Would this work?

[marcarm]

I've read a couple of articles about brewery's only using late additions to keep all the hop flavour.

I'm thinking about making a batch with the 100g of Crystal (2.5%) I have, but adding it all near the end. I was going to make a SMaSH to about 1.046 and then add 50g with 15 mins to go, and then the other 50g with 5 mins to go, or maybe 40g and 40g which will leave 20g for a dry hop.

Do you think this would be ok or would it not be very nice. I am quite new to making my own beer recipes, have always followed someone else's but it's time to branch out.

[chris.laws.54943]

I'm on a similar path as far as recipe experiments go. I'd always put the hop schedule in beer smith (or similar) just to make sure I get ENOUGH bitterness as the later the hops go in, the more you need to add, as I understand it, with dry hopping adding virtually no bitterness.
An under-bittered, very hoppy beer might be a bit sickly/undrinkable.

[Goulders]

It depends on the bitterness you want. An oft referred to method which I used successfully in a recent brew is to work on adding around 7g/l at 5 minutes from the end of the boil and then working back from the IBU figure to calculate the addition at the beginning of the boil. At flameout I cooled below 80c and steeped for 30 mins. I've never used crystal hops myself so I can't comment on their use in a smash

[Bazz]

It'll certainly work, my last brew, a Brewdog inspired APA, didn't have any hops put in until 20 mins from the end of the boil and it's turned out awesome!! But i would definitely use Brewmate or similar to work out the IBU's, and i'm not familiar with Crystal hops so couldn't comment on what sort of flavour you'd get from them.

[alexlark]

Im new to putting my own recepies together and Ive been designing an Amarillo and Vic Secret pale ale and using Beersmith is a massive help in hitting the figures.

[chris.laws.54943]

+1 alexlark

[Barley Water]

Well, for whatever it's worth here is what I generally do when formulating my own recipes;

First I decide what style I want and come up with an original gravity. After that I put the grain bill together giving consideration to the style and my personal experiences and preferences. Once I have the grains/adjuncts figured out I determine what ratio of gravity to bitterness I want, again style and experience get factored in. If you envision the beer having a lot of hop flavor and aroma that means late as well as possibly dry hops (or a hop back). I then go on a beer calculator and start plugging hops into it until I get the bitterness I am looking for after dumping in what I consider an appropriate amount of late hops (dry hops don't affect bitterness). I personally like to use high alpha hops to bitter because it keeps the vegetable matter down and some are very smooth (Magnum, Warrior etc).

As an example my next project is a German pils. Since I'm going for about a 1.048-1.050 beer I'll likely push the bitterness to about 40 IBU calculated (in this case the bittering hop will be Pearl just because that is what our German friends use). Yeah, that may be on the high end but hey, American and Texan; what can I say? I've got (well ok, will have by brew day) a bunch of Saaz so I'll add pellets at say 10 minutes before knock out then perhaps a bit more at knockout. Since I have a Hop Rocket, I will also run the wort through about an ounce of leaf Saaz on the way to the fermenter to both clean up the wort plus trap as much aroma as possible (I have had bad luck in the past dry hopping with Saaz). Once I figure out the late hops I'll start adding the bittering hops to the calculator until I get the IBU's I want.

By the way, the best way to gain experience is to start with a clone then start screwing around with the recipe. After a while, you will know what you like and how to futz around with things to get the end result you are looking for. Every time you drink one of your beers you should be asking yourself; "how can I mess with this stuff to make it better?".

[Chicken Dipper]

I love Magnum as a clean bitter hop, but not too much, then go large on the late hops. But that's just me. A lot depends on your set up and process I think. how long do you leave your brew after switch off in your boiler, do you chill, AA of hops used, your water profile. I guess that all adds to it too.

I've tried so many recipes, it's all about what you like to drink and tailoring it to that. If you brew what drives your passion, you will be more passionate about it.