Diving into Chinook. Never did a single hop with it, it's about time.

[Chadwick]

I've always loved Chinook. At least I think I love it. Oddly enough, I've never done a single hop brew using only Chinook. It's always been Chinook with a hint of this, or that.

I decided it was time to do a brew with only Chinook.

A short description would define it as this:

Half ounce Chinook at 90
Half ounce Chinook at 45
One whole ounce of Chinook at 5

Malts and stuff? Ok:

10 lb 2-row
1 lb red wheat
2 lb CaraRed
0.5 lb Crystal 120L
1.5 lb Amber candy sugar

WLP090 pitched at 62F

The rest is up to God.

What will this produce? I have no idea, but I expect to drink it. All of it.

I didn't want it to be a bitter bomb, thus I was light on the Chinook in the boil. This isn't an IPA. But I wanted to get a sense of Chinook with this ale.

I'm thinking about dry hopping with Chinook too. But I'm not decided on that yet at this time.

There it is in a nutshell.

OG: 1.085

Color: Deep amber red

 

[ntempleton]

Sounds like a great Chinook single hop beer. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[grevengrevs]

Please let us know.

 

[ong]

Sounds good (a strong amber ale?), although I would be a little concerned with using 2.5 lbs of crystal in a 5 gal batch. That might be a little much of the Carared.

 

[Komocabo]

I second reducing the Crystal. Maybe 1-1.5# should be good. I love Chinook - Looks like a tasty brew!

 

[beergolf]

Sounds like you already brewed it, but here are a couple of comments.

2.5 lbs of crystal malt is too much. So I am with ong with this one.

Second Chinook is usually a pretty high AA hop so with an addition at 90 and one at 45 that may be a lot of bitterness, without adding any flavor. You would have been bettter off moving the 45 minute addition to 15 minutes. Less bitterness that way and more flavor.

Let us know how it comes out

 

[Malticulous]

You can't lump all cara malts as the same. 2 pounds carared is not the same as 2 pounds of American crystal. Wayermann's site list it's use to 25% of the grain bill. It's more malty and no where near a sweet.

 

[Cyclman]

I did an all Chinook Black IPA. Wasn't my favorite, but I now have the nuances of Chinook permanently imprinted in my brain. Good learning exercise.

 

[matchrocket]

Did a SMASH with Marris Otter and Chinook... not a bad beer at all! Can be a little harsh if you use to much (Chinook) But overall its a staple hop around my house.