- Joined
- Feb 16, 2012
- Messages
- 3,381
- Reaction score
- 4,308
- Location
- Either in the brewery or on the road
I was routing around in the beer fridge yesterday looking for some citra that I need for an upcoming brew session when I came across some "serendipity hops". You know the ones you bought for some recipe and forgot about them before they got used.
Backstory: summer 2017 we were part of a five family beach rental on the Outer Banks. Had a blast. Of course I had to brew a few kegs. One was a SMaSH pale ale using the (then) experimental HBC 366, now Ekuanot. It turned out 'OK' and everybody 'liked' it, but I never thought it was a "re-brew".
So yesterday I found 3 oz of Ekuanot and 3 oz of Cryo Ekuanot. They're in their original foil barrier flushed packaging and have been continuously stored in a freezer. I've got no problem using 3 year old hops but I'm not sure how to use them.
I only brewed with them once but was a little put off with a strong vegetal (green pepper) taste which is characteristic of the hop profile but found it out of balance with with the purported tropical fruity notes. Maybe it was because of it being a SMaSH, but I'm not sure what hops "play nice" with Ekuanot. I also wonder if maybe using it only as a flavor/aroma hop might diminish the strong green pepper notes.
Any suggestions?
Brooo Brother
Backstory: summer 2017 we were part of a five family beach rental on the Outer Banks. Had a blast. Of course I had to brew a few kegs. One was a SMaSH pale ale using the (then) experimental HBC 366, now Ekuanot. It turned out 'OK' and everybody 'liked' it, but I never thought it was a "re-brew".
So yesterday I found 3 oz of Ekuanot and 3 oz of Cryo Ekuanot. They're in their original foil barrier flushed packaging and have been continuously stored in a freezer. I've got no problem using 3 year old hops but I'm not sure how to use them.
I only brewed with them once but was a little put off with a strong vegetal (green pepper) taste which is characteristic of the hop profile but found it out of balance with with the purported tropical fruity notes. Maybe it was because of it being a SMaSH, but I'm not sure what hops "play nice" with Ekuanot. I also wonder if maybe using it only as a flavor/aroma hop might diminish the strong green pepper notes.
Any suggestions?
Brooo Brother