Hop flavor without the bitterness

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OhSoHumuLonely

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Hey guys,

I'm hoping to do this recipe tomorrow. I was hoping you might give me suggestions. I want a low alcohol beer (3-3.5%) with a decent amount of Citra hop flavor and aroma but balanced gravity-to-IBU ratio. Here is my proposed brew:

5 gal batch

Mash: 158 F

5 lb pale malt
1 lb crystel 60L
0.25 lb chocolate malt

Boil 60 min

0.5 oz Citra - 10 min
2.0 oz Citra - 2 min
1.5 oz Citra - Dry Hop 5-7 days

Est. OG: 1.036
Est. FG: 1.011
Est. ABV: 3.2%
IBU: 19.1
Est. IBU/SG: 0.536


Anyone see any issues with this recipe? Think it sounds like what I'm shooting for? I don't have a lot of leeway at this point besides to postpone the brew, but I don't suspect anything will be so drastic as to cause me to do so.

Thanks guys!
 
Only thing I would say is that a pound a crystal is a lot, to me, on a 6.25 lb grain bill. I tend to think that crystal gets in the way of good hop flavor though, and avoid it when doing hop forward beers. So take my advice with a grain of salt.
 
Only thing I would say is that a pound a crystal is a lot, to me, on a 6.25 lb grain bill. I tend to think that crystal gets in the way of good hop flavor though, and avoid it when doing hop forward beers. So take my advice with a grain of salt.

Agreed. I wouldn't go above .5lbs, maybe even .25lbs with your modest grain bill. I hardly ever put crystal in my summer beers. To me, it cuts down on the crispness. Everything else looks real tasty...especially your hop bill ;)
 
I had just seen a large amount of Crystal in milds, so I was shooting for essentially the recipe of a mild.... With lots of late hops.
 
I had just seen a large amount of Crystal in milds, so I was shooting for essentially the recipe of a mild.... With lots of late hops.

Yes, that might be good- but with a mash temp of 158 and only 19 IBUs you might find that instead of a hoppy mild you get a thick American brown without enough bittering.

I'd definitely keep the crystal at 12-15%, and no more. I"d probably mash at more like 153 so that it's not too cloying, and consider raising the IBUs a bit with more hops at 10 minutes (like maybe a whole ounce).
 
If you're leaning more towards a mild, then a little more crystal would be ok. Like others have said, a few more ibu's could balance it and not come out bitter. Maybe bumping your 10 min addition up to 20 would be nice.

Also, if u stick with that much crystal you really don't need the added body that a 158º mash would give you. I made a brown ale once with too much crystal and a high mash temp, and it was so sweet and thick that it really wasn't enjoyable.
 
I went with

5 lb pale malt
1 lb crystal 60L (may have been a bit much, but I will find out before long)
(no chocolate, guess I didn't have any)

Hop schedule:
0.5 oz Citra - 10 min
0.75 oz Simcoe - 5 min
0.75 oz Chinook - 5 min
1 oz Citra - 2 min

And I will be dry hopping when fermentation quits (shouldn't be long)

OG was 1.033
IBU was in the low 30's.

Hope it comes out good. I'm excited to have something I can drink all day.
 
Also, I mashed around 154, but with the small volume of water, my mashtun lost a lot of heat, and dropped into the high 140's by 45 min. I pulled some some mash and did a mini decoction to get it back up, but I'm thinking it might not be a bad thing. I guess next time I'll wrap my tun well.
 
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