Saaz hops in Coopers Canadian Blonde

[Greg B]

Hello all

I've got 23 litres of Coopers Canadian Blonde thats been fermenting for about 6 days now. SG was 1.039 and is now down to 1.012. It normally bottoms out at 1.009 for me.

I'd like to experiment with it a little and have got some Saaz pellets (Alpha 3.2%) but am unsure how and when to add them.

I'm after flavour and aroma rather than bitterness so imagine dry hopping would be preferable over using a tea.

Also not sure when and how much to add. I've done a MJ Pils before which came with some Saaz pellets (28g for 23 litres) so I was going to use a similar amount and dry hop round about now as that's when I dry hopped with the MJ Pils.

Thoughts/suggestions?

Cheers

 

[MmmBeer]

Saaz are a lager hop, the typical Pilsner hop, but that doesn't stop you adding them into a blonde ale. A dry hop or hop tea would both be suitable, the hop tea will extract slightly more of the less volatile flavour compounds (low notes), whereas the dry hop will preserve more of the volatile aromas (high notes).

It is best to wait until FG is reached and all activity has ceased before adding, as CO2 bubbles can carry off aroma compounds with them. Typically I would wait unitil day 9 or 10 before dry hopping, leave in for three days, remove, cold crash for a day then bottle / keg. I'm not sure I would bother going to the trouble of dry hopping, just to add 28g of a delicate hop like Saaz, so I would be tempted to go bigger, 50g or so.

 

[Greg B]

Saaz are a lager hop, the typical Pilsner hop, but that doesn't stop you adding them into a blonde ale. A dry hop or hop tea would both be suitable, the hop tea will extract slightly more of the less volatile flavour compounds (low notes), whereas the dry hop will preserve more of the volatile aromas (high notes).

It is best to wait until FG is reached and all activity has ceased before adding, as CO2 bubbles can carry off aroma compounds with them. Typically I would wait unitil day 9 or 10 before dry hopping, leave in for three days, remove, cold crash for a day then bottle / keg. I'm not sure I would bother going to the trouble of dry hopping, just to add 28g of a delicate hop like Saaz, so I would be tempted to go bigger, 50g or so.

Nice one, thanks. I find the Canadian Blonde a little lagerish anyway hence the choice of Saaz hops.

Thanks for the advice, will hold off adding for now.