Tired of Citra, Mosiac, and Galaxy NE IPAS

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Dgallo

Dgallo

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Love the combo. It’s kinda like Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”. Awesome but sometimes you’ve had enough of it. I wanted to open up a discussion for people looking to change up their hop combos. I’ll start with one odd one that came out delicious and then provide my combo I’m rocking on my upcoming brew.

Simcoe, Hallertau Blanc, and heavy Columbus. - came off herbaceous and dank with wonderful undertones of pine and grape.

Upcoming combo will be Medusa, Huell Melon, and Motueka.

Feel free to add your favorite “non-norm” combos for NE IPAS
 
The latest, still bottle conditioning.

Azacca, Belma, Centenial, Mandarina Bavaria
 
I honestly think you can make these beers with any decent new world aroma hop. I tend to use the "cheaper" hops like comet, azacca, C hops...just about anything that goes on sale at YMH. One of the best I've made was 100% Amarillo.

Not a Citra fan.
 
My last one was Denali-Eureka-Equanot which was a nice change of pace. All are very heavy on total oils. If a hop doesn’t have huge total oils it doesn’t make sense to use them in this style.
 
Wakatu, Motueka, Nelson Sauvin - Trust me


This weekend I am doing Amarillo, Medusa, Azacca, Lemon Drop, Cashmere with lactose and mango puree
 
Not a huge change from the CMG combo, but my last NEIPA was Centennial and Mosaic in hopstand and Citra, Galaxy, Vic Secret (1:1:1) keg hop. It came out fantastic. Massive passion fruit in the aroma.
 
I’m sure it was great but I was thinking more along the line with combos that do not contain them at all
 
I am a fan of Amarillo, Simcoe and Chinook, but there is slightly less juiceness from those, but still very good.

I am also a fan of NZ and AUS hops, which I will use more this upcoming year. Next on my brew list are some Lager style beers, with Topaz, Rakau, Waimea, Pacifica and Kohatu.
 
I haven't brewed it yet, but got the hops for doing one with motueka/nelson/ella at a 4:1:1 ratio (was supposed to be galaxy TBH, but the wife accidentally got ella instead).
Also like using amarillo and simcoe; trying out idaho 7 and sabro for the first time soon as well.
 
Instead of combining hops at each stage in equal amounts, use different hops at different times. You’ll probably be amazed at the difference it makes.

Citra @ 10 or 5
Mosaic in WP
Galaxy at Terminal Gravity
Mosaic at 58*

Personally I hate the taste/smell of all the mosaic/citra beers. Especially ones dry hopped during fermentation.

Galaxy in its own is tits
Vic Secret in its own is amazing

I’ve got these going now

Sabro/galaxy/Vic Secret
Moutere/Motueka/Riwaka

Motueka/Citra is awesome

Cashmere/Citra is rad

Mosaic/Nelson

Nelson/Galaxy

The list goes on and on.

Denali/El Dorado/Zythos is nothing but pineapple.

All the new South African hops are available now. According to the guys at Cellarmaker Southern Passion is a top 5 in the world hop... and those guys know more about hop varieties than most breweries out there.


Or try what Trillium does with street beers and use only Columbus hot side and dry hop with one hop plus a little Columbus.

Been meaning try this with Nugget instead of Columbus but haven’t found any good nugget recently.
 
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couchsending said:
Instead of combining hops at each stage in equal amounts, use different hops at different times. You’ll probably be amazed at the difference it makes.

Citra @ 10 or 5
Mosaic in WP
Galaxy at Terminal Gravity
Mosaic at 58*

Personally I hate the taste/smell of all the mosaic/citra beers. Especially ones dry hopped during fermentation.

Galaxy in its own is tits
Vic Secret in its own is amazing

I’ve got these going now

Sabro/galaxy/Vic Secret
Moutere/Motueka/Riwaka

Motueka/Citra is awesome

Cashmere/Citra is rad

Mosaic/Nelson

Nelson/Galaxy

The list goes on and on.

Denali/El Dorado/Zythos is nothing but pineapple.

All the new South African hops are available now. According to the guys at Cellarmaker Southern Passion is a top 5 in the world hop... and those guys know more about hop varieties than most breweries out there.


Or try what Trillium does with street beers and use only Columbus hot side and dry hop with one hop plus a little Columbus.

Been meaning try this with Nugget instead of Columbus but haven’t found any good nugget recently.
Click to expand...

Citra, mosaic and galaxy are all great in different ratios and at different times. I was just opening a discussion about unique combos that people tried that do not contain c,m, or g
 
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As suggested above, Vic Secret is a great hop and should make a great NEIPA alone.

Amarillo is an obvious choice imo, and a great fruity hop.

First Gold will work well, lots of marmalade flavours.

Bramling Cross in smaller quantities could work to offset the sweetness of NEIPAs, and give more balance.
 
I've done an all Simcoe that was pretty good. Same with all Idaho 7. Amarillo is another hop I hear about a lot more on the homebrew level vs commercial neipas.

(Personally, for this style, I can't untaste citra and mosaic. Nothing else I've brewed comes close. I was high on Galaxy for awhile but have since gone mostly citra/mosaic. Have about a pound of Galaxy in the freezer...)
 
My last 18 brews had at least on of those three hops in them. I've noticed some pretty interesting changes by switching up the grain and other adjuncts The hops are key, but the other ingredients give you an unlimited number of possibilities. Get weird.
 
And fanny packs have been around for 30 years and now are trendy.

Doesnt mean I have to jump on board the trendy train.


And in 3...2...1....
 
A note on one that doesn't work..... I tried a "British Bitter" version of a NEIPA..... basically used maris otter, flaked wheat and a bit of victory malt to bring color in around 4-5 SRM. Used 1318 yeast. Used small amount of target at 60, and then big whirlpool additions of EKG and big dry hop on day 2 of EKG.

Looked good on paper. The reality was otherwise.

Had a can of Hill Farmstead Nelson last night - it was great. Not always a fan of Nelson hops, but it was really good. Likely because they get the prime lots of Nelson Hops to go with their great beers.

I have an amber ale on tap right now that is basically my NE IPA, but with additional Caramel malts..... I used Horizon, Centennial, Cascade. That is a really good combo in hoppy ambers - I think it would translate pretty well into NE IPA as well.
 
getting to really like Denali/Chinook. No 60 min charge though. Denali at 20 and the the rest at 2, W/P and dry hop
 
Braufessor said:
A note on one that doesn't work..... I tried a "British Bitter" version of a NEIPA..... basically used maris otter, flaked wheat and a bit of victory malt to bring color in around 4-5 SRM. Used 1318 yeast. Used small amount of target at 60, and then big whirlpool additions of EKG and big dry hop on day 2 of EKG.

Looked good on paper. The reality was otherwise.

Had a can of Hill Farmstead Nelson last night - it was great. Not always a fan of Nelson hops, but it was really good. Likely because they get the prime lots of Nelson Hops to go with their great beers.

I have an amber ale on tap right now that is basically my NE IPA, but with additional Caramel malts..... I used Horizon, Centennial, Cascade. That is a really good combo in hoppy ambers - I think it would translate pretty well into NE IPA as well.
Click to expand...
I can’t say I’ve ever had a bad experience with Nelson. Brewing or commercial version. It’s one of my favorites. My brother in law just did a kettle sour NE IPA using Nelson and blanc. It was terrific
 
Bad Nelson is straight machine oil/diesel fuel. It was really bad there for a few years. Supposedly that has a lot to do with harvest time. The limited amount of 2017/2018 I’ve been able to get my hands on does t seem to be as bad.

Riwaka has the same issue.
 
I’ve been experimenting with cheaper “tropical” hops for these beers.

I’ve done a few single hop versions — Mandarina Bavaria is really nice, if a little subdued, and Calypso is also good. And I really like all-Summit hazy beers.
 
couchsending said:
Bad Nelson is straight machine oil/diesel fuel. It was really bad there for a few years. Supposedly that has a lot to do with harvest time. The limited amount of 2017/2018 I’ve been able to get my hands on does t seem to be as bad.

Riwaka has the same issue.
Click to expand...
I just gave zappa hops a try and diesel is the prominent flavor/aroma I get from that hop.
 
Forgot to mention Eureka - another amazing underutilized hop.

Try Azacca/Eureka or Columbus/Eureka. Last one I made was fantastic - Eureka/Comet with Kohatu (2oz dry hop only).
 
Nice thread.
I’m liking comet/simcoe, mosaic/motueka and apollo/simcoe/cascade, cascade/Apollo/comet (cheap!), Vic’s/mosaic is pretty badass also.
 
Just noticed a yvh sale of “buddy” hops and they had comet and azzaca. Anybody wanna second that suggestion?
 
I broke my own rule of the thread lol. They were out of motueka so I had to go with citra. But the Medusa 60% /Huell Melon 25%/citra 15% came out so solid. A true stone fruit/nectarine profile. Matched perfectly with London ale III
 

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