Pale ale with Tradition hops ?

[jfr1111]

The title says it all. I'm looking into getting back into homebrewing in the very near future after an almost two year hiatus and I have some ingredients left, namely a boatload of vaccum sealed Tradition hops wich have been kept and the freezer. Yeast I have evidently thrown away a long ago. I have some MO left, but I'm iffy about using it. It must have gotten stale.

The tradition hops I have almost 2 pounds of (and almost nothing else, maybe two ounces of cascade). Don't ask me why, since I have never brewed with it ! I think I was planning on making a bunch of lagers and altbiers when I stopped brewing, but since I have lost my freezer to actual food, I can't brew those anymore. The hops have been chilling in the kitchen freezer the whole time.

I was thinking of making a simple pale ale:
95% 2-row
5% crystal 40
1.052 OG
35 IBU
Finishing with an ounce of cascade and tradition each at 1 minute.

The batch is just to get back into the game and have something drinkable, and maybe have the basis for a new house ale. Good plan or will the cascade overpower the tradition ?

 

[HerbieHowells]

This may be completely unhelpful, as I don't have a specific answer to your question beyond "there's only one way to find out." But if you want to make a "tradition pale ale" and are worried about the tradition being overpowered, why not just leave the cascade out altogether? Is there something specific that you want out of the Cascade, or are you just reluctant to throw away an ounce of hops? (I get it if this is the case- I have an ounce of year and a half old never opened Motuekas in my freezer that are going into a gallon batch because I can't bring myself to throw them away, even if they did only cost me $3.)

 

[jfr1111]

It's a little bit of both: I like Cascade in an APA (it's almost a requirement) and I want to use it, but I'm curious about how the tradition hops might play with it.

 

[giraffe]

It will taste fine. Tradition is a noblish hop, and tastes sort of like a muted mittlefrau. It will give a background generic hop aroma, herbal and grassy. The cascade will probably be more noticeable. You could up the tradition to 2 oz and 1 oz of cascade. Its not like you have a shortage. And they are old.