APA & EPA

[mysterio]

I'm going to brew this simple recipe I made up in order to use up a big bag of leftover hops I have in the freezer before they lose their potency. I'm going to brew the recipe with American hops, then the exactly same grain bill with English hops. I want it to be a fairly well bodied blonde/amber ale with the emphasis on hop flavour & aroma rather than bitterness. The aroma hops are high because I really don't like dry hopping. Any suggestions?

Batch Size: 5.10 Imp Gal
Efficiency: 65%
OG 1.057 (FG ~1.014)
IBU: 34
--
6.00 kg Pale Malt (Maris Otter)
0.35 kg CaraPils
0.13 kg Crystal malt (75 EBC)
Single Infusion @ 68C (90mins)
--
Centennial (AA:11%) 28g (60mins)
Northern Brewer 25g (15mins)
Cascade 70g (0mins)
--
Safale US-56

Then the same recipe except:

Challenger (7.5%AA) 40g (60mins)
East Kent Goldings 15g (15mins)
Fuggles 15g (15mins)
East Kent Goldings 70g (0mins)

[bitter_dave]

Those sound like tasty fellas

Out of interest are you going to use US 56 yeast on both beers?

[mysterio]

Yeah I like the results I've had with US-56 so I'm going to stick by it

Also gives me a better comparison between the two beers.

[monk]

This sounds a lot like a recipe i'm arranging now. Last year I made an APA with cascades all the way through. I used LME and accidentally carmelized it a bit in a small boil. Not what I intended, but it came out very nice! I served it at a party and several people still ask me about it (in a good way ). So my plan is to make the same recipe, with a little carmelization, with Kent Golding hops, to compare. I've made several batches that have included Goldings, but haven't ever really got a good lock on their individual flavor and aroma.

Let me know how your EPA/APA experiment comes out, Mysterio. I bet using the us56 will really help you differentiate the hop flavors and aromas. That yeast ferments out so cleanly. Cheers!

monk

[mysterio]

The first one turned out very nice, amazing Cascades aroma. The full 3oz at the end of the boil is definately the way to go if you want lots of aroma.

I'm brewing the second one just now with Styrian Goldings instead of EKG and i'm leaving the Fuggles out, too. I've also adjusted the OG to 1.053 on both recipes and bumped up the Carapils.