Create a recipe from hops

[asidrane]

I have a lot of hops left over from previous brews and would like to use them to create a recipe. I'm not really sure how to formulate this, so I'm turning to the boards for suggestions or a point in the right direction. Here are the hops I have.
2/3 oz perle
2/3 oz hallertau
2/3 oz cascade
2/3 oz fuggle

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[McGarnigle]

There's a lot you can do. You probably need to use at least two of these for a single beer. Perle + Hallertau are the most natural combination, Perle early, Hallertau late. Wheat beer or German lager or ale.

Perle's the only real bittering hop you have, though you can use the others depending on the AA%.

 

[TheSeether]

Cascade is markedly American. It can be a general purpose bittering hop, though.

Fuggle is typically an English aroma hop.

Hallertau and Perle are signature German hops.

I, personally, would work within those confines. You could bitter with Cascade and Fugggle and use the Hallertau and Perle on a German style or maybe a big porter.

You don't particularly have much of any one hop, there.

I'm gonna cut my advice there because my hopping method is strictly traditional and to style. I've tasted muddy hop profiles and have zero love for them.

 

[asidrane]

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess I will probably have to buy some hops to go along with these.

 

[mixedbrewer]

Be brave and make your own recipe. Like maybe a pale bittered with perle, use hallertau and fuggle for flavor and aroma, dry hopped with cascade. It is fun to experiment, because sometimes the best style, is no style. There is a brewery here in TN called Yazoo, and they make an (IPA-ish) beer called Hop Project. They try all sorts of combinations and sometimes they turn out great.

 

[dcp27]

perle and cascade is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but you're a lil low on quantity for that.

 

[asidrane]

perle and cascade is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but you're a lil low on quantity for that.

Thanks, it could be worth picking up some more to make Sierra nevada. Where in Medford are you? I went to Tufts.

 

[dcp27]

about a mile away from tufts, just outside magoun square

 

[beergolf]

Bell's uses equal parts Cascade and Fuggles in their Amber Ale. Tasty Stuff....

 

[mixedbrewer]

I think Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has Magnum also...

 

[asidrane]

OK, so here's what I ended up doing:

Steeped for 30 min at 150
10 oz CaraRed
18 oz Pale Wheat malt

Brought to a boil and added:
1 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
3.3 lbs Northwest Extra Light LME

Brought back to a boil and added:
the Fuggle, Hallertau, and Perle
Boiled 45 min and added
Cascade and whirlfloc tablet
boiled for 15 more minutes

For yeast I used Nottingham and it was fermenting away this morning.

What does everyone think? Will this end up making a decent brew?

 

[iron_city_ap]

Sounds like it'll be beer. Here is what Beer Smith says.... I'm not sure what Briess Pilsen DME would qualify as, so I used 'Pale LME'.

1 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.50 %
3 lbs 4.8 oz Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 54.46 %
1 lbs 2.1 oz Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 18.65 %
10.1 oz Caraamber (30.0 SRM) Grain 10.40 %
0.66 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 11.5 IBU
0.66 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 20.4 IBU
0.66 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham Yeast (Lallemand #-) Yeast-Ale


Est Original Gravity: 1.031 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.008
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 3.06 %
Bitterness: 44.0 IBU
Calories: 134 cal/pint
Est Color: 6.8 SRM

 

[asidrane]

Really, 3% abv? When I plugged it into beer calculus I got around 4.2% abv.

 

[brewit2it]

OK, so here's what I ended up doing:

Steeped for 30 min at 150
10 oz CaraRed
18 oz Pale Wheat malt

Brought to a boil and added:
1 lbs Briess Pilsen DME
3.3 lbs Northwest Extra Light LME

Brought back to a boil and added:
the Fuggle, Hallertau, and Perle
Boiled 45 min and added
Cascade and whirlfloc tablet
boiled for 15 more minutes

For yeast I used Nottingham and it was fermenting away this morning.

What does everyone think? Will this end up making a decent brew?

Thats a really small beer, I typically use at least twice as much extract and grain for an average APA. But it will be a good light spring ale. I would probably ferment it as cool as possible like 58-60 since Notty can tolerate those temps, and you will want as clean a flavor profile as possible in this light ale. In fact since your last hop addition was at 15 minutes you will have very little aroma hop pressence so you might try to ferment cold then lager it for 3 weeks or so at 40 degrees. Notty actually is a good yeast for Kolsch since it has a very neutral dry flavor profile.

 

[asidrane]

Thats a really small beer, I typically use at least twice as much extract and grain for an average APA. But it will be a good light spring ale. I would probably ferment it as cool as possible like 58-60 since Notty can tolerate those temps, and you will want as clean a flavor profile as possible in this light ale. In fact since your last hop addition was at 15 minutes you will have very little aroma hop pressence so you might try to ferment cold then lager it for 3 weeks or so at 40 degrees. Notty actually is a good yeast for Kolsch since it has a very neutral dry flavor profile.

I made it small because I didn't think I had enough hops to bitter anything too big. I'm also hoping to bring this to my fraternity reunion in April, so having a lot of beers to thrown down will be a good thing.

Should I have added the last hops at flame out to get more aroma?

Also, since I don't have a way to control my fermentation temps, what should I expect out of this if it ferments at around 68 degrees?

Thanks.

 

[frankstoneline]

I would consider picking up some more cascade and dry hopping it, though I'm a sucker for nice hop aroma. I would wager it would be worth the 2 or 3 bucks (worst case scenario, probably cheaper) to get a nice dry hop.

 

[asidrane]

I would consider picking up some more cascade and dry hopping it, though I'm a sucker for nice hop aroma. I would wager it would be worth the 2 or 3 bucks (worst case scenario, probably cheaper) to get a nice dry hop.

If I dry hop, do I need to rack to a 5 gallon carboy for this, or could I do it in my bottling bucket and then just add my priming sugar at the end of the dry hopping?

 

[frankstoneline]

If I dry hop, do I need to rack to a 5 gallon carboy for this, or could I do it in my bottling bucket and then just add my priming sugar at the end of the dry hopping?

there are plenty of methods to dry hop, and i've tried a couple. My favorite so far has been to use a large french press and whole leaf hops, transfering enough beer to fill said press with hops in it and then pushing the plunger down to submerge hops, then you can mix it into your bottling bucket with priming sugar and your beer when you are ready to bottle. However if you have pellets, I would simply toss em in, let em settle to the bottom and carefully rack off of that into a bottling vessel leaving as much residue behind as possible. I'm planning on trying to use a hop straining bag on my current ipa in the next day or so and seeing how that works. Also, some people are fans of the hop tea method, however i always feel like theres an organic grass-like taste imparted when i have beers done that way (as a disclaimer, i've never done this method myself, only tasted examples by others). There are probably tons of other good methods on here which would turn up when searched. Again, these methods are somewhat dependent on hop format (leaf vs pellet) as I think the french press method would get clogged by the use of pellet hops. I can let you know some initial thoughts on use of loose pellets vs a bag in about a week if you'd like as well, though I'm sure someone else has a comparison on here somewhere.

 

[dcp27]

you can just toss the hops in the primary the week before you bottle.

do your frat brothers like hops? I doubt you'd complain much about having more of it to yourself, but if you want to share more of it, I wouldn't go too aggressive on hops. If you don't want to buy more hops, I'd consider doing a schedule closer to this, which will put you around 25ish IBUs:
perle @60
fuggles @10
cascade @0 or dry hop

 

[asidrane]

you can just toss the hops in the primary the week before you bottle.

do your frat brothers like hops? I doubt you'd complain much about having more of it to yourself, but if you want to share more of it, I wouldn't go too aggressive on hops. If you don't want to buy more hops, I'd consider doing a schedule closer to this, which will put you around 25ish IBUs:
perle @60
fuggles @10
cascade @0 or dry hop

Thanks, I might just try the dry hoping in the primary method. I think the hops will go over well. While we were in college, we drank a lot of cheap beer, but always enjoyed Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Magic Hat #9 and other quality beers on the rare occasion. I already brewed this batch, so I can't adjust the hop schedule for this round, but perhaps next time. How much hops should I use for the dry hopping? An ounce? Also, if you want to try out the brew, the reunion will be at Tufts April 8-10.

 

[dcp27]

oops missed that you already did it. an oz should be good, but you can knock it up more if you wanted.

which frat is this btw, I'm curious to see if its the same as a friend.

 

[asidrane]

Sigma Nu

 

[dcp27]

damn, not the same. I think he was ZBT

 

[asidrane]

They are right next door. What year, I may know him.

 

[dcp27]

2003

 

[TheSeether]

I think a lot of posters in this thread missed the fact that OP had X amount of hops and X was a fairly small amount. His request was how to form a workable recipe around the limited amount of hops. Suggestions to increase hopping seem counter intuitive to the exercise.

 

[asidrane]

I think a lot of posters in this thread missed the fact that OP had X amount of hops and X was a fairly small amount. His request was how to form a workable recipe around the limited amount of hops. Suggestions to increase hopping seem counter intuitive to the exercise.

How do you think I did formulating a recipe with the hops I had to work with? I agree that was the goal, but now that it is done, if I can improve upon the beer, I'm open to those suggestions as well. Since I'm new to brewing, knowing what the hops will do for the beer is the hardest part for me. It seems easier to see what the grains will do, but the hops are somewhat tricky, for me at least.

 

[asidrane]

2003

I graduated in 2003 as well, chances are we know (or at least know of) each other.

 

[dcp27]

I graduated in 2003 as well, chances are we know (or at least know of) each other.

ha you probably know him then. adam biacchi

 

[TheSeether]

I'm not sure what your AA% were but it looks like you worked well with what you had. I had initially recused myself on this topic because I did not feel confident making suggestions towards actual recipe balance. I would expect the beer to be easily drinkable and probably balanced to the amount of hops you had. I would consider ponying up sometime before the last week on the fermenter to dry hop it. I'd sample it and see which direction the beer went in terms of regionality and select a hop to accentuate that aspect (German vs American). I'm guessing the Cascade shines through more because it went in last and is well known for aroma.

 

[asidrane]

ha you probably know him then. adam biacchi

Yeah, definitely know him. He was student body president if I recall. Tell him Andrew Sidrane says high.

 

[dcp27]

Yeah, definitely know him. He was student body president if I recall. Tell him Andrew Sidrane says high.

will do next time i see him. he left to go back to grad school at penn tho

as for the hops, you did a pretty good job working with what you had, but i think you focused on your bittering add too much. it really depends what you were trying to get out of it in terms of flavor and aroma tho.

 

[asidrane]

I'm not sure what your AA% were but it looks like you worked well with what you had. I had initially recused myself on this topic because I did not feel confident making suggestions towards actual recipe balance. I would expect the beer to be easily drinkable and probably balanced to the amount of hops you had. I would consider ponying up sometime before the last week on the fermenter to dry hop it. I'd sample it and see which direction the beer went in terms of regionality and select a hop to accentuate that aspect (German vs American). I'm guessing the Cascade shines through more because it went in last and is well known for aroma.

For the hops, here are the exact weight and AA%
.59 oz Fuggle 5.1%
.63 oz Hallertau 3.9%
.63 oz Perle 6.7%
.59 oz Cascade 5.4%
Considering I needed 1/3 oz of each for the last recipe, I think I did a good job eye balling the weights.

i think you focused on your bittering add too much. it really depends what you were trying to get out of it in terms of flavor and aroma tho.

What exactly do you mean by focusing too much on my bittering add?

 

[dcp27]

What exactly do you mean by focusing too much on my bittering add?

that 3/4 of your hops went in at the start of the boil, which is going to give all bitterness, no aroma, and barely any flavor. again, it all depends what you wanted out of this. if you were looking for a decent amount of hop flavor, no aroma, and a good bitter bite, you got it. but if you wanted something more balanced with more aroma you didn't.

it also depends on your boil size. if this was a full boil, IMO you over-bittered it, not so much that its going to be bad, but just more than I'd like for the size. now, if it was a half-boil, then I think your bitterness is perfect, but I would have cut back a little to get more hops in later.

 

[iron_city_ap]

Really, 3% abv? When I plugged it into beer calculus I got around 4.2% abv.

What did you get for a SG?

 

[asidrane]

What did you get for a SG?

UGH, as soon as I pitched the yeast I realized I forgot to take a hydrometer reading. I guess it will be a mystery.

 

[iron_city_ap]

I'm sure it'll still be beer.

 

[asidrane]

I'm sure it'll still be beer.

Looks like it through the glass Once it clears up I think it will have a really nice color, still a bit cloudy now. Also wish the temperature would drop a bit. It was around 70 this morning.

 

[asidrane]

I had a bottle of this last night and even with only a week in the bottle it was really good. I ended up dry hopping this with an ounce of centennial I think. I'll need to check my notes later. So far I'm happy with the results.

 

[asidrane]

I took a bunch of this beer, along with my robust honey porter and brooklyn pennant ale '55, up to the fraternity reunion. All three batches were well received. Those who like dark beers loved the porter, people more into the light beer found this really desirable. It certainly wasn't too bitter. I think next time I'll add a little more malt, spread out the hops additions and probably not dry hop it.