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The beer ended up being ok after a bit of time in the bottle (2 weeks). I brewed really close to the event date to try to get max hop character. The beer would have benefited from an additional week or two in the bottle, however, hop character be damned. It was harshly bitter (like biting into...

I've occasionally gotten "catty" from citra, usually when I mix with simcoe. I really think it comes down to the crop and when it was harvested. I usually get lychee, passion fruit, mango, and pineapple from citra, with citrus playing a back seat. It's one of my favorite hops, and I use it a...

Mandarina B. is not as potent as big AA American hops, and while I haven't used Denali, I've heard it's particularly potent: try 50% MB, 25% Amarillo, 25 Denali%. Mmm. Time to write a new recipe... :D

Just bottled today after roughly three weeks in primary. Pitched both Windsor and Notty on brewday. Got 92% attenuation (1064 down to 1005), way higher than I was expecting unfortunately. Would have mashed higher (154 instead of 150) had I know this yeast was such a beast. All I get is...

Thanks! Do you happen to know if peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide somehow help introduce oxygen into the mix (not a chemist, but "oxi"-anything for me indicates "oxygen")? If so, is Starsan a better alternative? Bottling my first comp beer tomorrow, having last minute jitters. I have some...

I use oxisan as a sanitizer (widely available here in Montreal); my bottle caps, bottles, bottling bucket, want, autosiphon, tubing, etc are all wet with sanitizer when I bottle. This is an oxygen cleaner, right? Am I oxidizing my beer? Should I switch to Starsan?

I wouldn't worry about any vegetal taste; I think that's a myth started by Gordon Strong ;) . What size is your batch? 7 gallons? I agree you need a more neutral yeast for a west coast IPA... US05 or Nottingham fermented cool in a pinch. WLP090 is great stuff.

+1 for Brewer's Friend. Trial version is free! It's super helpful, esp. for weird sized batches.

Awesome info and advice, stz; thanks! I'll pitch both and post results. I'll be brewing this batch early October.

I'm entering a mystery box showdown in my homebrew club. We can only use what's in the box. I'm going for a fruity IPA, since the hops they gave us are mostly nice big American stinky varieties. Normally I use something like Vermont Ale/Conan to bring out the hop juice in my IPAs, but I'm...

I would say depends on your simcoe; smell it first. It can be more piney/dank or more tropical/fruity depending on the season and when it was harvested (late/early). In general through I think with 2:1 amarillo in the dry hop, it will be plenty dank. With 1:1 the simcoe might eclipse the...

Hop stand = chill your wort to 80 Celsius, add hops and stir or whirlpool with pump, let it sit at that temp for 20-30 minutes. You get some really nice steeping aromatics/flavors from fragile hop oils that burn off above that temperature. Yummy! Shorter dry hop also is more pungent (3-4 days)...

My homebrew gets me hungover if I have one too many, but I generally don't drink during the week. Maybe now that you have beer on tap, your alcohol tolerance has increased. Also, I think drinking lots of the same beer is kinder to the body than say starting with wine and ending with whiskey, or...

In my current IPA I have 6 oz in the whirlpool and 6 oz in the dryhop. Mostly Amarillo and Simcoe, with some Columbus and Centennial in the background. It's nice n stinky. What varieties are you using? FWIW, I think gypsum helps accentuate hop bitterness, but not hop aroma/flavour. NEIPAs go the...

I think the hop pellet particles cause the burn. A non-floccing yeast + oats + no finings + a pound of hops = burning hop dust in suspension (chew a raw hop pellet! you'll see), which subsides with time...

I'm drinking a starter right now :) My starter is usually a mix of 2L of DME and 10-20% of my next beer (I have an odd yeast recuperation regimen, like the OP), which are usually super flavourful brews like stouts and IPAs. Therefore, there's some hop bitterness and flavour and a bit of a malt...

I've had success with WLP095 Burlington Ale; attenuation has been 80% consistently, both with and without sugar in the boil. I mash low as well (149-151). Nice n fruity, great hop punch. I've read that the "smoothie" texture has a lot to do with water, not just yeast (or even oats, it turns out).

Brewing a "hoppy stout" in a week and need to get my starter going. I have WLP002 (English Ale), WLP005 (British Ale) and WLP095 (Burlington Ale) in the fridge (as well as some safale US-05, but that's my "emergency" yeast in case something goes wrong). I'm doing a side by side split boil: all...

Probably a stupid question: what is the advantage to cold crashing with this style (as opposed to skipping the cold crash)?

Thanks for the input! Northern Brewer, Columbus and Centennial sounds like a great combo for a stout. I think that's what I'll go with. I'll try to show restraint (compared to my pound o' hops IPA batches)!