Substitute brewers gold with chinook?

[fumanchu]

I'm going to make something of a light Belgian ale tomorrow. The recipe calls for brewers gold as the main bitter, followed by tettnang a little further along the boil.

I have no brewers gold or anything near that kind of alpha % besides the bold chinook, which I've never used before. I've been reading chinook could replace it. But at a whopping 15% alpha as well as the fact that it's suppose to be kind of citrous and better suited for an IPA, I'm not sure it would be a good fit. Especially for a belgian, even if it is a light one.

Most of what I have lying around right now are nobles so I'm also thinking I could hop it like a pilsner and it would turn out fine. Most of my grain bill after all is pilsner malt. Only it's followed by crystal, chocolate, 2 lbs of pale ale malt.

So what do you guys think? Would adding only 1/2oz of chinook do it for bittering without bringing too much citrous flavour or unwanted tones in my beer?

 

[McGarnigle]

If you're only using it for bittering and not using much of it (low IBU Belgian) that might be OK. Also, some newer Belgian ales do use citrusy hops, so a little of that won't necessarily be wrong.

I think you could use Chinook, but check a calculator to see how many IBUs it is. Off the top of my head, .5 oz = ~30 (?).

 

[billl]

Chinook is kinda a rough bittering. As a 60 minute addition, you really won't get much in the way of citrus flavor.

You don't need a hop that has a comparable AA. Just scale up. eg 2 oz of a 5aa hop will provide as much bittering as 1 oz of 10 aa.

 

[Donkeybalboa]

I'd be interested in the recipe, as I have a lot of leftover Chinook and some unused Tettnang. (if you're a sharing sort)

 

[fumanchu]

Oh sure man. Will post later, cooking food and getting ready to make my beer right now.

 

[fumanchu]

Fair warning: This is not really a lighter version of a gulden draak clone anymore, due to the vast differences, my not following the exact recipe.

There are a few different recipes out there. I chose the one with the less specialty malts due to unavailability. I also cut the grain bill in half since I'm only working with a 5 gallon cooler. I'm very much of a beginner as well.

7lbs of pilsner
2lbs of 2-row pale
1lb wheat
1/2lb 60L crystal
1/2lb carapils
2oz chocolate malt

I believe I mashed at 155 for 60 minutes
batch sparge 170 10 minutes
2nd sparge 160 10 minutes

1/2oz chinook 60 minutes
1oz tettnanger 30 minutes

Pitched T-58. Known as a not so great belgian yeast, but not bad. Apparently, belgians call for a higher quality liquid yeast. It defines the beer.

I've never used chinook before, I can tell I'll like it though I can't imagine using a whole oz for anything other than an IPA.

It is smelling pretty damn good right now in the fermenter.


You said you have chinook and tettnanger left? I primarily used this combo because they go really well together. There is a harpoon leviathan IPA that uses the combo and has a pretty high score with drinkers.