So Id thought Id check this in here. This is my second go-round with Cosmic Punch yeast. My first was dry hopped with Citra, Nectaron, Moutere, and a touch of galaxy (Columbus and Cascade only on the hot side) and it was great. So given that these hops can elevate a beer regardless of the yeast, I wanted to see if Cosmic Punch could elevate a hop combo that probably most of us have used before. The "old school" Simcoe Amarillo combo! After looking at MANY charts and data, it seems that Simcoe is high in bound thiols just like cascade - which Cosmic punch was made for. I also had some Amarillo and Amarillo LUPOMAX on hand so thought that this recipe might take Simcoe/Amarillo combo and turn it up like its on steroids. I did use mash hops with this (3oz cascade, 1oz Simcoe) and the rest of the way was Simcoe/amarillo only:
Boil: 0.5oz Simcoe @ 15min, 0.5oz Simcoe @10min, 0.25oz Simcoe & 0.5oz Amarillo at 5minutes.
Whirlpool @155degrees: 1oz Simcoe, 1.5oz Amarillo for 45 minutes, then a second addition of 1oz Simcoe and 1oz Amarillo LUPOMAX for 30 minutes.
DH: post fermentation and after soft crash to 50 for 36hrs then bouncing it back up to 53-54 degrees: 1st addition - 2.5oz each of Simcoe and Amarillo, 2nd addition (24hrs after first) of 2oz Simcoe and 2.5oz Amarillo LUPOMAX.
This beer is pretty banging! Amarillo brings a nice floral/herbal orange vibe and Simcoe is super fruity yet still beings a nice depth of earthy&slight resin type character. Ive brewed with Simcoe Amarillo two other times about a year ago and this is head and shoulders better although the previous ones were still solid. This is super bright with bursting flavor and aroma. It was kegged 14 days ago. While I LOVE what the NZ hops brought to my previous cosmic punch NEIPA, this one is VERY close. In fact - a couple fellow HBer friends prefer this Simcoe Amarillo simply because they don't love the NZ edginess that I love. pretty pumped with this beer.
ON another note - a week or two ago I posted a question about carb levels on NEIPAs because I typically went with 2.4vols and was finding that the finished beer had lost a little of its body compared to force carbed sample from keg day. So this beer I carbed lower to 2.0vols and the mouthfeel is just like on keg day and FRESH tasting. The foamy head is a little less, but the beer is quite "luscious".Thanks
@tbaldwin000 for your input on that! So I think I might go a tad higher to ~2.1-2.2 vols to find the perfect balance, for me, with maintaining the mouthfeel I want with the foam. Tweaking my way there!
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