Switching out hops for a recipe

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JGowls

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I went to a brewpub a few weeks ago and had their citra brown ale which I found delicious. I tried getting a clone recipe from them but had no luck, I'm thinking of just getting a brown ale kit and using citra hops instead of the palisades/cascade that comes with the kit. The beer at the pub had a nice citrusy-lemon flavor with pronounced hop bitterness that I really dug. Any thoughts about trying this? Its going to be 3 gallons so if it ends up sucking it wont be too much of a financial loss. just looking for any input on switching out the hops or any recommendations on a citra brown ale recipe. Thanks!
 
Shouldn't be a problem as long as you keep in mind the Citra is going to have a much higher AA% than either of the two original hops. If you have a brewing software, should be pretty easy to come up with the taste/aroma you're looking for and and keep the IBU in a reasonable range as well.
 
So I finally got the kit for this recipe and have gotten the citra hops. Using Beersmith it gives the beer a 32 SRM and an IBU of 62. I looked at the specialty beer section for style guidelines and it seems to match what I've read. Can anyone tell me if I should decrease the IBUs at all to let some of the malt flavor come forward...or any other possible suggestions for the beer? Recipe follows:
8 oz Carafa 3
1 lb 4 oz crystal malt 30
5 lb 4 oz US 2 row pale malt
.5 oz citra 60 min
.5 oz citra 10 min
.5 oz citra 5 min
Using a starter of wyeast 1056 american ale yeast
 
I'd cut back on the crystal some to a pound....Also, are you missing some fermentables in there? That's going to make like a 3% abv beverage right there.

Was the beer you tried malty, or a little dryer? Did the hops shine out? If so, I'd up the late hops to maybe an oz each. Does that really give you 62 IBU? Something seems off with your calcs. Typically with that hop bill I'd think a max of about 40 IBU.
 
the aa% was 14 for the citra hops I bought which gave the higher ibu I believe. The beer I tried had a dryer taste to it with the citrus flavors coming on strong, I will probably bumb one of the later additions to a full oz. The recipe is 3 gallons, its the northern brewer cascadian dark ale biab
 
Try and mash say 152ish that should help retain some of the brown ale character, yet also dry it a touch to not cover up the hops so much, and your thinkin is right with more hops at the end of boil. Maybe another oz at flameout. Adding the extra hops I think will give you more of that citra character your after and will age out a bit at about 4-12 weeks so it should change in the bottle a bit.
 
the aa% was 14 for the citra hops I bought which gave the higher ibu I believe. The beer I tried had a dryer taste to it with the citrus flavors coming on strong, I will probably bumb one of the later additions to a full oz. The recipe is 3 gallons, its the northern brewer cascadian dark ale biab

you were looking for a brown ale kit?

this is an dark IPA kit, not a brown ale. the malts are different
 
the directions are to mash at 152 for 75 mins. The kit was a gift from a family member, I could always save the citra hops for a different beer if you dont think they would go well with the dark ipa. I wasn't even thinking about how the malts would be different for the kits...oh well hopefully this brew will turn out to be tasty and I'll try a different recipe later
 
i wasn't saying not to brew it, just pointing out that it might not be what you expected. ie, picking nits.

dark citra ipa? I would brew it! report back with the results
 
So I brewed this yesterday and I can only say that it was a terrible brewday. My plan was to get home from work around 530 and start it then, things got in the way and I ended up not starting until 930 or 10. Instead of using the mash volumes that beersmith gave me, I followed the directions from the kit saying add 5.5 gallons of water to start...terrible idea. I get to strike temp and put in the bag with grains. I checked 20 mins later and the temp was still around 160, I add a few cups of cold water to lower it. I checked about a half hour later, temp was around 150 so I put the kettle over low heat to raise it up. After 75 mins, I collect a sample and let it cool, multiple readings were 1.022 and one preboil reading was 1.043. I guess I mashed with too much water so from now on I'll follow beersmith directions and not kit directions.

I ramp up the heat to start the boil but its staying at a constant 160 and doesnt raise up for a half hour. I turn the burner down and then turn it up again....finally got a good flame and was boiling about 20 mins later. The boil proceeded as normal, throw in the IC and chill it. I take a reading and get a post boil of 1.028. I transfer to my 5 gallon glass carboy...and realize I cant find the rubber bung to put the airlock in. I sanitized a plastic fermentor and transferred it to there added the yeast (including stirbar because I forgot to take it out). The final volume was close to 5 gallons. Its fermenting away in a swamp cooler but I have a feeling this is going to be a very weak beer and will end up getting dumped. Sorry for the long post, I just needed to vent some frustration.
 
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