Single Hop, Anyone?

[Fil]

Just tasted my fuggles and ekg bitters, the lables fell off the kegs, not sure which is which, one i think the EKG (4.4%) is much more flowery? and quaffable , the other (if fuggles 5.6%) dryer less clear, malty after taste..

gonna go for a challenger based bitter next, this week hopefully, gonna use 4k.2g of pale malt for a 90 min mash and a 90 min boil ending up with about 18- 20l to ferment,

i was thinking 45g for 90min and 15g for last 15mins?

[CestrIan]

Hey Fil, Challenger single hop brew is quality - think Coniston blue bird! Lovely!!

60 min mash and 60 minute boil is plenty with pale malt. I just saved you the hour that you've lost with the clocks going forward!!

[Fil]

Cheers CestrIan, im very pleased with the fuggles and east kent goldings brews, lost count of how many samples i have taken this evening, hic... Dont know Coniston bluebird, but will be looking out for it after the endorsement,

[orlando]

For a single hop summer ale i'd probably go Amarillo, or good old Cascade.

Funnily enough: I will call it "Rhythm Of The Rain" (as sung by The Cascades )

19 litre Brew length

Amt Name Type # IBU %



0.200 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (39.4 EBC) Grain 2 4.9 %

0.025 kg Black Malt (1280.0 EBC) Grain 4 0.6 %

25.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 90.0 min 18.0 IBUs

25.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min 8.4 IBUs

30.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs




How does this look. I expect to brew it Monday so swift comments welcomed.

I assume you've checked the grain bill and thats the strenght you want? I'd normally use more pale malt. A lot of people advocate keeping the grain bill simple when featuring hops, but although I'm not a fan of crystal I inevitably add some carpils or caragold to give extra malt and mouthfeel and Cascade might go well with crystal - I'm thinking of amercian pales like Fat Tire which have a crystal/amber taste .
Aside from some colour I don't know what the black malt adds. Id be tempted to drop it.
My main thought is your brew isn't going to be very bitter, even by pub standards. I'd be tempted to chuck another 20g in at the 20m mark

Update


I have now started drinking this so thought an update on what happened might be of interest. Took Raidermans advice on hops but not black malt. Kept that and shouldn't have, as it has given me a darker pale ale than I was aiming for but don't think it affected taste. I ended up with 95g of hops during the brew that took me to 32.5 IBU's then dry hopped in the 2nd week of fermentation with a further 38g and this took it into hop heaven, the burst of aroma is the best I have achieved yet. It didn't need the extra hops in the brew as the bitterness level is higher than I was looking for but have noticed a little mellowing already (19 litres in bottle only). The thing that I have taken out of the single hop experiment is the one commented on in this thread and that is an understanding of what this hop brings to the beer. Unless you understand each of the hops you are using I don't see how you can successfully blend, so a really interesting experiment for me and one I will repeat with other varieties. I now know for example how Cascade brings a spicy and citric note to both aroma and taste which I don't think I will ever forget. I'm a bit of a wine nerd as well and remember how I experimented with tasting (I don't make it) single grape varieties to sharpen my recognition and to hone my judgement of a wines quality by doing so.

The other interesting thing I learnt was also to pare back the malt bill to again allow the hop to show me what it's got and so reduce any confusion about what I am smelling and tasting. In all a highly informative and enjoyable experiment that I think has taught me as much in this one brew as any other single thing I've done.

[raiderman]

[quote="orlando"
The thing that I have taken out of the single hop experiment is the one commented on in this thread and that is an understanding of what this hop brings to the beer. Unless you understand each of the hops you are using I don't see how you can successfully blend, so a really interesting experiment for me and one I will repeat with other varieties. I now know for example how Cascade brings a spicy and citric note to both aroma and taste which I don't think I will ever forget. I'm a bit of a wine nerd as well and remember how I experimented with tasting (I don't make it) single grape varieties to sharpen my recognition and to hone my judgement of a wines quality by doing so.

The other interesting thing I learnt was also to pare back the malt bill to again allow the hop to show me what it's got and so reduce any confusion about what I am smelling and tasting. In all a highly informative and enjoyable experiment that I think has taught me as much in this one brew as any other single thing I've done.[/quote]

Deffo on keeping the grain bill simple. Your comment on knowing your hop is spot on. I've got two n cornie at the mo. Citr/Simcoe which was 100g ovr he last 20m and 66g at end of boil and whilst its biter its shapping up well andsmels awesome. The Other which was 100g mouteka - all lateaddition has disappointed in a way, the aroma isnt as big as I'd hopd for and the citrus notes I expected are deeper, orangy perhaps, but a
less brilliant taste than hoped for. I was going to give traditional english hops ago, biut I kinda think I need to work up the levels slowly because I'm not as sure now how they'll react

[orlando]

I have mostly English hops (Target, EKG, Fuggles) and am currently fermenting a Golding & Fuggle bitter into which I have dry hopped with around 30g of Goldings. Smell in the FV is really enticing so am hoping this transfers to the beer. I have no evidence for this but am wondering about the old lid on lid off debate. My instinct is that the lid on keeps the aroma in the FV and not leaking out into the atmosphere and wondering if this helps intensify the eventual aroma in the beer. Is dry hopping in commercial breweries done in closed vessels I wonder?

[Fil]

just sampled the first few pints of my basic challenger bitter.. THUMBS UP!!!

it was a basic grainbill 4.5kg malt. a 90 min mash producing circa 33-34l of green wort using a batch sparge.
i boiled for 90 mins reducing to about 23-24l with 35g challenger for the full boil and 15g for the last 15mins. OG 1046 chilled and fermented with US-05 for 7 days at 19-21C and transferred to 2ndary, and kept at 18C for 'whoops' Way too long!! I forgot it.. 6 weeks!!

i dropped the temp to 4C to keg and split it into 2 cornies cos i couldnt be bothered cleaning any bottles.. force carbed at 20psi for a week, and dropped the pressure to serving (2-4psi) this morning.

YUM sharp n crisp n malty YUM


Oh dear im empty i had better pour another pint