need something that performs well in that range.

What would you recommend, and why?

Same beer, Pale Ale, with 2 yeasts. Use your S-05 in one of them, and ferment around 60, and use a Belgian in the other, and ferment around 70 F (push higher at the end if you can). Duvel is a nice fruity yeast (WLP570 or Wyeast 1388, or grow from bottle).

Why? ...... You get 2 radically different tasting beers from the same recipe.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

A few more ingredients, a few more hops and some London esb yeast and you have something similiar to zombie dust.

 

[ManiacalJ]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I used this calculator: http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/ which says it uses tinseth calculations. Not that it matters much, other than ensuring that I consistently measure the same way for my system and recipes. I am bumping the bitterness slightly from the previous batch, and may go slightly further for balance, given the addition of the crystal malt.

At this point, I am looking for a crowd pleaser, something that will get more of my friends and family interested in trying more of my homebrew. I have a few different styles bottled and aging now, but the first round of this was so well received and easy to drink that I want to keep working towards perfecting a recipe as a house brew.

As for Zombie Dust, I have certainly seen a few recipes for it. It looks like it uses 8-9oz of Citra, 4x more than I am using here. From the recipes and descriptions, it is also intended to be a lot more bitter, and higher ABV% than what I am making here.