Session Brown Recipe Hop Help

[Dr. Francois]

I've been working on a session house ale for a while. I've figured out my grain bill:

3 lbs Light DME
1 lb 2 row
8 oz Fawcett Crystal 25L
8 oz Fawcett Pale Chocolate 215L
8 oz Maltodextrin

Ferment with Notty or S-23, 58F

This gets me an OG around 1.035, just where I want it.

Where I'm having trouble is the hopping. With a smaller, maltier beer like this one, the natural tendency would be to hop with English style hops (EKG, Fuggle, NB etc.) I'm trying to avoid that earthy flavor many of these hops bring, but I also don't want to go too citrusy ("C" hops, etc.)

With this grain bill, what hops might work well? I currently have a stockpile of Northern Brewer and Willamette, but I've been using both for many of my beers.

 

[bierhaus15]

Willamette would be a great choice for a beer like that.

 

[Keffa]

Either would be good, IMO.

 

[Dr. Francois]

Thanks for the feedback.

One of my ideas was to make something like a mini-Cali-Common with all Northern Brewer (hence the S-23). If I go this route, I plan to continuously hop the wort with 2 oz of NB. The lower IBUs will go better with the lower gravity.

I worry that a Willamette-heavy beer will end up too much like my Christmas Tree Bitter, which uses NB for bittering and Willamette for finishing, then a mixture of the two for dry hopping.

Any ideas for a different hop that could take this sucker over the edge?

 

[phenry]

For my darker beers I like adding Centennial (now Cascade since Cent is in shortage) at 15 min and Willamette at KO, equal amounts of each. I feel like it's a nice balance between earthy and citrusy, since neither really shines through too much on its own.