Simcoe/Citra/Amarillo IPA?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

barrooze

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2009
Messages
2,359
Reaction score
151
Location
Pearland
Hey, Has anyone brewed an IPA with Simcoe, Citra, and Amarillo? Would these three hops work well with each other? All are well respected and desired on their own, but what about all together?
 
I brewed a Citra, Amarillo, and Centennial IPA and, while it is fantastic, it is lacking a certain something. Maybe Simcoe would fix that....
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/citra-simcoe-222292/#post2607417
A old post of mine:

This was a great use of Citra hops aroma!

Citra apa

28g. Simcoe 15 min.
28g. Amarillo 7 min.
85g. citra 2 min.

kegged 3-21-10 with 85g Citra

I find the citra to have a lingering bite, hopheads may like it but I'll never do a all citra beer, nope.

--
A even older post:
posted:1-01-2010

SG1.065
60 IBU
MO,Crystal

Simcoe,Amarillo,Citra = FWH

Amarillo,Citra = 7min

Citra,Amarillo = 2 min

Citra,Amarillo,Simcoe = Dry Hop
 
Being as Simcoe and Amarillo are hard to find nowadays (especially Simcoe), this will be an expensive brew. These 3 hops should complement each other nicely though.
 
I've done a simcoe/citra/Chinook before and it was awesome, I'm sure Amarillo would be even better!
 
Simcoe/amarillo is a tried and true combo. Adding Citra will add an additional depth of flavor (stone fruit in addition to the pine/citrus).

Keep the Citra as a very late addition/dry hop - don't bitter with it.
 
Liquid Sunshine 2.0

Imperial India Pale Ale
Type: All grain Size: 12 gallons
Color: 14 SRM
Bitterness: 81 IBU
OG: 1.087 FG: 1.016
Alcohol: 9.4% v/v

Grain:
22 lb. of Maris Otter or NW Pale Malt
4 lb. American Vienna
3 lb. Belgian Munich
2 lb. Gambrinus Honey Malt
1.5 lb. Belgian CaraMunich

Mash: 80% efficiency
Boil: 15 gallons

2 lb. Brown sugar (at 10 min)


Hops:

2 oz. Summit (18% AA, 60 min.)
.5 oz. Simcoe (12.9% AA, 60 min.)

.5 oz. Cascade (7.5% AA, 15, 5 min.)
.5 oz. Amorillo (7.5% AA, 15, 5 min.)
1.25oz. Citra (11% AA, 15, 5 min.)
.5 oz. Simcoe (12.9% AA, 15, 5 min.)

Dry hop:

.5 oz Simcoe
1 oz Cascade
1 oz Amorillo
1.5 oz Cirtra

Yeast: wlp001 or wlp007
 
I did a simcoe-citra-amarillo IPA a few months ago, wasn't a fan. I've done stuff with citra & amarillo (a hoppy Belgian pale) which was fantastic, but the simcoe kind of added a bit of a musty/catty kind of flavour which I found didn't compliment the citra-amarillo fresh, tropical flavours.

This could of course have been down to where I used them in the boil or the proportions. I've since used simcoe again with chinook and found that was an excellent blend.
 
I did a Centennial/Simcoe/Amarillo and it's awesome. Go for it!

+1. I do a Centenial ( for bittering) and then Citra/ Amarillo for flavor and aroma. I made this three times and the best balance leans towards a little more Amarillo than Citra.

Very tasty. Nice citrusy flavor.
 
ChillWill said:
I did a simcoe-citra-amarillo IPA a few months ago, wasn't a fan. I've done stuff with citra & amarillo (a hoppy Belgian pale) which was fantastic, but the simcoe kind of added a bit of a musty/catty kind of flavour which I found didn't compliment the citra-amarillo fresh, tropical flavours.

This could of course have been down to where I used them in the boil or the proportions. I've since used simcoe again with chinook and found that was an excellent blend.

At what times did you use them?
 
Thank you all for the comments/suggestions!

I think I'll be making a DIPA with the following additions:

90 min
0.5 oz Columbus
1.5 oz Magnum
0.75 oz Norther Brewer

15 min
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Amarillo

0 min
2 oz Citra
2 oz Simcoe
2 oz Amarillo

Dry hop (10 days)
1 oz Citra
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Amarillo

Dry Hop (3 days)
1 oz Citra
0.5 oz Cascade

How does that sound? For malt bill i was going to do something pretty standard. Something along the lines of 80% 2-row, 10% Pilsner, 5% C-40, 5% cane sugar (mash at 155F).

Thanks again!
 
Thank you all for the comments/suggestions!

I think I'll be making a DIPA with the following additions:

90 min
0.5 oz Columbus
1.5 oz Magnum
0.75 oz Norther Brewer

30 min
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Amarillo

0 min
2 oz Citra
2 oz Simcoe
2 oz Amarillo

Dry hop (10 days)
1 oz Citra
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Amarillo

Dry Hop (3 days)
1 oz Citra
0.5 oz Cascade

How does that sound? For malt bill i was going to do something pretty standard. Something along the lines of 80% 2-row, 10% Pilsner, 5% C-40, 5% cane sugar (mash at 155F).

Thanks again!

The 30 minute addition is not very useful. I'd move it forward to 15 minutes to get some flavor and then adjust the bittering additions to get your necessary IBUs. Also 2 oz. of each addition at flameout is a bit overkill. You'd still get tons of aroma with 1 oz. additions plus all that dry hopping. The more hops you add to the boil the more beer they soak up that you can't drink.
 
2oz at flameout is way too much. I'd do 0.5 oz each at flameout, 1-1.5oz each at DH.
 
Actually, I would recommend moving the 30 min addition to FWH (first wort hopping--you drain your first runnings onto these hops and leave them in throughout the boil). This will give you approx. IBUs of a 20 min addition and arguably a more pleasing and stable/persistant flavor. +1 to dispersing the flameout additions. You could do 1/2oz each at 15, 10, 5, and 0, giving you a nice full hop flavor and aroma.
 
thats not quite right. FWH gives you approx 10% more IBUs than a standard 60min addition. its milder tho, so it doesnt seem as high

Technically true, but many see the perceived bitterness as approximately that of 20 min additions and this is what many brewers calculate in their software. After all, that's what we're really concerned about here...the flavor and perception of bitterness, right?
 
I make an all-citra APA that's delicious/loved by everyone I share it with.


Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 48.78 %
4.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 39.02 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.25 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2.44 %
0.25 oz Citra [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 11.7 IBU
2.00 oz Citra [13.40 %] (Dry Hop 3 days) Hops -
1.00 oz Citra [13.40 %] (15 min) Hops 23.3 IBU
1.00 oz Citra [13.40 %] (0 min) Hops -
1 Pkgs American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) Yeast-Ale


Est Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.81 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 % Bitterness: 35.0 IBU Calories: 43 cal/pint Est Color: 6.8 SRM Color:
Color

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body Total Grain Weight: 10.25 lb Sparge Water: 2.71 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.4 PH
Single Infusion, Medium Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 13.00 qt of water at 169.2 F 154.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 7.00 qt of water at 199.3 F 168.0 F

Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) Volumes of CO2: 2.4 Pressure/Weight: 10.2 PSI Carbonation Used: - Keg/Bottling Temperature: 38.0 F Age for: 7.0 days Storage Temperature: 38.0 F
 
I would highly recommend the usage of these three hops together. One of my mainstay recipes is an IPA with those 3 hops and VERY LITTLE crystal. I use 2-Row, Pilsner, Crystal 40, Victory, and Golden Naked Oats with them. Simcoe to bitter, Amarillo AND Citra for flavor, aroma, and dry-hopping. ( a half ounce of Simcoe in the dry-hop too) Its a truly tasty beer.
 
Technically true, but many see the perceived bitterness as approximately that of 20 min additions and this is what many brewers calculate in their software. After all, that's what we're really concerned about here...the flavor and perception of bitterness, right?

not really. if you're building a beer using FWH bitterness as a 20min add, you'll overcompensate on bitterness if you're aiming for a certain level. for example, say you were bittering a 1.05 brew to 40IBUs using a 5%AA hop. if you calculate it correctly, it only takes 2oz, but if you count it as a 20min add, you add 3.6oz, which would put you way off mark. the flavor may be close to a 20min add, but the bitterness isn't.

btw, no calculator ive used does FWH as a 20min add
 
It's a grey area imo.

As for when I made mine, I did fairly even amounts in a continuous addition method kind off. If I used simcoe for bittering and the others for flavour it'd have probably worked better.
 
not really. if you're building a beer using FWH bitterness as a 20min add, you'll overcompensate on bitterness if you're aiming for a certain level. for example, say you were bittering a 1.05 brew to 40IBUs using a 5%AA hop. if you calculate it correctly, it only takes 2oz, but if you count it as a 20min add, you add 3.6oz, which would put you way off mark. the flavor may be close to a 20min add, but the bitterness isn't.

btw, no calculator ive used does FWH as a 20min add

I just jumped over to Tastybrew calculator and they have the same utilization for 20 min and FWH. But what I was getting at is that many well respected brewers manually set their FWH additions to the same/approx. utilization of 20 min additions. Here's what Denny reported in another post on FWH:
"There are chemical reactions that take place as the hops steep that make the bittering they provide seem less bitter. You get no aroma from FWH. You get hop flavor and a smooth bittering quality. I did an experiment splitting 10 gal. of wrt. 5 gal. got an oz. of Cascade as FWH, the other 5 got an oz. of the same hops as 60 min. hops. Those were the only additions to either beer. The FWH beer measured about 10% more IBU, but did not taste as bitter as the 60 min. beer. I set my FWH utilization in Promash to -65, which equates to being the same amount of bittering as a 20 min. addition in a 60 min. boil. I do that becasue that's what it tastes like to me. The results of the experiment are here, starting on pg. 29....

http://beertown.org/events/hbc/presentations/DennyConn.pdf "

My experience has been the same, so I calculate my FWH out to the same or a little higher on longer boils, as 20 min additions. YMMV
 
I imagine simcoe, amarillo, and citra working great together. My base IPA (for now as long as I have the hops) is amarillo, citra, and chinook with summit as my bittering hop. Big citrus, tropical fruit, and stonefruit from the citra and amarillo while the chinook provides a piney/herbal background note.
 
I would question the Northern Brewer and Magnum as bittering hops. Why not just use more Amarillo, or more Columbus. I confess I'm not familiar with NB, and I don't like Magnum. I'd think that with Columbus plus the other three you have enough hop complexity in there.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top