Single hop ale with Azacca - Advice please

[G-Town Brewer]

I have recently completed my first AG brew following the instructions in the excellent post in the How-to section. I used EKG hops and it turned out fantastic. Buoyed with success, I'm about to embark on my second AG brew. I intend to use the same method and grain bill for a 10l batch and use the 50g of Azacca I already have instead. I was hoping someone with a little more experience in these matters to give me a steer on how I can best use the hops in the brew.

So my recipe is:
Brew size (10l)
Grain: 2KG MO, 100g Carapils

Proposed hop schedule:
(I have 50g of Azacca 13.1% AA)

10g Azacca at 60m
5g Azacca at 15m
5g Azacca at 5m
15g Azacca at FO

Does that sound like a reasonable hop schedule or can get away with a bit more?

 

[nickjdavis]

Azacca is a lovely tropical fruity hop....if you wanted to use more of it up to boost the flavours and aromas you could bias your hop additions so they are "backloaded"....

So maybe only 5g for 60 minutes, 10 g for 15mins, 20g for 5 and 15g at FO. You would have to do the sums as to how that works out in terms of providing a similar bitterness level to your hop schedule, but my fag packet calculations say it shouldn't be too much different.

Although its a high AA hop it is wonderfully flavoured and it just seems a shame not to try to eke out all of that loveliness. I get it that its only your 2nd AG brew and perhaps might be an experiment too far at this stage (and there is nothing wrong with your proposed schedule by the way), so even if you don't try something like this, its certainly something that I recommend having a go at down the line.

I brewed an English Golden Ale last summer using NZ Pacifica, Southern Cross and Taiheke and did not do a normal bittering hop addition....the earliest any hop went in was 15 minutes before the end of the boil. It was a lovely beer and my only regret was that I gave most of it away as it was for an interclub competition.

 

[A fool's paradise]

I love Azacca and have done quite a few brews, all 10 lts too...........my thoughts, it's too good to use for bittering, i'd not bother and i'd certainly use all 50 g, that's if you like hoppy beers of course.
Personally i'd do : 10g at 10 mins, 15g at flameout (about 75c for 30 mins) and 25g dryhop for a couple of days.
Grain bill is fine.

 

[G-Town Brewer]

Thanks for the replies. I'm definitely going to experiment with the later hop additions - I hadn't considered not having an addition at 60m. I do love hoppy beers, so this sounds great.

 

[thegrantickle]

Some good advice here. I agree with @nickjdavis generally. I'd dial back the amount of bittering use and bias towards the end of the boil. I'm personally loving the Kernel hop schedule of 1 : 1.4 : 2 at 15/10/5 minutes for hop forward beers. I'd probably go for 5g at FWH, then 8g @15min, 11g @ 10 min, 16g @ 5 min. Throw the rest (10g) in as a dry hop for the last 3 days. If you have any other higher AA% hops kicking around, then even better - throw in the equivalent at FWH to bitter and use the extra 5g Azacca in the dry hop.

My 2p.

 

[Dads_Ale]

I tend to use the Greg Hughes base recipes (malt wise) for his single hope ales and then use one of the brewing apps (I use Beersmith) to get the IBUs and hop additions sorted. the higher the AA then you may have to get inventive with the hop additions. I am currently working on a motorised whirlpool paddle in conjunction with an immersion chiller, to get the best out of these additions, especially at around 80c.