English IPA dry hop

[jamow]

Any advice for dry hopping an English style IPA, generously late hopped with Challenger?

OG - 1.058. Maris, Crystal and malted Wheat. Maybe a touch too much Crystal. Its a little sweet out the fermenter.
Fermented with Verdant IPA in half and London III in the other.

Pellet hops I have to hand which I think are options:

Northern Brewer
Bramling Cross
Cascade

Original recipe called for EKG.
Thanks for any opinions

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Willamette for hop stand and dry hop. Use Challenger for bittering. You may want to throw in some EKG at 15 minutes.

 

[stubrewworx]

I used a bram x hop tea in my english ipa. 4g per litre which hasn't given much of what i wanted.

I'd be tempted to use cascade

 

[Braufather]

cascade would be good to lift the aroma, I haven’t used it yet in an English ale but am planning too.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Slightly off topic, my recent Bramling X IPA used the same malt, how much crystal did you use?

 

[Sandimas]

cascade would be good to lift the aroma, I haven’t used it yet in an English ale but am planning too.

One of my local breweries produced a real nice English ale and when I asked the brewer "is there Cascade in this" he said yes, but a relatively small amount. I had a go at replicating it and a little Cascade as a late hop really does work, too much though and it ends up tasting like a US beer.

I'm also a big fan of Bramling X, is one of my most-used hops.

 

[IainM]

My go-to for English late late and dry hops is East Kent Goldings.

 

[Braufather]

One of my local breweries produced a real nice English ale and when I asked the brewer "is there Cascade in this" he said yes, but a relatively small amount. I had a go at replicating it and a little Cascade as a late hop really does work, too much though and it ends up tasting like a US beer.

I'm also a big fan of Bramling X, is one of my most-used hops.

Yeah I read somewhere that a dash in the dry hop helps lift the English hops without clashing with them.

Maybe the OP should mix a bit of cascade with BX given his stock options.

 

[Braufather]

My go-to for English late late and dry hops is East Kent Goldings.

Classic option but the OP is looking to replace them with what he’s got on hand.

Love a ekg and challenger combo myself though!

 

[IainM]

Doh. Didn't read the post properly

 

[The Baron]

cascade would be good to lift the aroma, I haven’t used it yet in an English ale but am planning too.

I have used it in Hobgoblin clones/styles it adds that little extra

 

[cushyno]

I am a challenger fan. Being from the north and challenger having a real presence in record from northern breweries, I like it. But I wouldn't dry hop with it.

Cascade would be my choice, but Bramling Cross may work as a dry hop too. What about BX and cascade in a ratio of 3:1? That would ensure you had some of the BX character but with support from the cascade, as BX aroma does fade over time.

 

[robster62]

Classic option but the OP is looking to replace them with what he’s got on hand.

Love a ekg and challenger combo myself though!

Have you ever tried Exmoor gold? I think you would love it.

 

[Braufather]

Have you ever tried Exmoor gold? I think you would love it.

No, but will look out for them next time. Would they work in a spitfire type Amber pale ale?

 

[jamow]

I went with cascade. Turned out quite well. Maybe the dry hop hides some of the kettle hop character though. It’s 6.8% so should condition well with time.

 

[matt76]

Fermented with Verdant IPA in half and London III in the other.

Hey @jamow , how did your split batch turn out in the end?

I suspect a lot of people would be very interested to know how the two compare, and also how Verdant IPA performed in a English style.

I've done similar but only once - with Verdant IPA the krausen stuck around longer but otherwise they fermented pretty much the same. But taste-wise, I couldn't tell them apart.

What were your findings?

 

[jamow]

I’ve only started on one keg so no direct comparison at the moment. I’m on the Verdant IPA one first. It’s been in the keg a few weeks now and is still improving. I’m fermenting a bitter with the Verdant IPA yeast just now and ive just ordered more of it likely destined for a pale ale. Get a bit concerned ordering liquid yeasts in this hot weather.
In terms of the English IPA fermentation the krausen dropped out a bit quicker after I stirred the dry hop pellets at 14 degC than the LondonIII, if I remember correctly. Both fermentation were quite satisfactory, fast, and I kegged them both at about seven days. Actually they both came in at 6.3% abv not 6.8% as I wrote above.

 

[moto748]

I tried the Verdant yeast the other week for the first time, in a US-style IPA (first attempt at that, too), also dry-hopped, and was very pleased with the results.