Citra hops-First time I've used them.

[Duxuk]

I recently tried a bottle of Oakham Breweries Citra, a beer made with only Citra hops. It was very nice so today I bought a pack of citra to try a brew with. I think my regular partial mash technique will give me the right sweetness and OG of around 1045 from DME Maris Otter and crushed crystal but I'm wondering how much citra I should use.

My last brew was very nice with-
1 gram per litre of Northern Brewer for 60mins (9%AAs)
1g/l Cascade for 20 mins (6%AAs)
1g/lCascade for 5 mins

I also added a good handfull of Cascade after 3 days, dry.

Now the Citra has a massive 14.5% AAs, so to get a similar level of flovours should I divide my weight of hops by 14.5 and times it by 9 or 6 for NBrewer and Cascade respectively?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Ceejay]

Oakham Citra is a belter of a beer. One of my favourite English beers, for sure.

Stick it in a recipe calculator like Brewmate or Hopville calculus, play about with where you want the additions and how many IBUs you want and go from there :thumb:

Flavour & %AA don't necessarily go hand in hand. To get big hop flavour and aroma, you want to be adding a lot of hops late (sub 10 mins) and at flameout, with some dry hopping if you want too.

What I do for big hop flavour is put just under half my IBUs in at 60 minutes, then equal charges at 15, 5 and o minutes up to my total amount of hops.

Like this:

New Recipe (Special/Best/Premium Bitter)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.045 (°P): 11.2
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol (ABV): 4.42 %
Colour (SRM): 8.9 (EBC): 17.5
Bitterness (IBU): 41.7 (Tinseth)

89.66% Dry Malt Extract - Light
10.34% Crystal 60

0.4 g/L Citra (14.5% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Citra (14.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Citra (11.1% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
1.5 g/L Citra (11.1% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Aroma)


Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 18°C with US-05 or WLP001


Recipe Generated with BrewMate

The aroma addition here is at flameout, with a 30 minute stand, whilst chilling.

To get the most out of those hops, you're going to ideally need to go with a clean ale yeast like Cali Ale yeast, US-05 or a liquid equivalent :thumb:

 

[Duxuk]

I decided to go quite big on the hops and brewed 15l today.
1kg Maris otter with 150g crushed crystal @68C for 90 mins.
1kg light DME.
10g Citra for 60 mins
15g for 20
15g for 5

I then cooled it a little before allowing the hops to steep for 20 mins.

I will pitch Gervin English ale yeast tonight and add 10g of Citra after 3 days.

I'll let you know when it's done.

BTW after seeing other threads I've decided to make a yeast starter to try to get it going off like Usain Bolt.

 

[pittsy]

looking good mate :thumb: , you only make starters for liquid yeast , if you want more yeast you need to add another packet but i wouldn't bother (unless og is above 1060)

 

[andybrew]

i'm also a lover of the oakham citra so will be watching this post with interest as i'm also looking at getting into extract and BIAB brewing in the next few weeks, this would make a great first brew for those long summer evenings

 

[Duxuk]

you only make starters for liquid yeast , if you want more yeast you need to add another packet but i wouldn't bother (unless og is above 1060)

Thing is I've found my brews ahve been a bit slow to start. A good beating to get air in defo helps but this time I put some wart in a sterilized jug an added the dry yeast to that. In less than 2 hours it was on the brink of overflowing so I pithced it into my FV. That was yesterday evening. By morning I had a good thick layer of lovliness on top so it's a technique I will do again next time. It must save at least a day of fermentation but more impotantly gets some alcohol in there to ensure a healthy brew.

 

[Green Ninja]

For my 23l Citra Ale brews I use 100g Citra.

Don't worry about it sounding a lot - it's great.

 

[robsan77]

I just used 400g in 40litres in my last brew. But that's nothing compared to some of the guys on here.

 

[Dave1970]

This was my 'Citra Gold', came out very nice (if you like Citra!)

23 Litres

5.5 kg Maris Otter Malt
0.5 kg Wheat Malt
0.2 kg Carapils (Dextrine)
0.15 kg Crystal 120

30g Citra (15% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
20g Citra (15% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
30g Citra (15% Alpha) @ end of boil, steep for 20 mins
20g Citra (15% Alpha) dry hop

 

[Morgan]

I put some wart in a sterilized jug an added the dry yeast to that

Your probably better off using warm 30c water rather than wort, as the sugar content can kill the yeast by getting through the cell wall whilst the yeast is re hydrating - according to some doctor bod who works for danstar or one of the other dried yeast companies. Or course, what works for you is always the best method.

 

[Duxuk]

Thanks for the helpfull replies. The fermentation has proceeded very quickly. I can only presume that's due to the starter, so I'll be doing a starter every time. I'm even thinking it looks ready to bottle after only 7 days, so, obviously I couldn't resist a cheeky taste.
I think it's going to be very good.
I have 50g of Citra left so I'm going to start another brew immediately, when I've bottled. This time I'll bitter with N brewer and save the Citra for later hopping. I'lll have to work out a schedule to try to get the maximum Citra taste from my 50g.
I've had a few more bottles of the inspiration, Oakhams Citra. I think I've found a new "desert island beer", you know, where your stuck on an island but bizzarely have an infinite supply of a handfull of beers. Oakham Citra, Joker IPA, Hawkshead Cumbrian 5 hop on draught............................sorry, I started dreaming. :

 

[Kinleycat]

How much should i add for dry hopping a 23L Coopers Australian Pale Ale kit?

 

[Green Ninja]

As there's no Citra in it yet I'd go large.

Try 50 grams dy hopped for a few days.

 

[Kinleycat]

As there's no Citra in it yet I'd go large.

Try 50 grams dy hopped for a few days.

Is putting it in for the full two weeks of primary fermentation too much?

 

[Duxuk]

Most wait a few days for the most vigorous fermentation to calm down. Theory is that if you put dry hops in too early the alpha acids will be chemically altered, just like when you boil them. I have just dry hopped my latest after 3days. I only had 8g of citra left for my 15l brew. It might not be a problem, with 50g of citra in total and about 30g of cascade in there it won't be too short of hop, though I see from the replies above I'm still on the nursery slopes compared to some.
This time I went bigger on late hops. I omitted the 5 min hop boil and put loads in at flameout, steeping for 20 minutes. The aroma alone tells me it was a good idea! I'm learning all the time. This forum is a fabulous resource :thumb: