Citrusy Pale Ale to clean out the freezer

[hoppyfondue]

So I've got a bunch of leftover hops from previous brew days in the freezer and was looking for recommendations to brew a solid, yet simple citrusy pale ale. Below are the hops I have on hand:

• 2 oz Simcoe
• 1.75 oz Kent Goldings
• 1.6 oz Hallertau
• 0.25 oz Lemondrop
• 0.25 oz Motueka
• 1.95 oz orange peel

My initial thoughts for this recipe are below, open to any suggestions/recommendations:

Recipe Type: All grain
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Target OG: 1.053
Target FG: 1.011
Boil Time: 60 min
Target IBU: 40

Grain Bill
- 10 lb 2-row

Mash at 155F for 60 minutes

Hop Additions
- 1 oz Kent Goldings at 60 min.
- 0.5 oz Hallertau at 30 min.
- 0.5 oz Hallertau at 10 min.
- 0.25 oz Lemondrop at 5 min.
- 0.25 oz Motueka at 5 min.
- 1 oz orange peel at 5 min.

Pitch Wyeast 1056 at 75F

Thought KG over Simcoe would be better for a lower IBU pale. I'm not sure about the 5 min additions and if those flavors will play nicely. Based on hop profiles for those it seems like they would? Any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations are welcome!

 

[lumpher]

Hallertau is herbal and spicy, and you're looking for citrusy. Hallertau is not a good fit for that. Stick with Simcoe and Motueka, and maybe dry hop with lemondrop. Do you have any crystal, victory, or Munich malt on hand? I'd guess not, but if so, some of that would help.

 

[hoppyfondue]

Hallertau is herbal and spicy, and you're looking for citrusy. Hallertau is not a good fit for that. Stick with Simcoe and Motueka, and maybe dry hop with lemondrop. Do you have any crystal, victory, or Munich malt on hand? I'd guess not, but if so, some of that would help.

That's interesting, one of the bags of Hallertau said it has notes of citrus as well as herbal/spicy. Looking around online seems like that label was incorrect, thanks for calling that out.

No malt on hand, but I'm going out to grab the 2-row so I could always switch up the grain bill if you've got suggestions there.

 

[G_robertus]

Well Hallertau is a region and not a hop, but if it's supposed to be Mittelfrüh it's probably rather floral/earthy as well and citrus would not be the first thing I'd think about either.

I would personally do 0.5 Oz Simcoe at 20/15 minutes, 1 Oz Simcoe in a 5 minute/hop stand addition and dry hop with the other half ounce, lemondrop and Motueka. I'm not a fan of orange peel and would therefore personally not use it. It might also create a muddy flavour profile, but otherwise go right ahead. Bittering can be done with EKG to the level you prefer.

Adding in 5-10% Munich is not a bad suggestion either.

 

[lumpher]

Well Hallertau is a region and not a hop,

Yep, Hallertau is a name of a hop, and is 1 of the original 4 noble hops. It's named after the region. I used it almost exclusively when i first started brewing. Example:

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/german-hallertau-hop-pellets

 

[Stikius]

I've actually never seen an actual package of hops called "Hallertau" until just now, and I have lived and frequently visited homebrew shops in Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands and Germany since the mid 90's. If I talk about "Hallertau", or rather "Hallertauer", I would expect that everyone understand I refer to "Hallertauer Mittelfrüher", but in writing I would always use the official name.
Anyway, I was unsure and felt I needed to double check, and GFH and IHGC also list Hallertauer Mittelfrüher (with "Hallertauer" as a synonym), but I can't find any hop called "Hallertau": https://www.hopfenforschung.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IHGC-hop-variety-list-2023_final.pdf
My best guess is that Northern Brewer is just printing the everyday speech word for the hop on their packages and I assume the content is Hallertauer Mittelfrüher.

 

[Miraculix]

Yep, Hallertau is a name of a hop, and is 1 of the original 4 noble hops. It's named after the region. I used it almost exclusively when i first started brewing. Example:

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/german-hallertau-hop-pellets

Hi, I'm German. Hallertau is a region, not a hop variety. If you find some US shop labelling hops "Hallertau" it's false labelling, either by the shop itself or the guys they bought it from. Happens often. Most of the time it seems to be Mittelfrüh which in these packs, which is an excellent noble hop variety.

 

[lumpher]

Hi, I'm German. Hallertau is a region, not a hop variety. If you find some US shop labelling hops "Hallertau" it's false labelling, either by the shop itself or the guys they bought it from. Happens often. Most of the time it seems to be Mittelfrüh which in these packs, which is an excellent noble hop variety.

I stand corrected. Even after 15 years there's still plenty to learn. 1 thing I've learned is never argue with the locals. Thanks for the clarification.