Hopping advice please

[calumscott]

Two things have conspired to leave me in the position where I need a little advice from the Sages and Oracles...

1) I'm probably going to get a Better Brew IPA on next and I've shelled out on a 1.5kg tin of light LME for the extra fermentibles.
2) I've realised that our Forum Sponsors, The Malt Miller, are literally "just down the road" from my work.

...three things have conspired...

3) I like really aromatic hoppy IPAs

So I'm going with, what should be, a pretty decent kit to start with, adding LME rather than DME or dextrose to bring the gravity up and preserve body and depth but, unlike the Woodfordes kits there is no aroma hoppy additions that come with the kit. I'm guessing that they've boiled in a load of hops towards the end when producing the kit or have already chucked in some hop oil...

...but I don't want to chance it not being super aromatic...

So...

I love the citrus zing that Brewdog impart to punk and hardcore which I understand comes from any of the american hops that begin with a "C".

But that's as much as I know.

So the questions are...

a) what variety should I get?
b) how much will I need to dry hop a 5 gallon IPA for a real hop punch (maybe not *quite* as punchy as Brewdog...)
c) should they go in at the start of fermentation or after the first "flush" of youth or should I rack to a secondary and pop them in then?
d) anything else I should consider when doing a dry hop mod to a kit?

Thanks!

C

 

[RobWalker]

Cascade are the sort of go-to american IPA hop for a lot of people. Never made one myself, but that's where I'd start!

Because kits are so concentrated they can lose a lot of their aroma, so adding it back in is a great idea - you may want to pick up a hop bag when you visit to ease the process :)

 

[calumscott]

you may want to pick up a hop bag when you visit to ease the process :)

:thumb: that's exactly where my thinking was!

 

[Dave1970]

Citra gives a really full on grapefruit flavour

I'd use some to make a hop tea - add hops to boiling water...maybe 20g for 15 mins then another 20g when you turn the gas out...let this water cool and use this to make your kit. More water means better extraction of flavour from your hops.
Then dry hop with another 20g

This won't necessarily be subtle but it should give you the zing you're after :thumb:

You could go with more hops than this...I just did an AG Citra brew with 30g at start of boil, 20 with 15 mins to go, 50 at the end of boil and another 30 to dry hop. It's come out well (as long as you like citra), not a million miles from Oakham Ales Citra

 

[puravida]

I've just made a beer with tons of citra and find the bitter grapefuit a little overpowering.
I went half-half with cascade but still a citra bomb! Wish I'd tempered it back more than I did.

Anyway - for a Punk IPA clone I'd mix a smaller amount of citra in with a mix of any/all of Columbus, Ahtanum, Amarillo, Centennial.

I've had great results with Ahtanum in my past few beers. It doesn't get as much of the celebtriy limelight as Cascade but it's a cracking west coast style pale ale aroma hop.

Ahtanum is a hop variety that in its aroma/flavoring is similar to Willamette in combination with Cascade or Amarillo. It has a citrus and floral character much like Cascade with the addition of some resiney or earth notes. Grapefruit quality is more forward in than in Cascade as well.

 

[DirtyCaner]

Also a fair bit of Simcoe in Punk IPA, some consider this a better hop to dry hop with. Only tried using it once so far and currently in FV so awaiting trial. Have you tried Brewdogs Simcoe IPA? Sounds like it might be your cup of tea...

DirtyC