Category Archives: hops

2021 IPA

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This might be my least creative recipe name ever, but it sure is appropriate! Thanks to my HOPBOX, I had a whole mess of hops from the 2021 harvest. I wanted to craft a recipe that would highlight more “traditional” IPA flavors of citrus and pine, while also exploring some new-to-me varieties.

orange-gold beer with off-white head, held in tall tulip glass

After sorting through my hop selection, I selected Bravo as the main bittering hop, with heavy doses of Cashmere, Wai-iti, and Waimea in the whirlpool and dry hop. Each of those brought complementary notes of lemon, citrus, and pine, without major components of tropical fruits. When opening up the hops, I noted that Waimea had an incredible fruit aroma (and was my favorite), with Wai-iti being a close second. The Cashmere had a slightly dank aroma that verged on vegetal, so I wasn’t initially sure how I would like it in the brew. I built a moderately complex grist, in part to use up some malts and in part to give a robust malt backbone to the beer. Finally, I chose BRY-97 as the yeast. I haven’t brewed with it a ton (my early experiments found it to be veeery slooow to take off), but have heard enough great things that I wanted to give it a try.

2021 IPA

  • 10 lb. 6 oz. California Select 2-row malt (Great Western)
  • 2 lb. Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
  • 0.75 lb. Chateau Munich Light malt
  • 0.5 lb. Caramel 40° malt (Briess)
  • 0.25 lb. biscuit malt (BlackSwaen)
  • 1 oz. Bravo hop pellets (14.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
  • 1 oz. Cashmere hop pellets (7.0% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Wai-iti hop pellets (3.5% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 1 oz. Waimea hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 15 minute whirlpool
  • 2 pkg. American West Coast Ale yeast (Lallemand BRY-97)
  • oz. Cashmere hop pellets (7.0% alpha), 3 day dry hop in fermenter
  • 1 oz. Wai-iti hop pellets (3.5% alpha), 3 day dry hop in fermenter
  • 1 oz. Waimea hop pellets (13.2% alpha), 3 day dry hop in fermenter

Target Parameters

  • 1.062 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 6.5% abv, 63 IBU, 8 SRM
  • Full volume mash at 152° for 60 minutes, with 10 minute mash-out at 168°
  • Claremont tap water, adjusted with lactic acid to knock out carbonate in strike water. Adjusted further in kettle to reach target water profile of 61 ppm Ca, 16 ppm Mg, 91 ppm Na, 170 ppm SO4, 85 ppm Cl, 15 ppm HCO3; RA=-41 ppm.

Procedure

  • The night before brewing, I collected 7.5 gallons of tap water and treated it with 0.5 Campden tablet and 5.75 mL of 88% lactic acid, to knock out the carbonates. I let it sit overnight, before brewing the next morning.
  • I heated the water to 159°, and mashed in to hit a target temperature of 152°. I added 2.1 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust pH.
  • After recirculating at 152° for 60 minutes, I raised the temperature to 168° and held it there for 10 minutes before removing the grain basket.
  • In total, I collected 6.3 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.054, for 66% mash efficiency.
  • I brought the runnings to a boil, boiling for 30 minutes before adding the hops, to bring up the gravity a bit. As the boil started, I added 4 g of gypsum of 3 g of epsom salt to the boil, to hit the target water profile.
  • After the initial 30 minute boil, I added hops and finings per the recipe, reaching a 90 minute total boil.
  • Once I had finished the boil, I added the whirlpool hops and whirlpooled for 15 minutes before chilling down to 70° and transferring to the fermenter.
  • I pitched the yeast, and fermented at 66°.
  • I brewed the beer on 6 November 2021, and hit a starting gravity of 1.063.
  • On 14 November 2021, I added the dry hops to the fermenter in a bag, and let it sit at ambient temperature (~64°) for three days.
  • I kegged the beer on 17 November 2021. Within about a month, the beer had dropped completely clear.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • This is a deep gold and very clear beer, with a persistent ivory head–gorgeous!
  • Aroma
    • Citrus peel and orange; not much in the way of detectable malt character, and the yeast character is very clean.
  • Flavor
    • The hops are at the forefront, with orange and citrus zest, followed by light pine. The malt character is smooth, but not over the top. I feel like a little bit of the hop character was lost between when I smelled the hops directly and now. Although I think it partly could be oxidation, I also suspect I should have either dry hopped more freely or else dry hopped in the keg, to get more exposure time. I bagged the hops for dry hopping, and don’t think they got as much contact as they should have.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Moderate body, with an off-dry finish and moderate carbonation level.
  • Would I Brew This Again?
    • Yes! I think I will modify my dry-hopping for next time, and dry hop a little longer or else leave the hops in the keg, or increase the amount of Waimea and Wai-iti.
  • Overall
    • 8/10

Review: Yakima Valley HOPBOX

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When it comes to hops, I am often a creature of habit. I love Cascade, Centennial, Citra, and Simcoe for my IPAs, and I’ll sometimes throw in Galaxy or Amarillo. I love Saaz, Hallertauer, and their American equivalents for my German beers. And…I don’t get much outside of that box very often. With a bewildering array of hops on the market for homebrewers, I just get overwhelmed and usually stick with what I know.

Now, that philosophy can be great for consistency and predictability. It also helps me to avoid chasing the latest expensive fad hop, and I’ve really gotten to know the flavors in each familiar variety. That said, I’m almost certainly missing out on some real gems. But, how can I break out of my rut, without too much effort on researching and such?

About two months ago, I was super excited to learn about a hop subscription box from Yakima Valley Hops, called The HOPBOX. HOPBOX was totally sold out then, but one of their reps said to check back at a certain date, and I should be good to go. Sure enough, I visited the website a few weeks later and I could order! (thanks for the tip, YVH rep!) I signed up for a full year (which came with a 15% discount), and waited for my first shipment…

A little over a week ago, a very attractive box landed in my mailbox. Opening it up, I saw eight 2-oz. cans of eight different hop varieties, along with some stickers, a card describing the hops, and a set of stainless steel cups to portion out hop additions.

So, what do I think about all of this? Let’s take a look! (note: I paid for this myself, and did not receive any compensation for the review, so I feel I can be reasonably even-handed)

The Hops

I was pretty impressed by the hops! All were from the 2021 crop, so I have no doubt on freshness. High marks there.

I am also impressed by the varieties–this box included Bravo, Cashmere, Cascade, Centennial, El Dorado, Strata, Waimea, and Wai-iti. A few are ridiculously expensive to buy at some suppliers (e.g., Strata sells at over $2.50 per ounce at some online stores), and others aren’t yet available for this crop via YCH (e.g., Cashmere and El Dorado).

For my brewing habits, this is a perfect quantity of hops. There are enough to do a few beers with fun blends–for instance, my first batch uses Bravo as the bittering with Waimea+Wai-iti+Cashmere for the whirlpool and dry hop. There isn’t enough of each for a five gallon SMaSH beer, but I think I’m okay with that. I can always go back and try a particularly intriguing variety in more depth. For me, Waimea is the standout in my current package so far, and I may well come back to that.

I like that this box fits within a general theme, of “hops that are good for IPAs and pale ales”. That made it a lot easier to plan brewing, versus if I had gotten a smattering of hops suited for disparate styles.

One thing that might have been nice is access to detailed data on individual lots. The packages had alpha acids, etc., but I wouldn’t complain if there were specifics on particular hop oil quantities, etc. That is a very minor quibble, though.

The Extras

This box came with two stickers as well as a set of stainless steel cups to portion out hops. I’m not really a sticker person, so those were somewhat of a wash, but the cups have already gotten use in my brewery. Previously I have been using reusable plastic containers, which are OK but a bit large for what I need. The little stainless steel containers (the same as 4 oz. sauce cups you might get at a restaurant) are branded with the YVH logo and will fit 3 oz. of hops fairly comfortably. The cups also make it easy to weigh out an ounce at a time, or a measure mineral additions.

One extra I might suggest for future boxes would be to include variety-specific recipes for the hops. I of course had fun thinking up something on my own, but at the very least a starting point would be helpful.

The Packaging

Yakima Valley Hops uses a nitrogen-flushed pull-top can, which is pretty slick. There’s no doubt as to the fact that they’re sealed and pretty impermeable to oxygen. A minor beef is that they are a little less convenient to store compactly in my deep freezer than bags are, and the cans also tend to wrinkle slightly due to the contraction of the internal gases at freezer temperatures. That said, they’re quite visually attractive.

The box itself was nicely arranged, and it was enjoyable to open and see what all was inside. I personally find unboxing videos or excessive commentary on such things a bit over the top, but I can’t deny that I had fun.

The box/packaging itself are maybe a little big for what’s inside, but it is all cardboard and recyclable, so I give them high marks for that. There’s no excess plastic junk, or unrecyclable bits. Also, everything arrived in perfect shape.

The Cost

Because I ponied up for a one year (four box) subscription, this knocked 15% off the $40 price tag per box, so I’m paying $34/box. And, shipping is free! Is that worth it? Overall, I think yes.

For comparison, I priced out 2 oz. containers of each hop on the Yakima Valley Hops website. This adds up to about $18.50 of hops and $9.70 of shipping, for $28.20 total. I will note, though, that some of the things in my box are currently sold out or only available in 2020 or 2019 crop years. When I compared with MoreBeer, you’d spend around $31.42 and then an additional $8 or $10 for shipping, and you wouldn’t necessarily get as much control over which year you got.

In pricing out the stainless steel cups, it looks like they run around 50 cents to $1 each online; just for the sake of argument, let’s say $1 each (they have printing on the outside, after all). So, that’s $6 value there, more or less.

With everything included ($28.20 of hops and $6 of steel cups), and free shipping, I would say this box is about a break-even proposition, and you definitely come out ahead versus if you had to pay shipping. The exclusive access to some hops is also a nice perk. Overall, the box is also a fairly good value versus buying each individually at a reseller. However, the box wouldn’t necessarily be a good value at full price ($40).

Overall

On the whole, I rate the HOPBOX a 4 out of 5, and it comes awfully close to being 5 out of 5. The cost for what you get is pretty good, although not a ridiculous steal. The full-price one-off box might make for a good gift for someone, but if you brew a lot and are likely to use the hops, I would just get a full-year subscription to save a fair bit of money. The hop selection is top-notch, and the extras in the box are pretty cool. Additionally, at least this first box has definitely helped me to expand my brewing horizons, so mission accomplished! I definitely recommend this if you are a hophead or know someone who is.

Comet Pale Ale

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IMG_20191109_145744For our October meeting, my homebrew club decided to do a hop comparison test, with members brewing the same grain bill and different hops. At a recent homebrew festival, I had sampled an IPA with Comet hops, and rather liked it. My choice of hop was decided!

Comet Pale Ale

  • 10.5 lb. 2-row premium malt (Great Western)
  • 0.5 oz. Caravienne malt
  • 0.25 oz. crystal 20 malt (Briess)
  • 1 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
  • 1 pkg. Safale American ale yeast (US-05)
  • 3 oz. Comet hop pellets (8.2% alpha), 5 day dry-hop

Target Parameters

  • 1.052 s.g, 1.012 f.g., 5.3% abv, 41 IBU, 6 SRM
  • Infusion mash, full volume
  • Claremont tap water

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 7.5 gallons of Claremont tap water at 159°, to hit a 152.8° mash temperature. This was a full-volume mash.
  • After 45 minutes, I vorlaufed and collected 6.3 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.041, for 63.4% mash efficiency. This was a bit lower than I had expected even for a no-sparge recipe.
  • I boiled for 60 minutes, adding hops and kettle finings at the indicated times.
  • After flame-out, I added the whirlpool hops and let them ride for 10 minutes.
  • Starting gravity was 1.048; this is definitely below my target, but not terribly unsurprising given the low efficiency. I did an adjustment of my grain mill after this, and found that the gap had wandered a bit wide since I last set it.
  • I brewed this beer on 5 October 2019, and pitched the yeast immediately. Fermentation temperature is set at 68°.
  • After five days of fermentation, I added the dry hops on 10 October 2019, and cold crashed the beer on 13 October 2019. I kegged the beer on 15 October 2019, using a modified closed transfer. I purged the keg with CO2, and siphoned the beer in via the out port of the keg.
  • This is one of the fastest turnarounds I’ve ever done for a beer, with 12 days between brewing and the tasting at our club meeting. The beer cleared up surprisingly well, and was well received by my fellow homebrewers. I normally like to have a bit more time in my brewing process (it’s a hobby after all), but the challenge of producing a beer in limited time was a fun one.
  • Final gravity was 1.008, for 5.0% abv.

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Light gold, clear but not brilliant; persistent white and fine head
  • Aroma
    • Strong citrus aroma, sometimes with a whiff of resiney goodness.
  • Flavor
    • Grapefruity/orangey citrus and grapefruit pith at the forefront, with a touch of pine behind that, for the hops. Bitterness is fairly prominent, perhaps just a bit too much so. There’s not much in the way of malt flavor for this one. It’s pretty clean, inoffensive, and squarely in the background.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Fairly light-bodied, moderately high carbonation. The finish is pretty dry, and there is a touch of astringency that detracts a little from the beer.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • I don’t think I would brew with the particular grain bill again (it’s just a little too lacking in malt character, which is fine for this experiment but not ), but I’m definitely going to be giving Comet more attention in the future. It doesn’t taste like a hop from 1974 (when it was released by the USDA)–it just as plausibly could be from 2014! It works pretty well in a single hop situation, and I bet would be really nice if paired up with Simcoe or Cascade. Some places I read referred to Comet as “Citra’s Little Sibling,” and I definitely can see that. Comet has a very prominent citrus character in the same vein as that of Citra; the main difference is that Comet has a bit of resiney harshness, where Citra is pretty smooth (to my palate). In the future, I might cut back the dry-hopping amount, or perhaps let it sit for 2 days instead of 3. I would also swap out the bittering addition of Comet for Magnum or another high alpha hop.
  • Overall
    • 6.5/10. The main deductions are for the relatively “boring” malt character, and the slight harshness on the hopping backend.

Cascade-o Classico Pale Ale

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IMG_20191005_144434Lately, I’ve had a soft spot for “classic” American pale ales, from the era before Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe were a thing. I love the more subtle flavors of Cascade and Centennial…and the cheaper price point for those hops doesn’t hurt, either. I recently got a shipment of the new Cascade crop from my dad in South Dakota (he raises them for his own brewing), and decided to do another iteration of my Classico Pale Ale. Aside from the hops (Cascade instead of Falconer’s Flight), the only other change is upping the percentage of Maris Otter versus 2-row, from around 50/50 to 66/33 in the current recipe.

I know that you’re not supposed to put crystal malts in pale ales and IPAs, but I’ve decided that piece of advice is bunk in a well-brewed recipe with modest amounts of crystal malts. For this formulation, I think they add a subtle but important character, and I ain’t likely to remove them for future brews!

Cascade-o Classico Pale Ale

  • 7 lb. 0.5 oz. Maris Otter malt (Bairds)
  • 3 lb. 9 oz. 2-row pale malt (Rahr)
  • 8 oz. caramel 40 (Briess)
  • 4 oz. caramel 60 (Briess)
  • 0.70 oz. Warrior hop pellets (15.8% alpha), 60 minute boil
  • 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), 5 minute boil
  • 1 pkg. Safale American ale yeast (US-05)
  • 2 oz. Cascade whole hops (~5.5% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

  • 60 minute infusion mash, 152°, batch sparge
  • 1.058 o.g., 1.013 f.g., 46 IBU, 8 SRM, 6.0% abv
  • Claremont water with 1 tsp. of gypsum added during boil

Procedure

  • I mashed in with 3.2 gallons of water at 162°, to hit a 152.5° mash temperature.
  • After 60 minutes, I added 0.8 gallons of water at ~185°, let sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the first runnings.
  • Next, I sparged with 3.4 gallons of water, let it sit for 10 minutes, vorlaufed, and collected the second runnings.
  • In total, I collected 6.2 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.048, for 71% efficiency.
  • As I heated the runnings to a boil, I added 1 tsp. gypsum. Once the boil started, I added the various hops and Whirlfloc per the recipe.
  • After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled the wort. I transferred to the fermenter while aerating, and pitched the yeast. I am fermenting at 68°.
  • The beer was brewed on 24 August 2019, and fermentation signs were quite visible by the next morning.
  • I kegged the beer on 6 September 2019. Final gravity was 1.011, down from 1.058, for 6.2% abv. The dry hops were added to the keg in a mesh bag.

IMG_20191005_144934

Tasting

  • Appearance
    • Pours with persistent ivory-colored head; brilliantly clear and copper-colored beer
  • Aroma
    • Lightly caramel, citrus/piney aroma
  • Flavor
    • Slightly grainy, caramel flavor, with firm bitterness. Bitterness is slightly piney
  • Mouthfeel
    • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, off-dry finish.
  • Would I brew this again?
    • Yes! This is a nice base recipe, and a good way to highlight classic American hops. I feel like it could use just a touch more body, so might mash at 154° next time. It might be interesting to try this with 100% Maris Otter or even Vienna malt, too, to give a bit more malt character I love how clear this beer has turned out–it clarified really quickly and nicely, to make an incredibly pretty brew.
  • Overall
    • 9.5/10

Beer Tasting: Lemondrop Wheat Ale

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20170704_155850I am absolutely thrilled with this beer! In fact, a little too thrilled…the keg is nearly dry. Time for a tasting, then!

Lemondrop Wheat Ale

  • The Basics
    • O.G. = 1.047; f.g. = 1.011; 4.8% abv; 4 SRM; 34 estimated IBU
  • Appearance
    • Hazy light straw color, with firm and persistent white head. When poured well, it’s like a topping of meringue. Gorgeous!
  • Aroma
    • Light citrus (slightly lemony) and slightly bready aroma
  • Flavor
    • Citrusy forefront, with a smooth and doughy middle, fading then into a lingering but pleasant bitterness.
  • Mouthfeel
    • Light body and moderate carbonation, with a medium-dry finish
  • Would I brew this again?
    • In a second! This is solidly in the running for favorite beer of 2017 so far. It’s just about the perfect summer beer–light, refreshing, and ridiculously drinkable. I’m burning through this keg at a pretty quick pace! The Lemondrop hops are a fun addition, too. Although I wouldn’t call them distinctly “lemon” in all aspects of their character (i.e. it’s not “lemon oil” or “Lemon Pledge”), they definitely have a citrus note that contributes nicely to the overall character of this beer. The only, very minor, flaw in this batch is that the finish has gotten just a touch harsh over time, likely due to the extended keg dry hopping. That’s easily fixed in the next iteration, though. I am quite pleased with just about every other aspect of this recipe; the balance between pilsner and wheat malt is perfect, and the yeast is also a true winner. WLP320 has just a touch of character, but it’s not overwhelming like European wheat beer yeasts. Also, it stays in suspension forever, which also helps with appearance and presentation. I don’t think this would be as good of a beer with a Chico strain yeast. I also think my water adjustments paid off; it’s not overly minerally in character like some of my past lighter beers.
  • Overall
    • 9.5/10