Help with my APA recipe

[Joeneugs]

What I’m going for is a balanced, easy drinking yet intense APA. I was thinking Alpha King but wanted to put a different twist on it.

I want a fairly malty pale ale with some sweet, dank, tropical fruity hop character. What do you guys think of this recipe:

75% American 2-row
11% Munich 10L
9% Caramel/Crystal 60L
5% Rye Malt

1 ounce of Warrior for 60 minutes
.5 ounces of Columbus for 15 minutes
1 ounce of Cascade for 5 minutes
1 ounce of Columbus for 5 minutes
1 ounce of Amarillo at flameout
1 ounce of Citra at flamout
1.5 ounces of Amarillo dry hop for 7 days
1.5 ounces of Citra dry hop for 7 days

Ferment at 65 F with WLP001

original gravity estimate: 1.061
final gravity estimate: 1.016
IBU’s: 57.5

I really wanted to go with a Nelson/Citra combination for the flame out and dry hops, but I don’t think I can get Nelson this time of year. I may not even be able to get Citra for all I know. Anyone have any other suggestions for some tropical fruity hops?

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[smagee]

Gut feeling just on a glance is that this looks more like an IPA than a PA to me, but the line is admittedly blurred between APA and IPA these days. Regardless of how it's classified, I think it looks tasty. I think I'd drop either the munich or the crystal, though; one of the two will provide sufficient sweetness, while I feel like two would be a bit overly so.

I like the rye addition, as it'll supply some decent body as well as a nice little bite in the background. Amarillo and Citra play quite nicely together, so if you can get them (or rather, are willing to pay for them), they'll treat you well. All of the NZ varieties are known for having fruitier characters than your standard US hops; you might have better luck getting your hands on some Mouteka or Pacific Jade, which should also work.

 

[Joeneugs]

Thanks for the suggestion. Someone else suggested to use Galaxy hops if I was looking for a big sweet tropical fruit hop flavor. Could I replace the Amarillo with Galaxy?

I've always made really hoppy beers with little to no specialty malts, but this one I want to be different. I've actually never used caramel malts in a hoppy beer. I used about 10% Munich in a IIPA once and it came out good. Maybe I'll drop the caramel malt and just up the Munich. Or would you suggest just cutting the caramel to maybe 8 ounces or less?

 

[smagee]

I'd stick with just munich; I've had good results with it as well, and I usually only have around 8oz of total crystal/sweetening malts in an IPA in general. The amount of munich you have should be OK without the crystal addition.

Galaxy's another nice fruity one, although it's out of Australia, if I recall correctly. This thread might be a good one to reference for some ideas:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/new-zealand-hops-cats-meow-283184/