Hop Schedule

[RPW]

I just got back from my LHBS and realized one of the bags of hops I grabbed must have been in the wrong part of the fridge. How would you use these hops in a pale ale?

1oz Pacific Gem
1oz Azacca
2oz El Dorado

I was considering bittering with the Pacific Gem based on what I've read about it. As far as aroma/flavor hop schedule, I was thinking of doing a hop stand with 1oz of El Dorado, and then dry hopping with the other 1oz El Dorado and 1oz Azacca. This is only my second brew so I'm open to any suggestions.


Regarding the hop stand, I've read you want to do a full 60 minute boil to boil off any DMS or precursors. Since malt extracts have already been boiled, does this apply to them as well?

 

[Conan]

DMS is really a concern with Pilsner malts, though some researchers have shown that on a homebrew scale even a 30 minute boil will remove DMS in detectable amounts in a triangle test. (http://brulosophy.com/exbeeriments/)

It's easier to keep your boil to 60 minutes for all batches, especially starting out brewing, if only because it's the standard amount of time for a boil.

As for the hopping, those are three unique hops. I don't have experience with any of them but it looks like Pacific Gem is similar to CTZ (decent bittering). The other two are both listed as fruity, stone fruit, citrus.
My pale ales typically don't receive a dry hop. Instead they are bittered with ~1 oz. (your Pacific Gem) at 60 minutes, aroma with 1 oz (Azacca?) at 20 minutes, and add the remainder at flameout (2oz. El Dorado). I would use this hop schedule largely because it's simple- an ounce at 60, an ounce at 20, and two ounces at flameout- is easy to weigh out and easy to keep track of. Unless I'm brewing a very aroma-forward IPA I don't bother dry-hopping either. If you're using hops of the same flavor profile it tends to not matter as much how they're used. The beer may not be a home-run, but should certainly be downright good. Someone else will likely have more experience with these hops but if I were in your shoes that's how I'd handle the situation. Kyle

 

[daksin]

Yeah, for consistency sake, I would stick with a 60 minute boil. Besides DMS, a long boil helps with clarity and flavor. You can do it as a dry-hopped version or not. I agree with bittering with the PG, too.

 

[RPW]

I appreciate the advice from both of you. I went with a 60 minute boil, and did end up doing a hop stand. For only my second brew, I feel like everything went pretty damn smooth.

I added the 1oz of Pacific Gem at 20 minutes since the AAUs are so high, and also because I read a hop stand yields about 10% utilization, and Azacca and El Dorado also have high AAUs. 1oz of Azacca and 1oz of El Dorado was used for the 30 minute hop stand, starting temp was 190 and it was down to 178 when time was up.

I'm not great at describing beer, but this smelled absolutely amazing. It had a very fruity aroma to it, berry and stone fruit were the two that came to mind when I smelled it. And if I had to be even more specific, I'd say it's almost a peachy blackberry aroma. The taste is very similar to the smell, but the sweetness of the wort really takes away from the hop flavor for me, so it's hard to get a good taste at this point. If it ends up tasting as good as it smells though, I'll be one happy brewer!