Dry hopping with Simcoe

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snarf7

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First time ever dry hopping with this strain of hops and I found it had some odd properties. I used about 2 oz Simcoe and maybe 1/2 oz of Citra I had left over. I sampled the brew before dry hopping and it was tasty, but I wanted more hops up front. Oddly, the use of Simcoe seemed to add bitterness to it even though this was all added post-boil towards the end of fermentation (3-4 days of dry-hopping before racking). It wasn't unpleasant but it wound up making the beer more bitter than I intended (more of a west coast style) But also oddly, the hop flavor/aroma faded really quickly, 3-4 weeks and it was all gone which is not something I've experienced before, usually the hop fade is much more gradual and less obvious.

Anyone had similar experiences? Might have just been the batch of hops I got or maybe its just a property of the hops themselves? Like I said, it's my first go with them and I know they aren't super popular for DH but I figured I'd experiment
 
Curious myself because I just had a beer made with Simcoe/Amarillo and it’s simply amazing. From what I have read it appears a little bit of Simcoe goes a long way?
 
Curious myself because I just had a beer made with Simcoe/Amarillo and it’s simply amazing. From what I have read it appears a little bit of Simcoe goes a long way?

did you dry hop with it? or we these just boil additions? how much did you wind up using?
 
I was referring to a commercial beer. This one actually and a very well made beer, the can says Simcoe/Amarillo. So good I’m going to try and make something similar hopefully! From what I am finding don’t use simcoe for anything but whirlpool and dry hops. Now I just need to figure out how much.


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What size batch?

I make a SMASH with Simcoe and dry hop with .6 oz to 3 gal batch and its awesome!
 
First time ever dry hopping with this strain of hops and I found it had some odd properties. I used about 2 oz Simcoe and maybe 1/2 oz of Citra I had left over. I sampled the brew before dry hopping and it was tasty, but I wanted more hops up front. Oddly, the use of Simcoe seemed to add bitterness to it even though this was all added post-boil towards the end of fermentation (3-4 days of dry-hopping before racking). It wasn't unpleasant but it wound up making the beer more bitter than I intended (more of a west coast style) But also oddly, the hop flavor/aroma faded really quickly, 3-4 weeks and it was all gone which is not something I've experienced before, usually the hop fade is much more gradual and less obvious.
Dryhoping during fermentation has that catch 22 effect if all your dryhop amount is going in at that time. You decrease your chances for oxidation but you lose some aroma in the blowoff and the yeast can biotransform certain compounds into new one(not necessarily bad or good just changes certain characteristics of certain hops). Simcoe contains both linalool and geranoil which have the ability to be biotransformes so that’s a possible reason the flavor profile was different than the expected profile from simcoe.

Another thing dryhoping during fermentation can do is cause polyphenols and proteins to bind together. This can cause a greater perceived bitterness and harshness(comes across spicy to me ) which people refer to as hopbite. This will flocc out over time and when it does hop oils can get attracted to it floc out. This is what I believe may have happened to your beer.
 
I often dry hop with Simcoe. I'm the simpleton when it comes to taste perception but my wife is a super taster. We both love it. In fact, most of my IPA's from the last year (8-10), Simcoe was the dominant hop.
 
What’s a good ratio when paired with Amarillo? I want to brew a Simcoe/Amarillo NEIPA this weekend. I have read a little bit of Simcoe goes a long way
 
What’s a good ratio when paired with Amarillo? I want to brew a Simcoe/Amarillo NEIPA this weekend. I have read a little bit of Simcoe goes a long way

2.5 to 1 Amarillo to Simcoe if you
want a more fruity note

1.5 to 1 if you want more pine/earth tones mixed in.
 
IME Citra is an overwhelming hop that doesn't play well with others.
For dryhopping, I have it stand alone.
 
That's the beauty of homebrewing. There really aren't many do's and don'ts.
I was just suggesting to the OP 'one' possibility of why his hop addition tastes wonky.
I've used Simcoe a lot, but not in DH.
 
I routinely use Citra or Simcoe with all kinds of fruity hops post-boil, dry hopping and even keg hopping.
One does need to respect the intensity of each strain when putting them together - as noted, one wouldn't use Amarillo 1:1 with either Simcoe or Citra as they would drown out the Amarillo...

Cheers!
 
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