Riwaka Hops IPA?

[PodunkPorter]

Heyo. Just got back from a trip to New Zealand, and ended up buying 400g of this hop. Its supposed to be pretty uniquely NZ so I I stocked up. They say its like Saaz although I'm not sure. So, anyone have any exp with this hop? I'm wanting to make a pretty big IPA with it, something around 7%. Any all grain recipe ideas would be great, thanks!

 

[Upthewazzu]

Never used them, but they sound promising.

 

[adixon3]

Yes, Scandinavian IPA

5 gallon Batch:

OG 1.085
FG 1.010
IBU 87
SRM 8
ABV% 9.5

Mash at 148F

9lbs Marris Otter
10lbs Vienna Malt

60-Minute Boil

1.4oz Cascade at FWH
1.2oz Cascade 60 min
.70oz Columbus 60 min
.60oz Cascade 30 min
2 Whirlfloc Tabs or 2 tsp Irish Moss 15 min
3.5oz Riwaka 5 min

2 L Starter
1 vial Trappist Ale WLP500 or Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast

No Starter: 2 vials of either one

Ferment the beer between 68-70 after about 4 days let the beer climb to the mid 70s
Make a tincture of 1oz Juniper berries and 1oz of bitter orange peels in 2oz of vodka and add before bottling or kegging

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

One of my standard summer brews is a clone(ish) of Monteith's Summer Ale (NZ). It's brewed with ginger, Rata honey and Riwaka hops. I splurged and ordered the honey and hops from NZ (NOT cheap). To be honest, the aroma and flavor of the Riwaka were very subtle. The best description i can come up with is a muted combination of cascade and citra. Of course, it was also in a brew with ginger so it was hard to separate the flavors. I still have some in my freezer and plan to do a pale ale or maybe even an IPL on the hoppier side to get a better feel. In general, though, I would recommend using it as the sole aroma hop (late addition) and dry hop so the flavor/aroma doesn't get masked by another hop. Use an early CTZ hop addition for your primary bittering hop.

I'll be curious to see your take on this.

 

[TimmyWit]

I ordered some Riwaka from Australia and the first thing I did was make an all Riwaka pale ale. The aroma is nice but I'm not too happy with it after that; not a smooth bitterness and a weird flavor that is hard to describe. The most likely culprit I have found is the high cohumulone level makes Riwaka a poor choice for bittering. I do like the aroma and I plan on using them again but I will stick to late additions next time.

 

[Jwood]

I ordered some Riwaka from Australia and the first thing I did was make an all Riwaka pale ale. The aroma is nice but I'm not too happy with it after that; not a smooth bitterness and a weird flavor that is hard to describe. The most likely culprit I have found is the high cohumulone level makes Riwaka a poor choice for bittering. I do like the aroma and I plan on using them again but I will stick to late additions next time.

I used Riwaka a while ago in an IPA and i agree, i can only describe the flavor it contributed as slightly....weird.

 

[PodunkPorter]

I used Riwaka a while ago in an IPA and i agree, i can only describe the flavor it contributed as slightly....weird.

I made a riwaka IPA yesterday. I bittered with different hops, but half my flavor hops are riwaka and the other half are nelson sauvin. I will admit that I found the aroma different of the riwaka, but my bro in law sent me home from NZ with 200g of riwaka and 100 of the sauvin so, we shall see. How would you describe the flavor?

 

[couchsending]

They can have really really strong machine oil notes to them. I get that from Nelson to but the Riwaka I've used is worse.

 

[TimmyWit]

They can have really really strong machine oil notes to them. I get that from Nelson to but the Riwaka I've used is worse.

That's a good way to describe it. It is fading a bit with time but after all the hype I read about these, I was disappointed. I think they'll still be great for aroma and maybe used sparingly for flavor. But, I used them all the way through from FWH to dry hop. The ones I got didn't have a date on them so age could have been an issue as well.

The weird thing is, when it was fresh, I would drink one and it would sort of destroy my palate. After one of those, even some of my most reliable IPA's like 2-hearted and Union Jack would taste off. It took me a few times before I realized it was an after-effect from the Riwaka beer. Luckily I figured it out before I came out HBT and went into a rant about how IPA's are stupid

 

[Iseneye]

I have successfully used it in a number of lagers. I can't imagine it being that great in any sort of APA / IPA. The clue is in the parentage.

 

[TimmyWit]

I have successfully used it in a number of lagers. I can't imagine it being that great in any sort of APA / IPA. The clue is in the parentage.

The aroma is very fruity and would make a nice aroma addition for a pale ale. It just doesn't come across good in flavor or at least the crop I got my hands on didn't. IMO it's quite different from Saaz.

 

[couchsending]

I used it in a Pale Ale that I fermented with 1056. I used some Extract at 60 but then Riwaka at 30, 10, FO and DH. Before the DH addition the citrus flavor/aroma was really awesome. Very defined and bright grapefruit specifically... the intense machine oil/diesel notes didn’t really show up until DH.

I believe Hill Farmstead is the only US craft brewery with a contract for Riwaka, and Shaun Hill seems to be pretty enamored with it. I don’t know if the diesel notes are season dependent, homebrew-Schwag Hop dependent or what? I think it could be amazing with a little less of the machine oil. The citrus component was really well defined. Cellermaker is the only other brewery I know of off the top of my head that has used it a bunch.

 

[TimmyWit]

I ordered some Riwaka from Australia and the first thing I did was make an all Riwaka pale ale. The aroma is nice but I'm not too happy with it after that; not a smooth bitterness and a weird flavor that is hard to describe. The most likely culprit I have found is the high cohumulone level makes Riwaka a poor choice for bittering. I do like the aroma and I plan on using them again but I will stick to late additions next time.

Just a quick update on this. I guess this flavor I was getting might be subjective. I submitted it to a competition just to see how a judge would describe it. To my surprise, both judges really liked it and it ended up scoring 39.5 and placing second out of 13 entries. They described it as grapefruit and citrusy.

 

[royger]

The Riwaka flavour might be like coriander that tastes soapy to some. I think Riwaka is a great hop, but it must be dosed appropriately. I recently brewed a Nectaron + Riwaka (2:1 ratio in both hot and cold side) and a Superdelic + Riwaka (also 2:1) and found them very good, albeit if I had to choose my preference would be for the Nectaron version. Used only 80gr (~3oz) of Riwaka in the dry hop for a 6gal batch and that was more than enough. Next I'm going to try Rakau + Nelson + Riwaka.

On the other hand I don't like the flavour of any of the neomexican hop varieties that I've tired, they all have an after taste that I can only describe as 'hot'.

EDIT: I also always dry hop cold (10-12C) and limit hop contact time to 48-72h.