Jester hops

[Hugh Jampton]

I've got some Jester hops. They have an intense citrusy, tropical fruit aroma, more like an Australian hop than British. I haven't made up my mind what to do with them.

I was thinking of using MO as a base with a little Munich and aromatic malt, bittering with Challenger and using the Jester to give a punchy, grapefruit flavour.

[Hanglow]

Sounds good to me. American pale ale levels of hopping or more ?

They are upping the acreage this year so hopefully in coming years there will be more available

I decided this was the best of your three threads

[Hugh Jampton]

Don't know what happened there.

I hate those 'American style' IPAs that are just an ordinary bitter with a bit of cascade chucked in so this will be heavilly hopped.

The malt will be quite toasty. Challenger has a good smooth bitterness which blends well with other hops. I'm looking at adding about 25g of Jester at 15 minutes. I reckon an IBU of around 45 should be about right.

[MTW]

I've done a Jester recently!

I used my standard APA malt bill, but for some reason (which I'm kind of regretting now) I mashed a degree higher and didn't put my usual 5% sugar addition in. I also didn't have pellets for the dry hop and used 60g leaves, loose in secondary, which didn't have the punch of pellets. The result is exactly what I think you don't want: a very pleasant English hoppy pale with a hint, just a hint, of something a bit more zesty. Loads of Jester went in late and at flameout and the beer is really nice, but quite 'English'.

I'd say keep the mash at 66 or lower and a make sure it dries out to jet those Jester forward.

This was mine, so you can see what I did.

Jester APA
American Pale Ale

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.748
Total Hops (g): 168.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.048 (°P): 11.9
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (°P): 2.8
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.90 %
Colour (SRM): 7.0 (EBC): 13.8
Bitterness (IBU): 42.4 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 74
Boil Time (Minutes): 75

Grain Bill
----------------
3.800 kg Maris Otter Malt (80.03%)
0.403 kg Caravienna (8.49%)
0.403 kg Munich I (8.49%)
0.142 kg Wheat Malt (2.99%)

Hop Bill
----------------
18.0 g Mosaic Leaf (13.4% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
5.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/L)
20.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
20.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
30.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (1.3 g/L)
25.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma) (1.1 g/L)
60.0 g Jester Leaf (6.5% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (2.2 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 67°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 18°C with WLP007 - Dry English Ale

Notes
----------------
1.2L stirred DME starter of WLP 007 pitched fully active (over the 23L brew)

[Hugh Jampton]

That's very interesting, thanks. I shall have to add a lot more Jester than I thought. To me they smell like a bit like Riwaka so I'll be disapointed if they turn out to be just another boring English hop. My Jester is leaf and I've got Challenger pellets.

I usually mash at 65 and use WLP007 but I've just washed some WLP023 so I'll probably use that and add a small amount of sugar in the boil to dry it out a bit. I used the WLP023 in an oatmalt stout which didn't attenuate as much as I expected but it tastes great.

[Hanglow]

Incidentally the next wetherspoons ale festival is meant to focus on british hops and there are a couple of jester beers in there from Adnams and Hawkshead, so might be worth checking out to compare. think it starts in march sometime

[smbenn]

Just out of interest where did you get your Jester from? I know they're in very limited supply at the moment but should be planting more.

[MTW]

Just out of interest where did you get your Jester from? I know they're in very limited supply at the moment but should be planting more.

Mine were given to me by a kind brewery owner!