hopping advice needed

[DaveyT]

Hello
I´m on my second extract brew and feeling a bit adventurous. I´m after something like Summer Lightening or Dark Star Hophead so I bought: 2 tins Brupak pale malt and two 100g packets of hops (challenger and cascade) along with Irish moss and Safale 04. I had limited range in a shop in Spain where the bloke didn´t speak English.
I´m thinking of using only one hop to get a feel for the taste and I´m wondering when to add them. I was thinking of all four stages; bittering, taste, aroma and dry hopping. I was going to be quite cavalier and just divy the hops up and see what happened, but this might be counterproductive.
Any suggetsions will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

DaveyT

[HighHops]

Hi DaveyT - Download beer engine v1.09 which is free software designed by graham wheeler. This will help you to calculate the bitterness that you need depending on the style that you want. I would also recommend buying 'brew your own british ale' by again the same Mr Wheeler. This has the recipe for Summer Lightning and over 100 more recipes and you will want to try them all at once.
By the way I'm not Graham Wheeler.

[HighHops]

You need to consider the balance of the beer or in other words the ratio of hop bitterness to maltiness. This is the BU/GU ratio (the bitterness units / gravity units). For an english pale ale you are looking for a bitterness of 20 - 40 EBU and an original gravity of 1040 - 1055 to get a ratio of about 0.6 to 1.0. So if your bitterness is 30EBU and your OG is 1045 then your ratio is 30/45 = 0.67

Challenger is a good place to start for an english pale ale. I would use this to bitter (at start of boil) and flavour and add the cascade late on for aroma, but you will have to play around to find what's right for you. I like to use less hops on the boil and more at the end, which also adds to the bittering but gives a more rounded bitterness and more hop flavour, but again it's a matter of taste.

Why not try using your 2 tins on a 20L brew (1045 OG). 20g of challenger on a 90 min boil, then 10g challenger and 10g cascade with 20 mins left. Maybe another 10g cascade when you turn the heat off (29EBU)

Happy brewing.

[DaveyT]

Thanks a lot - that´s really helpful. I´ll give the Beer Engine go, too.
Was the suggestion for a Summer Lightening clone, by the way? That´s what I´m really looking for.
Also, any thoughts on dry hopping? Would that be a little ambitious at this stage?

Thanks again
DaveyT

[RichardG]

Look out, there goes another one drifting towards the dark side.

[HighHops]

Was the suggestion for a Summer Lightening clone, by the way? That´s what I´m really looking for.
Also, any thoughts on dry hopping? Would that be a little ambitious at this stage?

Challenger & Golding used on summer lightning - 38 IBU. Not far off the above - Challenger on boil and you can use cascade on aroma instead of golding. it's nice too. Looking for 5%ABV or 1049 OG on Summer lightnin.

Dry hop or post boil 5 or 6 g - why not. Try it - it's matter of taste.

[DaveyT]

Brilliant. I´ll give it a whirl and keep ya posted. Brew day won´t be til next week, though, which is a shame.
I´ll sling a bunch in the dry hop and see what happens.
Thanks for the advice. Like I say, got a few days yet so feel free to add anything that comes to mind.
The dark side does have a strong pull, like...

[DaveyT]

Howdy
I´ve got hold of that Beer Engine thing and have the following plan for Saturday:
3 kg Pale malt Extract in 20l for OG of 1.045
30g Challenger 60 min
30g Cascade 15 min
20g Cascade dry hop
IBU 39 (for a summer lightning clone)
Wondering whether it´s worth an aroma hop as well as a dry hop.
Any thoughts welcome.

Cheers
Davey T

[DaveyT]

Howdy
I´ve got hold of that Beer Engine thing and have the following plan for Saturday:
3 kg Pale malt Extract in 20l for OG of 1.045
30g Challenger 60 min
30g Cascade 15 min
20g Cascade dry hop
IBU 39 (for a summer lightning clone)

Cheers
Davey T

I find this quite interesting so I think an update might interest others. (Apologies if it sounds a bit self-absorbed!)
This went well and smelt amazing after the dry hop. I didn´t touch a drop until it was two months old when it was very peachy, from the cascasde hops, I think.
I then thought the bitterness would kick in. I did, but now (12 weeks on?) it´s turned sour and tastes like a Weissbier. This isn´t a particularly bad thing, it just isn´t the hoppy ale I was looking for.
Perhaps it´ll turn again; everytime I taste it, it´s a different beer. I think I was a bit wreckless with the hops. Enjoying it, though.

Again, apologies if this sounds a bit self-absorbed.
Cheers
DaveyT

[HighHops]

Howdy Davey!

Sorry to hear it's gone sour! Was that bottled or kegged? I've had this before where a low level infection or wild yeast has been unnoticable when the beer is young but after 5-6 months in the bottle it polishes off all the sugar and when I flip the cap it won't stop fizzing out of the bottle. If it's in the keg then it could be oxidation from air in your keg.

I start drinking my beer after a couple of weeks (in the bottle), when the hop flavour is fresh. If you drink a few each week (for quality assurance) you can see how it matures over time.

[DaveyT]

Hey High Hops
It´s bottled. I did some more quality assurance last night and the bottle I had was a little smoother than the last. I´m wondering whether it was just the hefty dry hop that´s given it such a particular flavour. I say this because the bottle last night definitely had the same flavour but didn´t have the sour edge of it´s predecessor. Plus it´s still very potable. Do you manage to drink the soured beers you´ve encountered?
The fizz-factor might change and give further clues. It´s quite lively now but then I did have a breakage after I primed them so perhaps that liveliness is just a result of the priming.
Check it out:


Cheers
DaveyT