Good recipe for using Chinook hops?

[mjl3434]

Okay brewers, here's the deal. I've got a ton of freshly picked Chinook hops, as well as some frozen hops from last year. I'm looking for a good recipe to use them in. It would be cool to do some dry hopping in the secondary as well. I have pretty much exclusively been brewing Belgian Tripel since that's my favorite, but I figure some kind of IPA would be in order here. Who know's though. That's why I'm consulting the experts! (I have not measured the AA% but it looks like online guidelines say Chinook hops are 12-14% AA).

What's a good recipe that can use Chinook hops?

 

[Foosier]

Arrogant Bastard clone. This is for a 6 gallon batch.

14 lbs 4.8 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs 9.7 oz Special B Malt (150.0 SRM)

24.00 gm Chinook [13.00 %] (85 min)
24.00 gm Chinook [13.00 %] (45 min)
24.00 gm Chinook [13.00 %] (30 min)
24.00 gm Chinook [13.00 %] (15 min)

Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007)

Mash at 148

 

[thehaze]

I like Chinook hops a lot. They are piney, resiny, grapefruit juice and grapefruit rind, but they do make a great IPA, Pale Ale, ESB and also an American Strong Ale as suggested above.

Something like either 100% base malt or a combination of base malt and some 5-10% Crystal with lots of late additions, a b.g a.s whirlpool and dry hop. For the yeast, anything clean or even an English strain like 007 or WY 1318, Conan, etc.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I like dry hopping with Chinook, but it doesn’t give me that in your face aroma like other dry hops. Also, I am not a fan of how Chinook comes off as a bittering hop. So if I was to use it in an IPA, I would use a big flameout/whirlpool addition.

 

[thehaze]

I agree with AZCoolerBrewer: Chinook works well with late additions/whirlpool and dry hopping. It may not be Galaxy, but it does push a lot of aroma and flavour into the beer.

Brew on!

 

[specharka]

I just made an American Black Ale with 30% Columbus, 25% Chinook, 25% Cascade and 20% Centennial that turned out amazing. I think you could push the Chinook even higher—it lends this dank, resinous flavor and aroma that blends extremely well with dry, roasty flavors.

If your palate is accustomed to something simpler, a dry pale ale using 95% pale malt and 5% C40 would work. Just save a couple ounces for flameout/hopstand additions, use a West Coast ale strain, and maybe use a complementary hop to keep things interesting (Columbus, Amarillo & Centennial are good choices). Depending on how hoppy you like it, Chinook is awesome dry hopped.

I would be happy to share my Black Ale recipe, if you’re interested.

 

[tennesseean_87]

I like it in hoppy stout. I'm going to do a SN Stout clone and use it instead of cascade at 15min.

 

[Dog House Brew]

The best Chinook beer of all time is Celebration Ale. 2 row with some crystal 55 and Chico yeast. The actual recipe is out there. I’ve made it a bunch with my HG Chinooks. I’m picking them tonight actually. Chinook and Columbus tonight. Cascades not quite finished.

 

[Steveruch]

I'm thinking an American brown ale, combined with some simcoe

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Okay brewers, here's the deal. I've got a ton of freshly picked Chinook hops

Whatever you do, use them quickly, like the same day. Fresh hops deteriorate really, really quickly - I know some commercial brewers who reckon that after 12 hours they are only good for compost, ideally they use them within 4 hours of picking.

Allow 7x the amount of green hops compared to dried hops, to compensate for the weight of water in the fresh cones. The USP is in the volatile aroma compounds that are normally lost in hop drying, so if you have limited amounts use them in the fermenter or whirlpool. If you have more, then you can use them late in the boil, but it's a bit of a lottery using them for bittering as you don't know the alpha. And frankly there's no advantage over commercial dried hops if you're using them for bittering.