Resin, Pine flavour beer

[gfairfoul]

Im planning to brew a beer with a strong resin flavour. Pine, cedar type flavours. I have read Chinook is good for this but Im going for British hops. Thinking a combo of Northdown, Target and Bramling Cross.

Any thoughts on alternate hops or methods of getting the maximum resin flavours from the hops would be a great help.

Thanks.

 

[markmark]

Welcome to the forum.....personally, I don't think you'll get the flavour you are looking for with British hops.

 

[graysalchemy]

I agree. If you want full on then you need to look across the pond or at the antipodeans.

 

[calumscott]

I tend to agree, I also doubt that chinook is the right hop for the job too. The citrus from chinook will overpower what pineyness it has I think.

I've read that the pine resin note comes from myrcene.

Hops highest in that are Nugget, Centennial, US Northern Brewer, Brewer's Gold...

I don't know them well so couldn't say what other flavours they bring to the mix.

 

[phettebs]

Chinook are very piney initially but they mellow into grapefruit. I brewed an all Chinook IPA a couple years ago and early on it was like drinking pine needles. But after about 3-4 months, it was more of a grapefruit/citrus flavour.

Columbus hops (also called Tomahawk or Zeus) are pretty piney. Simcoe and Nugget are quite piney as well. Most of those high alpha hops seem to have a bit of a pine character to them.

Baz

 

[Duxuk]

I have not thought chinook was all that piney. Gorgeous, yes. I've got a brew on at the moment combining northern brewer for bittering with chinook later and at flameout. I'll use citra as a dry hop. Nelson sauvin is more piney, to me at least.

 

[mattrickl06]

Simcoe is definately piney.

 

[markmark]

I would regard chinook as piney too. It's probably the hop I've used most over the past few years.
Agree with mattrick on the simcoe, another of my favourites.
I find amarillo very resinous.....I've used this extensively for bittering and late additions.

 

[wilsoa1111]

apparently it this kinda deal "

"Myrcene yields flavors that were not traditionally considered desirable by European brewers, and noble hops are very low in myrcene. However, many American hop varieties are very high in myrcene; it makes up up to 60% of total oil in Cascade and up to 70% in Amarillo. Also found in some citrus fruits, myrcene lends American hops many of their distinctive flavors.
When added late in, or after, the boil, myrcene adds the intense, pungent aroma associated with American dry-hopped beers. When boiled for longer periods, it yields the characteristic citrus and pine aromas of American craft beer."

so some kinda american hop used with first wort hopping??? obviously pine needles but probably missed the young spruce shoots this year....

 

[gfairfoul]

Thanks for the comments. This has given me plenty to think about.

For this same brew Im thinking of a pale ale with a fairly generous amounts of oats included in the grain bill. Reading around it seems adding oats to a pale ale is pretty rare but I like the idea of getting a thick kind of creamy texture going on. Might be a bad idea but now Ive thought of it I need to give it a go.

 

[graysalchemy]

I use oats in a pale with shed loads of american hops, and it adds a wonderful sweetness which smooths out the high IBU's. You have to do the usual glucan rest as you would with an oatmeal stout. Mash the oats with 10%-20% of the oats weight in pale malt at 35-40c for 30 mins then raise the temp to the mash temp and add to the mash. :thumb:

 

[gfairfoul]

I use oats in a pale with shed loads of american hops, and it adds a wonderful sweetness which smooths out the high IBU's. You have to do the usual glucan rest as you would with an oatmeal stout. Mash the oats with 10%-20% of the oats weight in pale malt at 35-40c for 30 mins then raise the temp to the mash temp and add to the mash. :thumb:

Thanks for the tip. Im pretty new to brewing and I probably would have missed this.

Interesting that the same hop can be perceived so differently by different people. What I get from the American hops I have used so far is a lot of citrus flavour. Citra/grapefruit, Amarillo/orange. I love these and have used them quite a few times but Im trying to avoid the citrus this time.

Im also going to use a very small amount of Brown Malt. Bit of nice toast flavour in the background.

Thanks again for the tips and input.

 

[Duxuk]

You can get more mouth feel and sweetness by mashing at the higher end of the acceptable temperature range. If you mash at 68-69C you produce some unfermentables which won't turn to alcohol. If you mash at lower temperatures you will get a drier beer because the sugars will be much more fermentable.
I'm probably just too lazy and ill equiped to do the neccessary stepped mash temps required to use oatmeal!

 

[Drunken Horse]

This has got me curious. Would adding woodchips in a bag work in beer. Like oak chips in wine. I love BBQing and have loads of packets of different wood chips lying around.


I might try some cherrywood chips in the next suitable brew I do.

 

[Aleman]

If you want Pine/resin then go for Simcoe etc (Or Perle) . . . but use a hop bursting technique, and add 50%+ of your IBU in the last 15 minutes of the boil . . . Believe me you will get resin

 

[gfairfoul]

Well its fermenting away. I stuck with the mix of UK hops this time. If the beer works out ok I might try it again with some of the suggested US hops. I have a feeling Simcoe might be a good fit.

So that's a bit of an experimental brew on the go. Next Im thinking of playing it fairly safe and going for a classic English nut brown ale. If anyone has any recipes they would like to share Im more than happy to borrow a few ideas.

Cheers again.

 

[gfairfoul]

This has got me curious. Would adding woodchips in a bag work in beer. Like oak chips in wine. I love BBQing and have loads of packets of different wood chips lying around.


I might try some cherrywood chips in the next suitable brew I do.

Im quite tempted to use oak chips. I find some oaked beers too sweet and cloying but I love Yorkshire Stingo and have had Imperial stouts aged in old Whisky barrel which are fantastic.

Might be worth a shot.

 

[gfairfoul]

1 kg United Kingdom - Golden Promise 37 3 26.7%
1.5 kg Dry Malt Extract - Light 42 4 40%
0.5 kg United Kingdom - Crystal 60L 34 60 13.3%
0.4 kg United Kingdom - Brown 32 65 10.7%
0.3 kg American - Victory 34 28 8%
0.05 kg United Kingdom - Chocolate 34 425 1.3%
3.75 kg Total


Hops

Amount Variety Type AA Use Time IBU
15 g Target Leaf/Whole 11.5 Boil 60 min 15.28
15 g Kent Goldings Leaf/Whole 5 Boil 30 min 5.11
30 g Kent Goldings Leaf/Whole 5 Boil 5 min 2.65