Hop advice please

[Bedders1802]

Hi all

I am doing a hoppy pale ale and have 100g simcoe and 45g citra (both pellet) and was wondering if theese two would work well together or will I need to buy more hops. I am also going to dry hop with around 100 to 150g. I would like to achieve a fruity brew with around 40 ibu.

Grain bill will be
5kg maris otter

Using safeale US 05

Many thanks

Bedders

[Rookie]

I've never used citra. Amarillo and simcoe play very well together.

[john luc]

https://beermaverick.com/hops/hop-comparison-tool/ Here is a handy Hop tool

[Bedders1802]

Thanks for the advice

[Meatymc]

I am doing a hoppy pale ale and have 100g simcoe and 45g citra (both pellet) and was wondering if theese two would work well together or will I need to buy more hops. I am also going to dry hop with around 100 to 150g. I would like to achieve a fruity brew with around 40 ibu.

I'd say Simcoe and Citra are similar (but not the same) with Citra dominating so they do complement each other but also do much of the same thing. Depends what you're after really. I'd also use something else/cheaper for bittering unless you are doing a very late hop in the boil (last 5/10 minutes) otherwise you're going to boil off most of the oils/aroma.

There are much cheaper and perfectly good hops for bittering - I tend to use cascade, fuggles or northdown but only because I grow my own. I'd then cool to around 55C and add 25g each of your citra and simcoe, hold for 25 minutes then cool to pitching - using the rest to dry hop.

Having said all that, it's all subjective!

[Bedders1802]

Thanks meatymc

[Bedders1802]

Also I was told not to mix American and English hops by the staff who run the brew shop I use. Can anyone shed light as to why this may be

[guypettigrew]

Also I was told not to mix American and English hops by the staff who run the brew shop I use. Can anyone shed light as to why this may be

Part of brewing mythology. No basis in fact. Hops are hops. In fact, if you check up on the heritage of American hops you'll find English and European hops were often involved in breeding them.

Guy

[Bedders1802]

Thanks guy

[john luc]

Hymm, not so sure about this one. Donald Trump claims to be from Scotland but I think most Scots would only think of him as a Yankee . The American hops tend to be more floral where as European hops more herbal.

[Northern Brewer]

Also I was told not to mix American and English hops by the staff who run the brew shop I use. Can anyone shed light as to why this may be

Part of brewing mythology. No basis in fact. Hops are hops. In fact, if you check up on the heritage of American hops you'll find English and European hops were often involved in breeding them.

Guy

It's a useful rule of thumb for beginners - it's not just a question of genetics but climate. There are clear differences in say Cascade grown in the US, England, Germany and NZ, in general the countries with more intense sunshine produce hops with more intense flavours, which can overwhelm when blended with hops grown in maritime climates like the UK.

That's not to say you can't get good results from mixing New World hops with Old World ones, but it generally needs a bit of experience so to start with "don't mix Old and New World hops" is more likely to give good results.

[Meatymc]

Just to clarify, I use my home-grown hops for bittering and buy-in for aroma - all of which, purely based on experimenting with different combinations, are from the US so you could argue I mix old and new world on every brew.

However I use at least 100g and usually 150g per 5 gallons very late/dry hopping and usually Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo, so my bittering hops don't stand much of a chance in adding much detectable flavour/aroma.

Just to go a bit off-piste, I've never produced a bitter using my own hops that I've been totally happy with. This could be something to do with the quality of my own hops or might be deficiencies in my process that the heavy dry hop in my IPA's is masking but as I prefer IPA's anyway it's no great shakes.

Brew, tweak, brew, tweak, brew. tweak recurring........................................................................................

[Bedders1802]

Meatymc
Would you do a recipe for a hoppy ipa please for 5 gallon brew if it's no trouble

Many thanks

Bedders

[Rookie]

Also I was told not to mix American and English hops by the staff who run the brew shop I use. Can anyone shed light as to why this may be

They're a bunch of wankers?
Historically British brewers often used American and continental hops when the local supplies ran short.

[McMullan]

I agree, bunch of wankers I think if you're hopping at a sensible rate (not American rates ) American hops are fine combined with English hops.