is 1.0 oz hops enough??

[hiphopaim5]

I am a true hop head. i am currently brewing an light ale. I am using a mutons light 3.3lbs can and 2 pounds of light dme. I am using 1oz. of citra hop pellets 14.1 % aa . .75oz at the beginning of the boil .25 oz 15minutes prior boil end. Will this be sufficient? I hope so because i just started the boil. lol wish me luck.

 

[newtobrew36]

I am assuming this is a 5 gallon batch? If so, 1oz of hops seems to be too little. Most recipes I've done have been at least three ounces of hops.

 

[rodwha]

Is this like a blonde that you are after?
I'd think it'll be a bit bitter with very little hop flavor.
Check out hopville.com to see their calculator.
How many IBU's are you after?

 

[rodwha]

I generally use 1 oz of hops in my very lightly hopped ales such as a blonde or wheat. But these ride around the 15 IBU range.

 

[rodwha]

Are you boiling all of your extract?
What I got when I ran the numbers through was:
3* SRM (darker if you boiled all the extract), estimated 4.3% ABV (depending on yeast), and 52.2 IBU's.
This is something like an extra light IPA...

 

[hiphopaim5]

it is a 5 gallon batch i was going for a blonde ale. very light and easy to drink i am a hop head. I am trying something new for the mrs. should i add the whole 1ozat the beginning or should do 50/50 at for 60 mins and at 15 minutes?

 

[rodwha]

How many IBU's are you wanting?
A blonde generally stays in the lower IBU range...

 

[hiphopaim5]

i am trying to keep it suttle somewhere around 25-40ibu. would a longer boil maybe 90 minutes help?

 

[Yooper]

i am trying to keep it suttle somewhere around 25-40ibu. would a longer boil maybe 90 minutes help?

That's not "subtle" for a blonde ale. A blonde ale would normally have 15-25 IBUs. If you want something that isn't bitter (and so drinkable for your wife), I'd definitely go on the low end of that. 15-18 IBUs, so about .35 ounces of hops at 60 minutes (but check with some software), with about .25 ounce of hops added in the last 5-10 minutes. That's it.

 

[rodwha]

No.
I rearranged your hops additions to .3 oz at 45 mins and 15 mins, and gave a .4 oz at 5 mins and came up with about 30 IBU's. A blonde shouldn't go over 28, but who's counting?

 

[rodwha]

Your IBU's will be determined also by the amount of extract you boil, and the amount of water you are boiling.
Are you using top off water or a full boil (~5.6 gals)?
Boiling all of your extract? The more extract the less IBU's, but it'll also darker the beer a little. Not a big deal as you aren't using any additional grains. Right?

 

[rodwha]

What yeast are you using?

 

[rodwha]

The longer you boil your hops the more IBU's you get (slightly, and to a point).

 

[hiphopaim5]

Also I have some Valencia oranges and raspberry lying around the house i was wondering if there was a good way to incorporate this in to the wort or secondary? is this a good idea or should i stick with fruit extracts instead? Thanks guys for all your help!!

 

[rodwha]

I'm not too keen on using fruits yet. Purees are often used.

 

[rodwha]

Honey is something often added to lighter beers. Generally added when you turn the burner off when you are done.
I'm waiting to get over being sick so that I can try my latest honey beer (blonde) in which I used 1.5 lb of honey malt and 1 lb of honey in. Hoping for a strong honey flavor.

 

[rodwha]

Check out hopville.com. It's a free online brew calculator. It'll give you a fair idea as to what you'll get when you decide to try something.

 

[rodwha]

Using a high Alpha Acid hop, such as Citra, is hard to work with if you are trying for milder IBU's.

 

[rodwha]

Oh, sorry, extracts are used a lot as well.
I think there can be problems with using actual fruit. I'm not certain.

 

[hiphopaim5]

i am using safale s-04. i am doing a 3 gallon boil.

 

[rodwha]

Big difference. Hope you haven't started yet...
You could use .4 oz at 60 mins, and .3 oz at 15/5 mins for almost 28 IBU's.
You'll need ~2.25 gals to top off for 5 gal yield.

 

[rodwha]

With that yeast it says you ought to end up with a 3.9% beer. That's quite light.

 

[rodwha]

Do you have honey?
If so you could add 1 lb at flame out, which would boost it to 4.5% ABV. Doubt you'll notice much of a honey taste, but some seem to.

 

[rodwha]

1.5 lbs of honey would bring it up to 4.8%.
Not sure what kind of alcohol content you are looking for.

 

[Uziyahu]

What about adding the whole oz of Citra at 15 min? That will give you more hops flavor with about 24 IBU's.

 

[hiphopaim5]

i have light brown sugar and about 2.5 oz of honey lol.

 

[rodwha]

I've never tried anything like that, but it does bring about a bit of curiosity.
I do have some small buckets that'll handle ~1.9 gals for testing. Hmmm....
Have you done this before?

 

[rodwha]

Is that 2.5 oz by weight or volume?
What kind of alcohol content are you after?
What made you choose 04 for your yeast?

 

[rodwha]

Another thing you could do is reduce your end volume to something like 4.5 gals...

 

[rodwha]

Dropping your end volume to 4.5 gals, adding 2 oz (weight) of honey, and 4 oz (weight) of light brown sugar will give you ~4.7% ABV. You'd top off with ~1.75 gals of water. Your IBU's would be a little high at 30.5, and your FG (Final Gravity) will be slightly high (.002 points), but who cares?

 

[hiphopaim5]

i wanted to achieve something that was light on the pallet. I was looking something simular to a summer ale. i wanted it be a easy drinking beer for my wife and her friends thats why i was aiming at 3.5%. do you think 4.2 % would be a little strong for them. I mean for me it would be great however i am doing this for my wife and her friends.

 

[rodwha]

The yeast you chose has a lower attenuation, which means it leaves some additional sugars unconverted to alcohol. You lost about 0.03% alcohol by using that one over an average higher attenuating yeast.

 

[rodwha]

Bud Light is around 4.5%. I'm not sure what the lower calorie light beers are.
I'd guess 4.3-4.8% ought to be OK.

 

[rodwha]

I'm going to be trying a recipe I came up with that should make an ale version of something like Bud Light for SWMBO's friends. It's targeted for 4.5% ABV with 10.6 IBU's.

I gave them a blonde and an amber, and it took forever for them to finish them. But they were also fuller in taste as I used crystal malts, and had higher alcohol contents of over 5%.

 

[tmurph6]

I wouldn't waste citra hops on a beer with almost no hop flavor/aroma.

 

[rodwha]

They each split a bottle of beer, and it took them forever! We are talking about 5 oz of beer each (x2)! I figured it was more than their pallet was accustomed to.

 

[rodwha]

Me either.
I'll be pinching off some (0.175 oz) of Willamette to make that light ale (1.9 gal batch) and using it all in a 50 min boil. No flavoring or aroma addition. It's a test batch.

 

[Rev2010]

Rodwha, just a heads up but you should be using the "Edit" post feature rather than creating a new post for every thought you want to add on. On the fourth page of this thread alone you've posted at:

6:32
6:34
6:37
6:38
6:40


Rev.

 

[Yooper]

i wanted to achieve something that was light on the pallet. I was looking something simular to a summer ale. i wanted it be a easy drinking beer for my wife and her friends thats why i was aiming at 3.5%. do you think 4.2 % would be a little strong for them. I mean for me it would be great however i am doing this for my wife and her friends.

You're getting way off track for your light blonde ale.

A good light blonde ale will have low IBUs (about 15-20 or so), and little hops flavor and aroma.

I like the idea of a nice light 3.5% blonde ale. I'd shoot for an OG of 1.040, 15-20 IBUs (probably .3 ounce of hops at 60 minutes, but check with some brewing calculator to make sure), and .25 ounce of hops added with 5-10 minutes left. That's it.

 

[rodwha]

Wasn't certain if he'd go back and reread it.