Dry hop suggestions

[tmurph6]

Hey all, I'm going to be brewing a pale ale in a couple of weeks for a baby shower on memorial day. I'm having trouble deciding on a dry hop. My hop schedule is this:

.5 oz cascade @ 60 & 45
.5 oz citra @ 15, 10, 5, 0

I was originally going to use citra as my dry hop, but have heard mixed reviews on that. Now I've shifted to maybe cascade or centennial. Not sure if anyone else has any other suggestions. Maybe mix it up and go for a pine nose?? Thanks guys!

 

[Pappers_]

Never have tried citra as a dry hop, but I use cascade as a dry hop all the time and like it very much. You can't go wrong with cascade, in my opinion. But experimenting is what makes handmaking beer so much fun!

 

[tmurph6]

I think a lot if people said citra had a "cat pee" aroma.

 

[Dang]

I've heard that about simcoe as well...I've never picked up cat pee from it.

mmm...pine sounds good with all of that fruit flavor...a little bit of chinook goes a long ways.

 

[dcp27]

I think a lot if people said citra had a "cat pee" aroma.

thats from using it early in the boil. its mostly tropical fruit when used late. the mixed reviews are usually from it being too fruity. among others, simcoe, centennial, cascade, summit, columbus, and amarillo would all do well as a dry hop in this

 

[tomasej]

Out of the three you mentioned, cascade would be the best for dry hopping. Centennial is more of a bittering but I'm currently using it to dry hop a Rye P.A. In this case I had about an once left over from the package and was too lazy to reseal. I guess I will see real soon how it will turn out.

 

[big supper]

I think that Citra is wonderfull as a dry-hop. I have only used it once, but most of the complaints that I have heard are from bittering and flavour additions. It's aroma is great!!

 

[kanzimonson]

I love Citra as a dry hop. Use some Citra and Cascade to complement the boil hops.

And tomasej's comment about Centennial for bittering? That's crazy - Centennial is one of the most versatile hops out there. Awesome no matter where you put it in your beer.

 

[tmurph6]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. While I do like the prospect of adding pine, I think I'm going to dry hop with .5oz cascade pellets for a week. Thanks for all the suggestions!!

 

[suprchunk]

Cascade.

 

[RichBenn]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. While I do like the prospect of adding pine, I think I'm going to dry hop with .5oz cascade pellets for a week. Thanks for all the suggestions!!

Use more! You won't even smell .5, IMHO.

 

[alpinebryant]

I think you will be happier with Citra as compared to Cascade.

I love Cascade dont get me wrong, but Citra right now is what is winning in my book. Torpedo by Sierra Nevada is an example of a commercial brew out with Citra hops in it.

Kern River Citra is another although draft only... check out some of their reviews.

You cannot go wrong with Cascade, but I believe Simcoe has the Catty flavor you are referring to hearing about...

 

[beeber]

Use 1/2 oz of both citra and cascade. You'll love the results!

 

[tmurph6]

Use 1/2 oz of both citra and cascade. You'll love the results!

Sounds good, will do. Have any opinions on whole hops vs pellets?

 

[beeber]

Whole hops vs pellets?

You will see 3 main forms of hops, whole hops (called leaf), hop plugs (whole hops compressed into plugs) and pellet hops.

I use mainly pellet hops. They are convenient for me, they don't take up much room in the freezer, and they last a long time. I dislike fishing whole hops out of the pot after the boil, or after dry hopping. Of course you could avoid that with a hop bag. The last 2 times I dry hopped with pellets I used a hop bag and it worked great. Before that I would just add the pellets directly to the fermenter.

Any form of hops will work fine for dry hopping. I suggest you try all 3 forms and see which one you like the best. It's your call.