Good citrus/floral hop for single hop light beer

[mrphillips]

I want to make a single hop Blonde Ale and was thinking of using either Crystal or Hallertau. Has anyone done something similar with either of these hops?

My grain bill so far is:

4 lbs. Extra Light DME
1 lb. Flaked Wheat
.5 lb. Crystal 10
.5 lb. Pilsner malt

Yeast:

T-58

 

[andhou27]

Crystal is supposedly very aromatic, maybe not what you want for a blonde, unless you use a small amount but I'm sure it would be appropriate. Maybe Cascade or Saaz as others you may want to think about. Do you want a more American or European style?

 

[mrphillips]

More American. I want it to be very crisp, bordering on tart. I thought something citrusy would compliment that. I'm even playing with the idea of adding wine tannins at flameout to incease the tartness I'm looking for.

 

[Francus]

I like the Crystal. Amarillo is good if you can get it.

 

[bbohanon]

Honestly, I would look for Citra or Mosaic if you can find either if Citrus is the flavor/smell profile you are looking for on this beer.
I just brewed up 2 batches with my first run with Mosaic and it smells and tastes absolutely wonderful. Certainly does not have that "cat-piss" profile that Simcoe can have if the hops are not fresh.
A little will go along way on either of these hop selections and either can be used for bittering or aroma.
Just my .02.

 

[mrphillips]

I LOVE citra, but I think the alpha acids would be just a little too high for my taste in a one-hop beer. Then again, I could only do late hop additions and forget about bittering hops. Hmm...something to consider.

 

[Yooper]

To me, the definitive hop for citrus/floral flavor and aroma is centennial.

Maybe check out Biermuncher's recipe for "centennial blond" to see how he uses it without it being overhopped or bitter.

 

[mrphillips]

Yooper,

I just checked out that recipe, and it was a real help. I've never used Centennial before, so this will be a delicious experiment.

 

[ApertureBrewing]

Galaxy!


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[mrphillips]

I've got a friend who swears by the stuff! Choices...choices...

 

[Zuljin]

I've used citra in a beer I wanted citrusy. It did the job wonderfully. That brew also turned me on to whole leaf hops.

Galaxy and mosaic, huh? Interwebs says galaxy is in Widmer galaxy barley wine. I'll look for it at the beer store.

 

[JuanMoore]

Have you used T-58 before? I get really strong black pepper phenols every time I use it, which aren't what I think of when I think blonde ale. I've heard that the black pepper phenols are replaced with more of a clove flavor if fermented really cold, like <58°, but I've never tried it that low.

 

[mrphillips]

When it was all said and done, I stuck with my original grain bill, decided to play it safe and go with the S-05 yeast, and followed Yooper's suggestion and used Biermuncher's blonde ale hop schedule:

7 grams Centennial @ 55 min.
7 grams Centennial @ 35 min.
7 grams Cascade @ 20 min.
14 grams Cascade @ 5 min.

*The original 5 min. addition was 7 grams, but I bumped it up a bit. I couldn't be happier with the hop flavor. Subtle, but present.

Oh yeah, and thanks for everyone's suggestions! It wouldn't have turned out this good without this forum's support.