German Hull Melon Hops Witbeer

[slymaster]

I got my hands on this very cool German hop variety and wanted to make a summer beer that would let it shine. Hull Melon smells a bit like Citra, but with melon notes instead of citrusy/tropical.

It’s the first recipe I designed, inspired by others Witbeers I have read about, so comments are more than welcome. I used an English Pearl malt (very low color), Munich 10 L, Wheat and English Dry Yeast to create a classic Witbeer with an original flavour and a clean English signature.

Size = 6 U.S. Gallons
OG = 1.051
FG = 1.011 (estimated)
ABV = 5.2% (estimated)
IBU = 22

7 lbs Pearl Malt (2 Row) UK
3 lbs White Wheat Malt
12.0 oz Munich Malt 10L
6.0 oz Flaked Wheat

0.75 oz Magnum (9.80 %) @ 60 min
0.20 oz Citra (16.10 %) @ 5 min
1.00 oz Hull Melon (6.30 %) @ 0 min

1.00 oz Hull Melon (6.30 %) Dry Hop for 7 days

Dry English Ale Yeast (White Labs WLP007)


I brewed it yesterday as one of my very first all-grain beers. I hit the OG perfectly and produced a tasty wort. I whirlpooled for 15 minutes after flameout and think I should have done it longer, as the Hull Melon flavour was not very present. I wonder if I should dry hop it with 2 oz instead of 1. Any thoughts?

 

[Oginme]

I just finished bottling an American Wheat with Huell Melon hops. It has a very bright, aromatic sweet melon aroma, reminiscent of cantaloupe. It's going to be hard to wait to try a bottle!

I dry hopped with 10 grams into 10 liters in the carboy, gave it 10 days in secondary and thought the aroma was plenty strong.

 

[slymaster]

10 grams for 10 liters is pretty equivalent to the 1 oz for 6 US Gallons I'm planning to dry hop, so if you say that's plenty I'll stick with that. 10 days of dry hopping didn't bring any unpleasant grassy aroma?


Envoyé de mon iPhone à l'aide de Home Brew

 

[Oginme]

The real test will be to see how much of the aroma lasts through the conditioning.

 

[slymaster]

What was the grain bill on your beer?


Envoyé de mon iPhone à l'aide de Home Brew

 

[Oginme]

10 liter batch:

0.90 kg Rahr 2-row 44.6%
0.90 kg Wheat malt 44.6%
0.22 kg Crystal 15L 10.9%

6 g Galaxy @ 60 min
10 g HBC 342 @ 15 min
10 g Huell Melon @ 5 min
10 g Huell Melon dry hop @ 4 days

Yeast was American Wheat Ale WY1010

Mash Temp 152 for 60 min
90 min boil
SG 1.052 (I hit 1.054)
FG 1.011 (I hit 1.012)
Bitterness 34 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 5 SRM

 

[Texconsinite]

Several questions:
what are HBC 342 hops?
How did you decide what bittering hops to use in pairing with the unusal flavors of these new hops?

 

[Oginme]

Several questions:
what are HBC 342 hops?
How did you decide what bittering hops to use in pairing with the unusal flavors of these new hops?

HBC 342 is an experimental hop I sourced from MoreBeer. It has a tropical fruit/mild citrus aroma and flavor from my past experience with it.

Generally, I try to match all the hops to give a similar or complimentary aroma/taste profile. In this case, I chose Galaxy as a smooth citrus (grapefruit) contributor, but higher AA% (14.5%) so that I could get a good base-line IBU value and a finishing citrus bite.

HBC 342 in my experience gives the flavors/aroma described above. At 15 minutes, it should give the flavors without a strong aroma contribution.

The Huell Melon polished off the flavors to tilt it more to a melon flavor and aroma contribution, with the bulk of the aroma coming from the dry hop.

I've had success setting up my hops using this type of combination: high alpha with baseline flavors for 60 minute bittering, and an aroma hop with the initial flavor impressions that I want to impart.

I will also add complimentary hops integrating both types of flavors, but with milder contributions to help with the blending of the flavors from initial aroma perceived to the last bitter impressions.

What I end up with are smooth bitter flavors which build from the initial taste to the ending swallow. I've had friends who don't care much for most IPAs enjoy my brews very much because, although it is high bittering, it does not slam your taste buds, but develops smoothly.

 

[Oginme]

Taste report on the recipe listed above, after carbonating for a couple of weeks and spending a few days in the refrigerator to equilibrate: Nose is much less than at bottling, aroma is mildly sweet melon, more like a honeydew melon than muskmelon, with slight citrus notes. The flavor was very nice, being a pretty light beer, with an initial malty sweetness adding to the melon/light citrus flavor. It finished pretty nicely with a strong citrus hop flavor, not puckeringly bitter, but fairly strong bitter citrus -- not quite grapefruit tartness. My wife said it reminded her of an under ripened strawberry finish.

 

[bmorosco]

Just brewed a batch of Watermelon ale with these hops I am hoping the Melon comes through a bit in conjunction with the watermelon I am hoping for a GREAT beer..

 

[Lalo]

Just brewed a batch of Watermelon ale with these hops I am hoping the Melon comes through a bit in conjunction with the watermelon I am hoping for a GREAT beer..

Hi, are you in Utica, NY? I lived in Ithaca for many years! I miss upstate NY--and the beer--so many good breweries there.
Sorry, I know this is an old thread but was wondering about your Watermelon Ale with Huell Melon hops, do you remember how it turned out? I am brewing a watermelon beer soon inspired by 21st Amendment watermelon wheat. They list Magnum for bittering but I have some Huell Melon hops and was thinking about adding some at flameout/whirlpool. However I have never used Huell Melon and I'm trying to figure out if it might work in a watermelon wheat. Any advice or suggestions are very welcome! Cheers,