Willamette and Centennial Complimentary Hops?

[Aa760]

Greetings HBT folks! Looking for a little help for a brew I am planning for this weekend. I am looking at the AHA winners circle recipes and like the look of the Drunk Monk Amber Ale:

http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/DrunkMonkAmberAle

The issue I am having is with the "Homegrown Hop" addition at 10 min. The hop theme is Centennial and Willamette, which looks nice, but I am wondering what I should sub in for the homegrown aspect? I was thinking perhaps splitting it with an extra 0.5 of centennial and Willamette? Or perhaps cascade at 5 minutes?

I am also planning on bittering with Magnum as opposed to centennial- I have more of them on hand, but will reduce the amount for an equivalent IBU contribution. If you have an opinion about that, I welcome input.

Would love some input from the HBT crew.

Thanks, crew!

 

[supermoth]

If I had to guess, I'd say the person who wrote that recipe used an unknown hop variety that was growing at his house. You could always take that 10 minute homegrown addition and split the difference the Centennial and the Willamette to keep with the theme. The tasting notes say the beer is a touch malty and the hop presence is modest, so that would point me more in the direction of subbing with more Willamette. Centennial has a more pronounced flavor to me.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I agree with Supermoth, but I think your idea of substituting in cascade at 5 minutes is good. I think cascade works very well with centennial and willamette. Also, when I read homegrown my first thought was its probably cascade. This is purely biased and based only on my own hop growing (so not too useful I know), but cascade has always been the easiest hop for me to grow.

 

[supermoth]

when I read homegrown my first thought was its probably cascade. This is purely biased and based only on my own hop growing (so not too useful I know), but cascade has always been the easiest hop for me to grow.

funny, because the two hop plants in my garden are Centennial and Willamette!

 

[Aa760]

If I had to guess, I'd say the person who wrote that recipe used an unknown hop variety that was growing at his house. You could always take that 10 minute homegrown addition and split the difference the Centennial and the Willamette to keep with the theme. The tasting notes say the beer is a touch malty and the hop presence is modest, so that would point me more in the direction of subbing with more Willamette. Centennial has a more pronounced flavor to me.

Yeah, I was thinking of splitting the difference between the two as well. Thanks for pointing out that an even split may not match the tasting notes, but I think I am ok with that. This was my thought, too. Glad to hear my instincts echoed.

 

[Aa760]

I agree with Supermoth, but I think your idea of substituting in cascade at 5 minutes is good. I think cascade works very well with centennial and willamette. Also, when I read homegrown my first thought was its probably cascade. This is purely biased and based only on my own hop growing (so not too useful I know), but cascade has always been the easiest hop for me to grow.

I don't grow my own hops, but cascade seemed to me the most likely candidate also- although I agree totally biased and unfounded. I don't have any experience with the centennial, cascade, Willamette combo, so that is precisely the opinion info I am going for- nothing conflicting with that combo? I have the extra cascade laying around. I put it at 5 as I think I like the aromatics of cascade better than the flavor/bittering aspects of it. I think cascade for a bittering hop or earlier in the boil comes off as resiny or even soapy. Late in the boil though, I like it!

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I think cascade and williamette both originated from fuggles. I get fruity and citrus from both and like then with centennial. I havent gotten soapy however. That sounds less tasty.