Favorite "Two Hop" IPA combinations.

[specharka]

The best IPA I've made to date employed Ella + Columbus hops. I like to branch out a little bit with my choices and use some of the hops I have on hand. I recently made a highly hopped barleywine with Northern Brewer + Liberty hops for some mild piney character. Wort smelled and tasted lovely, so I can't imagine the beer turning out too shabby.

Although I think Citra + Galaxy is really the gold standard for juice bombs, the reality is that Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and Galaxy hops are too damn expensive to be mainstays in my pipeline. And I know there are cheaper hops that are just as good.

 

[No_Nrg]

I'm a huge fan of Galaxy/Citra pairing. The juicy fruit flavor is great.

 

[krackin]

I don't see much love for old hop varieties. Cluster, Hallertauer, Brewers Gold, Goldings, various noble hops, Fuggles, etc.

Cluster bittering with Brewers Gold (sometimes East Kent instead)at 25 and 5. I use this in my Ballantine clone. I dry hop with Cascade which makes 3 hops so I won't mention it on this thread.

 

[Revvy]

I don't see much love for old hop varieties. Cluster, Hallertauer, Brewers Gold, Goldings, various noble hops, Fuggles, etc.

Well, give us some of your fave two hop combos with those varieties. (especially anything you like with Cluster, I use that in an LOT of historical american beer recipe research/recreations.

one of my friends even has what we're pretty convinced is cluster that has been growing in his yard since the 50's. We were going to send some samples off for analysis late last summer but he got sick, so we're going to do it this year. I did a kolsch with 100% this hop and it turned out pretty surprisingly amazing.

I think since i talked about newer varieties in my original posts, the ones who are answering are tending to lean that way in their answers.

And although I tend to stick in my brewing to older varieties I'm still interested in two hop combos with those as well.

 

[Revvy]

Cluster bittering with Brewers Gold (sometimes East Kent instead)at 25 and 5. I use this in my Ballantine clone. I dry hop with Cascade which makes 3 hops so I won't mention it on this thread.

OFF TOPIC, BUT-

What's this I see about a Ballantine Clone?!?!?!?!?!?! Is it posted?!?!?!?!?!

I've posted in threads talking about ballantine and my desire for clones...My fascination with the Ballantine Brewery borders on obsession... Pining for beers I'll never be able to have.

 

[krackin]

OFF TOPIC, BUT-

What's this I see about a Ballantine Clone?!?!?!?!?!?! Is it posted?!?!?!?!?!

I've posted in threads talking about ballantine and my desire for clones...My fascination with the Ballantine Brewery borders on obsession... Pining for beers I'll never be able to have.

I haven't posted either one of them yet. I have one for XXX and one for IPA. I work off my own notes and I need to get them into recipe format or at least legible to others.

 

[mrdauber64]

OFF TOPIC, BUT-

What's this I see about a Ballantine Clone?!?!?!?!?!?! Is it posted?!?!?!?!?!

I've posted in threads talking about ballantine and my desire for clones...My fascination with the Ballantine Brewery borders on obsession... Pining for beers I'll never be able to have.

I just received a book called "Clone Brews" for Valentine's Day and there is a Ballantine XXX clone in there. Here is the recipe they give:
OG: 1.053
IBU: 28
SRM: 4-5
ABV: 5.2%
Mash temp: 150

9.33 Maris Otter
10oz crystal 10
1 oz Brewers Gold 60 min
1/8 oz Saaz "flavor"
1/8 oz German Hallertau hersbrucker "flavor"
1/4 oz Brewers gold "aroma"
1/4 oz cascade dry hop

Yeast 1056 or 1272

I haven't brewed this recipe yet, nor have I had the commercial version, so I can't vouch for the accuracy. It might be a good place to start though?

 

[Wayne1]

As far as Ballantine IPA, Pabst has revived the brand.

http://ballantinebeer.com/

I had some at the last GABF. While it has been close to 30 years since I had some, it is VERY close to what I remember the beers I had in the 70's and 80's to be.

For two hop IPAs, I have been brewing a Cascade and Willamette pale ale for 30 odd years. I am doing a version of that at my current pro brewery and it sells fairly well.

I do tend to agree with the Simcoe/Amarillo blends. Look for Lake Walk IPA in the recipe section.

I managed to win 3 gold medals for IPA at GABF in four years with a Cascade/Centennial blend back in the 90's. Vail Pale Ale

If I were to brew this combo now, I would use your base recipe but drop the crystal. Use pellets for dry hopping at 60F and keep it to 7 days.

I am currently experimenting with Simcoe/Saphir and having very good feedback.

The newer German aroma hops are a lot of fun. Mandarina Bavaria in particular.

I will be making a DIPA with Nelson and Hallertau Blanc in two weeks that should be fun.

The most popular IPA at the pro brewery is a three hop blend of Citra/Mosaic/Centennial.

 

[Revvy]

So the first beer from this thread is on tap now. An Amarillo/Nelson Sauvin Ipa. I have to say it's interesting. It's really has this indescribably Grapefruit/White Grape Juice thing going on, really refreshing.

It also sort of reminds me a bit of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum (which I haven't had in a decade or more probably, so it's more like what I remember it tasting like.

But I'm really happy with it, it really is a unique combo. I think at some point I may use this combo for a white IPA.

Here's my tap label.

Mash Ingredients
10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 76.9 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 15.4 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.8 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.8 %


First Wort Hops
0.56 oz Amarillo [7.70 %] - First Wort 60.0 min Hop 5 14.2 IBUs

0.83 oz Amarillo [7.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 19.4 IBUs
1.11 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 18.8 IBUs
2.00 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo [7.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs

Dry Hop
0.50 oz Nelson Sauvin [11.30 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Amarillo [7.70 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs



Thanks for the suggestions. I think next I'm going to do the English IPA with Admiral and Nelson.

 

[hopsandhops]

This is a great thread

I made a Nelson/Amarillo Rye IPA that turned out really nice

 

[Revvy]

This is a great thread


I made a Nelson/Amarillo Rye IPA that turned out really nice

Thanks, I'm enjoying breaking away from my typical "C" hop IPA's that I've made for a decade.

This hop com might work....I made a Red RYE Pale that needs something, I might have to try that combo...

What's your recipe?

 

[hopsandhops]

Thanks, I'm enjoying breaking away from my typical "C" hop IPA's that I've made for a decade.

This hop com might work....I made a Red RYE Pale that needs something, I might have to try that combo...

What's your recipe?

I've been trying to find new combos too. This one took an extra week or two for the Nelson superdankdirt thing to fade a bit, but when it did, it was tasty

6 gals
OG 1.067
FG 1.011
78 IBU
WLP007

10.5 lbs 2 row
3 lbs Rye
1 lb Vienna
14 oz C20

1 oz Magnum @ 60
1 oz each Nelson/ Amarillo @ 15
1 oz each Nelson/ Amarillo @ 5
2.5 oz each Nelson/ Amarillo for 30 min steep
2.5 oz each Nelson/ Amarillo DH

 

[kh54s10]

I like Cascade/Centennial and Centennial/Cascade. I have also done Columbus/Willamette that was good.

I bought a lot of hops this winter and need to brew some IPA's to go through some of my stock...... A bunch of 2 hop brews sounds like a good idea!

I keep myself on somewhat of a budget so I don't do a lot with the more costly popular varieties.

 

[Revvy]

Took the Amarillo/Nelson to my monthly brewclub meeting, evidently it was the hit of the night. Even Fred Bonjour who just got reelected to the American Homebrewer's Association board, and is in Denny Conn's new book had great things to say about it... he raved about the aroma.

 

[emr25]

The best IPA I've made to date employed Ella + Columbus hops. I like to branch out a little bit with my choices and use some of the hops I have on hand. I recently made a highly hopped barleywine with Northern Brewer + Liberty hops for some mild piney character. Wort smelled and tasted lovely, so I can't imagine the beer turning out too shabby.

Although I think Citra + Galaxy is really the gold standard for juice bombs, the reality is that Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and Galaxy hops are too damn expensive to be mainstays in my pipeline. And I know there are cheaper hops that are just as good.

Care to share some tasting / aroma notes on the Ella / Columbus IPA?

We have Braufessor's NE IPA fermenting now with Citra / Mosaic / Galaxy as described in his OP. For the next batch we want to sub Ella for Galaxy but I'm having a hard time figuring out what that may do to the aroma and flavor.

 

[FatDragon]

Simtra (Simcoe/Citra) is a pretty well-recognized combo, but I just bottled an IPA with the combo and remembered why it's such a favorite.

 

[pshankstar]

Simtra (Simcoe/Citra) is a pretty well-recognized combo, but I just bottled an IPA with the combo and remembered why it's such a favorite.

What was your recipe? I'm always looking to try new IPA recipes. I've done two SMaSH beers with Simcoe hops. This second one I increased the late additions and dry hops. I plan to keg it later tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[FatDragon]

What was your recipe? I'm always looking to try new IPA recipes. I've done two SMaSH beers with Simcoe hops. This second one I increased the late additions and dry hops. I plan to keg it later tonight or tomorrow morning.

I looked over the recipe at bottling last night but don't have it in front of me, so I'm close but probably not dead-on.

It was 85% pils, 10% wheat, 5% carared to 1.059 OG. Mashed around 149, give or take. I used a bit of Caliente (been using the last few ounces of a half pound as a generic bittering hop) for something like 35-40 calculated IBUs at the beginning of the boil, then I believe 60 grams each of Citra and Simcoe split (maybe 20g-40g) between a 5 minute addition and a 20 minute whirlpool addition. I pitched US-05 and let it sit at 62 for a week before taking it out of the chamber and letting it sit at ~75-80F ambient for another week - when all was said and done it got down to about 1.007, which was a pretty impressive 87.6% apparent attenuation for a Chico strain with no simple sugars. Finished with a 3.5 day dry hop of 40g each Simcoe and Citra. It was a 6 gallon batch so if you do 5 gallons you could cut the hops by about 15% if you wanted.

At a 50-50 ratio, the Citra is definitely the bigger presence but the Simcoe makes itself known as well. If you wanted to balance the flavors evenly you'd probably need a 60/40 Simcoe/Citra split. At bottling, the sample I pulled was very juicy and reminded me most of Deschutes' Fresh Squeezed among commercial IPAs I've had, thanks in large part to the big Citra character and juicy mouthfeel.

 

[pshankstar]

Thanks for the info @FatDragon! I'll plug that info into BeerSmith to come up with similar percentages for my setup.

 

[Praiodan]

Horizon and Amarillo play very nice together, have a brown ale and a porter that are fantastic with this combo.

 

[crusader1612]

riwaka and citra if you can find them

 

[eric19312]

Columbus + Citra is my go to

 

[Brewing_CSU_Ram_Fan]

Just kegged a combo of galaxy and amarillo for an IPA. Nice grapefruit smell and taste. I did add grapefruit zest to secondary along with combo of galaxy/amarillo. Still, this one will be a good beer when carbed fully. I was trying to create a beer similar to Ballast Points Sculpin Grapefruit IPA... I think mine is going to be better with that combo.

Used Galaxy for bittering hop and then combo of galaxy/amarillo for flavor and aroma.

 

[secondbase]

I don't make many IPAs and when I do, it's usually to try a single hop. I did a rye brett saison with citra/equinox that is absolutely killer. I imagine this combo would be great ramped up to the IPA level.

 

[Redlantern]

Citra Chinook

 

[Ewow]

Hey y'all.

Just for fun, here are the combos mentioned at least twice along with the number of times they've been mentioned so far:

 

[Ewow]

And, for hops mentioned at least twice, here are the number of times an individual hop was mentioned as being part of a favorite pair:

 

[m00ps]

all those tables tell me is you guys need to get more adventurous with your hop choices

 

[Remmy]

Columbus-Galaxy

Columbus-Simcoe (the best)

 

[Brewing_CSU_Ram_Fan]

as many of these hop combos are citrus like combos, has anyone tried lemondrop or a combo with lemondrop yet?

 

[catdaddy66]

My classic combo for american pale ales is cascade and centennial. Another combo i stumbled on was warrior and green bullet hops. It is what i use in my house ipa.

 

[kh54s10]

all those tables tell me is you guys need to get more adventurous with your hop choices

Here is something a little different. The hops were buy a pound and get a free pound of Pilgrim for free at Hops Direct sale earlier this year.

My latest has 3 hops. I used Magnum for bittering and Aurora Slovenian and Sonnet Golding for the flavor/aroma. At first tap of the keg it was still really cloudy and I didn't like it much. Since then, I guess I pulled out all the trub, it has cleared and tastes really good. I can't think of anything it compares to and I am not great at describing flavors so I can't give any guidance. The aroma is not very powerful.

 

[mrdauber64]

I just did a Calypso and El Dorado IPA with Belgian yeast and 100% Vienna malt. Very unique! Has flavors of pears, apples, and fruity jolly ranchers then it finishes off with the fruity Belgian yeast. Finished dry but the Vienna malt is still there. Very different from my Citra and whatever combos I normally do, but very good. I'll definitely use this combo again in other Belgian beers. Saison maybe?

 

[MFWINZLOW]

Very different from my Citra and whatever combos I normally do, but very good.

I do those too. Was on a Citra / Mosaic and Citra / Amarillo kick for about 6 months. Just tried Ahntanum(spelling) on my last IPA - I understand that Cigar City Jai Alai IPA uses this one (not the clone ...my version called I Lie). Very mild hop...will jack it up 3:1 with Citra on next IPA.

 

[simontja]

galaxy/simcoe, galaxy/mosaic, galaxy/belma, galaxy/equinox, polaris/mosaic are good complimenting hops.

 

[Revvy]

Ewow, those charts are awesome. Thanks for making them!

I haven't been able to brew in weeks, but now I have Fridays off through the end of July. I finally got around to brew what was going to be that Admiral/Nelson Sauvin English IPA, but my shop didn't have any Admiral. Doing a quick hop sub google with what they had in stock I chose Challenger instead. Lots of Marris Otter with Whitbread Yeast. Really curious about how this will turn out.

Anybody familiar with challenger?

 

[deadphish]

I really like Kohatu and Citra. Kohatu has great aroma and flavor but its not overly powerful. However it compliments Citra perfectly and makes both pop out. For IPAs at least.

 

[Ruckusz28]

as many of these hop combos are citrus like combos, has anyone tried lemondrop or a combo with lemondrop yet?

I've used lemon drop in a sour brett beer and blended with amarillo in a pale ale with interesting results. That was early into my brewing so I really didn't keep many notes back then. I remember a great aroma though. Lemongrass, flowers.. like walking into a florist.

 

[m00ps]

as many of these hop combos are citrus like combos, has anyone tried lemondrop or a combo with lemondrop yet?

Ive used it with meridian and with sorachi ace. I liked the meridian combo better since it was much more smooth and crisp in its lemon flavor. It didnt have the bit of abrasive herbal qualities that sorach has either

 

[Ewow]

Ewow, those charts are awesome. Thanks for making them!

Cheers, Rev!