Help: recipe for pliny the elder leftover hops

Yong · Feb 27, 2011

I've brewed the pliny the elder clone kit from AHS. And there are some leftover hops:

3/4 oz centennial
1/4 oz simcoe
1/2 oz columbus

Can someone advise the best way use them? Thanks!

Yooper · Feb 27, 2011

I'd make an American pale ale.

10 pounds two-row or 6 pounds DME
.5 pounds crystal 20L
.25 pounds crystal 60L

.5 ounce columbus 60 minutes
.5 ounce centennial 15 minutes
.25 ounce simcoe 5 minutes
.25 ounce centennial 5 minutes

s05 yeast

I don't have Beersmith on this computer, you so may need to increase or decrease the malt, and check the AAUs of the hops, so that you have a good balance but that's a good place to start.

Ralelen · Feb 27, 2011

Dry hop?

Yong · Feb 27, 2011

Thanks a lot! Yooper you are awesome. One more stupid question: the minimal order for crystal is 1 pound. Is it OK if i end up using 1 pound 20L and 60L each? Or shall I strictly follow the recipe?

skeezerpleezer · Feb 27, 2011

2 lbs of crystal will make it really sweet. Personally, i wouldn't do over 1 pound for pale. Maybe 1 pound of 20L or 40L if you only want to buy 1 lb.

PorterIdontknowher · Feb 27, 2011

Yong said:
Thanks a lot! Yooper you are awesome. One more stupid question: the minimal order for crystal is 1 pound. Is it OK if i end up using 1 pound 20L and 60L each? Or shall I strictly follow the recipe?

1 pound of 20L, 30L or 40L would be better than 2 pounds. You want a little bit of crystal sweetness to play off the hop flavor...

2 other thoughts:

1. If you can crush the grains yourself, buy the full pounds and store them in the refrigerator, well sealed...
Until I got a mill I used a little mini-blender (like a magic bullet) to crush 2-4 oz at a time. No, not perfect, but for a pound or so of steeping grains it works well enough. After reading about malt conditioning I added about a half tsp of water to 3oz of grain and it made it work better. The key is to only try and grind a small amount at a time so you don't make flour with some and leave some uncrushed... it isn't perfect, but it has worked pretty well for me.

2. Buy the pounds pre-milled. Use what you need, seal up tightly in a ziploc and refrigerator or freeze and use it in the next brew... even crushed, if stored cold it won't lose much over a couple months...