Smoked peach pale ale what hops to use?

[tarnbrews]

Hi guys I am planning on brewing a pale ale with smoked malt and peaches (in secondary) this could be really good or taste like a fruity ashtray!! I have an idea for the grain bill (5gal batch, any comments welcome) but struggling to decide on what hops to use and when, i'm not really after a hoppy beer but want something to complement or enhance the peach flavour yet go with the smoke. Not sure whether to use a fruity hop, i've had great results getting peach/nectorine flavour out of mosaic before, should i just go for a fairly neutral bittering addition? or maybe something floral EKG?? any help greatly appreciated... Grain bill below
4.5 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise 37 3 84.1%
250 g American - Caramel / Crystal 20L 35 20 4.7%
500 g German - Smoked Malt 37 3 9.3%
100 g Brown Sugar 45 15 1.9%
5.35 kg Total

 

[ProblemChild]

Mandarina bavaria and Idaho7 would be my guesses. Probably conan yeast as well

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Hi guys I am planning on brewing a pale ale with smoked malt and peaches (in secondary) this could be really good or taste like a fruity ashtray!!

My immediate thought was that this owes something to both Germany and Belgium, so you should be looking at classic European hops like Hallertau or Brewers Gold. If you get the peaching right then you've got two strong flavours in there already, and you want to let them shine and just harmonise with them. If you're writing a symphony then it's no good just doubling up on tubas and clarinets, you need all the other members of the orchestra in support.

So something like Mandarina is not a bad shout, I'd also thing of some of the other modern European varieties that can give a gentle fruitiness but also some old-school noble character, such as Huell Melon or Jester.

 

[slcalex]

Another vote for Idaho 7. Curious how that would turn out.