Something with only C hops

[Deebee]

Well, as we all know when you don't brew you just have the itch, but once you have gotten back to hving the smell of fermenting wort in the house you want to do another one.


Here is what is planned forthe next brewday ( planned for about 14 days all depending on things like... work)

It will be used as a second Christmas beer and will be given as gifts as it always is.

i did something similar to thislast year and have decided to do much the same but up the maltiness ( hopefully) and drop the IBU

so here we go, thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Fermenrtables

4900,00 gm Pale Malt, Maris Otter
540,00 gm Aromatic Malt
400,00 gm Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L
260,00 gm Wheat, Torrified
500,00 gm Brown Sugar, Dark Sugar

The sugar may be changed out for some amber belgian candi i have although i wonder if the nottingham might just eat this and dry it out too much.

Hops

27,00 gm Centennial (60 min)
22,00 gm Cascade [6,70%] Hops 15 mins
11,00 gm Chinook [10,40 %] (15 min) Hops
27,00 gm Cascade [6,70 %] (5 min) Hops

1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale although i am actually hoping to reuse the yeat cake from the brew i have fermenting at present.

This would give about 1065 and a strength of about 6.4%

i would naturally have to dry hop with 1 gram cascade per litre and 0.5 gram centennial pr litre....

Does anyone see anything really wrong with this?

[bazza]

I would leave the sugar out myself but it certainly won't hurt the brew. I tend to be a minimalist with my grain bills so I may not be the best judge.

Great hop choices. I like the Chinook addition at 15. Some people claim Chinook are too piney and resiny to be used as a late hop. I made a 100% Chinook IPA and did not find that to be the case at all. Glad to see the dry hopping as well.

Baz

[Deebee]

I would leave the sugar out myself but it certainly won't hurt the brew. I tend to be a minimalist with my grain bills so I may not be the best judge.

Great hop choices. I like the Chinook addition at 15. Some people claim Chinook are too piney and resiny to be used as a late hop. I made a 100% Chinook IPA and did not find that to be the case at all. Glad to see the dry hopping as well.

Baz

i guess i could whack in 900 grams munich ( which is the same alcohol content as 500 dark sugar!)

better mate?

[Spud395]

I've taken to adding some sugar to some brews, depending on the mouthfeel I'm after.
It will lighten the body a little which is not allways a bad thing

[Deebee]

I've taken to adding some sugar to some brews, depending on the mouthfeel I'm after.
It will lighten the body a little which is not allways a bad thing

True enough. But i guess christmas brews should be meaty:-)

[bazza]

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with adding some sugar. I add it to all my Belgians and a few bitters. I guess it depends on what you hope to get from it.

[Deebee]

well, i have some amber candy, or some munich.
The munich combined with the aromatic will give a good malt backbone, the candy will give a smaller grain bill. What åre peoples thoughts?

[Lugsy]

I've just started adding sugar to my hoppy beers to thin them down a bit and get rid of the sweetness but I would think that for a Christmas brew you'd go more malty and use the Munich instead. Mind you, if it was my beer I'd just think "bugger it, it's Christmas" and use both

[Deebee]

malt it is!

[Barley Water]

Well, let me preface my remarks by saying that this is homebrewing so you can do whatever the hell you want. Also, this is only just my own opinion and what the hell do I know? Ok, so here goes, basicly, I think you will not be real happy with a highly hopped beer and a bunch of dark crystal malt in the grist. What I think you will end up with is a beer with a sweet malt flavor and a bunch of hop bitterness/flavor/aroma fighting for attention. A beer like that is very hard on the old taste buds. Have you ever noticed that the lads in the Pacific Northwest make a fairly dry beer when doing those big IPA's with all those "C" hops? When they use crystal malt, they tend to use the ligher variety as versus the high lovebond stuff. Highly kilned crystal malt will tend to give you those raisin/prune/current flavors along with a bit of roast and of course it's sweet and I think that will clash with the hops. The beers with a big load of dark crystal by and large are not hopped that heavily (bock biers, belgian dubbels and strong darks just to throw a couple of examples out there). By the way, putting sugar into the wort is not such a bad idea as it will tend to dry out the beer allowing the hops to come out more. Anyhow, take all that for what it's worth, I just threw that out there to give you something to think about.

[HighHops]

I don't think this is a particularly hoppy beer. You didn't say your IBUs but it's gonna be about 40IBU which is not really in the American IPA range for a 1065 beer. I made a 1060 pale ale with 250g crystal and 250g munich and hopped at 45IBUs with cascade centennial and citra. It was highly praised by the many that snaffled it, but it was leaning much more to the malt than the hops. I think you could afford to go bigger on the hops by another 10IBU or back off on the crystal / aromatic or both to get the right balance. I wouldn't rule out the munich though. It goes nicely with lighter crystal like cara hell in this style IMHO. As barley water says sometimes less is more though. Have you considered including chinook on the dry hop as well. Two brews back I did a chinook dry hop that has added a nice twist to a Sierra Nevada Celebration ale mainly hopped with cascade and amarillo. Anyhow - it's your beer. Let us know how you get on.

[Barley Water]

If your beer is roughly 40IBU and around 1.065 O.G. in my opinion that would be at the low end of an American IPA from a bitterning perspective (for example Harpoon IPA or Anchor Liberty Ale). Now days, most American pale ales are in that range except they have about 10 less gravity points starting so they come off more bitter. Unfortunatley, the mantra over here is always "if some is good, more will be better". I am currently drinking an APA which started at around 1.050 and is probably around 40IBU, maybe just a little less (I was trying for a low gravity IPA, I wanted hop flavor and aroma but not as big a beer). Interestingly, the grist for that beer is American 2 row and just a bit of brown malt, no crystal at all. Next time I make it, I am going to get alot more agressive with the late hopping although I am happy with the malt bill. I personally don't care much for Chinook. Many really like it but I think you will find it has an extremely strong reinsy character, sort of like chewing on a pine tree that has been infused with grapefruit. I have had the best luck with low cohumolone hops but then I have moderately hard water. If your water is on the softer side, you can afford to get much more agressive. The whole trick with this stuff is to get the hop character but keep it from getting harsh, not an easy thing to do. Anyhow, good luck with your beer, let us know how it turns out.

[HighHops]

sort of like chewing on a pine tree that has been infused with grapefruit.

Sounds delicious! They are my favourite sort of pine trees!

Chinook is like marmite - You either love it or hate it! I love it (& marmite!)

[Deebee]

thanks for all the replies.
I think i'm going to run with it but use sugar and not munich. I also think i'll up the ibu to around 44 and increase the dry hops to include centennial and cascade. Might add the chinook too.
Will reuse the yeast cake as well. That way i get to bottle and free up the fv for a stout also in time for Christmas:-)