Help Me With My Hop Schedule - Sorachi Ace & Amarillo for an Indian Wheat

[Hoppopotomus]

OK, so I'm brewing another Indian Wheat (wheat IPA or whatever you want to call it), which has become one of my favorites. I started with a Gumballhead clone recipe with all Amarillo hops and have since brewed this style numerous times with multiple different types of hop combinations. I am brewing a 5 gallon partial mash/extract batch this weekend and was able to find 3 oz. of whole leaf Amarillo. I couldn't find Citra, which I love for this style, so my HBS guy said that I should try the Sorachi Ace. He said that it has a lot of lemony notes and is in very limited supply. but would work well for a nice summer, hoppy wheat beer. I bought the last 2 oz. of it to use thinking that it would pair nicely for this style.

I have since read that Sorachi Ace has very strong lemon qualities, but it also produces an almost creamy, buttery element to beer. It has been described by some as a "greasy" quality that it brings to the beer. Some have warned that it is much better to use as a bittering hops as opposed to a flovoring/aromatic hops, which only intensifies the creamy, buttery qualities. It is fairly high in alpha acid content at 10.9% AA and I have 2 oz. My whole leaf Amarillo is 10.3% AA and I have 3 oz.

Does anyone have experience with Sorachi Ace and could you guys help me out with a hop schedule. Since it is a wheat beer and I don't want it to be astronomical in IBUs and since the two styles have very similar AA %'s, I plan on using 1/2 oz. at 60 min, 1/2 oz at 30 min, 1/2 oz. at 10 min, 1 oz. at 5 min., 1 oz. at flame out, then 1 1/2 oz for Dry Hopping. Based on these AA %'s, I'll be around 50 IBU's + or -, which is where I like to be. My biggest questions:

Should I reserve the Sorachi Ace for the longer boil times for bittering?

Would Sorachi be suitable for Dry Hopping with 1/2 oz. along with 1 oz of Amarillo?

Any help with this hop schedule in a wheat beer would be great! Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Brewing this batch this afternoon..... if anyone with experience with Sorachi Ace could please give me some advice on my hop schedule, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Wow....first time I have ever posted a thread for advice and not gotten even one response.

Anyway, here's what I did yesterday. Since the Sorachi Ace comes from Japan and was a hop used by Soporo, I'm callin it Bonzai Wheat:

5 Gallon - Partial Mash with 3 gallon boil.

1 lbs - American Two-Row
1 lbs - Torrified Wheat
.5 lbs - Belgian Caravienne

Steeped in a muslin bag at 155 degrees for 60 min.

6 lbs. - Wheat Dry Malt Extract

Added at onset of boil.

Hop Schedule:

.25 oz. Sorachi Ace Pellets (10.9 AA%) - 60 min.
.25 oz. Amarillo Whole Leaf (10.3 AA%) - 60 min.
.25 oz. Sorachi Ace Pellets (10.9 AA%) - 20 min.
.25 oz. Amarillo Whole Leaf (10.3 AA%) - 20 min.
1 tsp. Irish Moss - 15 min.
.5 oz. Sorachi Ace Pellets (10.9 AA%) - 10 min.
.5 oz. Amarillo Whole Leaf (10.3 AA%) - 10 min.
.5 oz. Amarillo Whole Leaf (10.3 AA%) - 5 min.
.5 oz. Sorachi Ace Pellets (10.9 AA%) - 1 min.

.5 oz Sorachi Ace Pellets (10.9 AA%) - Dry Hop
.5 oz Amarillo Whole Leaf (10.3 AA%) - Dry Hop

OG 1.061
FG 1.015
ABV - 5.9%
IBU's - 49
SRM - 6

I have another 1 oz. of Amarillo that I bought, becasue it was the last of the Amarillo for the season at my HBS. Not sure if dry hopping with with .5 oz. of Sorachi Ace and 1.5 oz. of Amarillo would bee too much or not. What do you guys think? I can always use the oz. of Amarillo in another batch.

Any feedback would be great!

 

[Calder]

Just found this thread. Please post back on your results. I have about 14 ozs of Sorachi Ace, and am wondering what to do with it. I made a Sorachi/Cascade Pale Ale with it once, and it was just too overpowering. Interesting, tasty in small amounts, and I eventually finished it, but I've been wary about using the hop since.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

The batch is bubbling away. I do not like my Indian Wheats to be overly bitter, so I reserve the majority of hop schedule to hop additions later in the boil. Both the Sorachi and the Amarillo were exceptionally high in AA, so I still ended with ~ 50 IBU's. I have a feeling that this batch is going to be an extreme hop bomb. The fermentation is very vigorous and our laundry room smells very strong of hops....the strongest of any batch that I have ever made. I reserved 1/2 oz. of Sorachi and 1/2 oz. of Amarillo for dry hopping, but I'm wondering if I should still dry hop the batch.

This is the first time that I have made an Indian Wheat with all hops this high in AA%. I typically pair a higher AA% hops with a lower one, such as Cascade/Citra & Cascade/Amarillo. The Amarillo that I used for the Gumballhead Clone batch was much lower in AA% (7%) as opposed to this whole leaf Amarillo at 10.3%. I have a feeling that this batch is going to be over the top, but what the hell.....I love hops!

Should I dry hop the batch still? Any advice would be great.

 

[Sarge]

How did your brew turnout? Was it over the top?

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Not over the top at all. I loved the combination of sorachi ace and amarillo. The lemony notes of the sorachi paired with the citrusy notes of the amarillo were perfect. It ended up around 50 IBU's, but was in no way, shape, or form, too bitter like I anticipated. In fact, I had a party at my house about 2 weeks after I kegged it and it was a hit. 5 gallons gone within a few hours

I have another batch of the same recipe dry hopping right now. I'm racking it to a keg tomorrow.....can't wait for it to carb up! :rockin:

 

[davidg410]

I just purchased the ingredients to brew this one. I swapped the amarillo for whole leaf cascade. We'll see how she turns out.

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Good luck and let me know how it turns out. It's about that time of year where I need to get my summer wheat beers going, so I'll likely be brewing some sort of Wheat IPA within the next week or two. Since I created this thread, I have brewed many, many variations of this. I have found that "C" hops go well with the Sorachi Ace. I have made a couple of versions of all Sorachi Ace, which I did not care for as much. I find that when I use all Sorachi Ace, there is an almost astringent quality to the beer that is almost medicinal. Hard to explain, but not my favorite. I find that using cascades, centennials, amarallos, and citras for the bittering works well with the Sorachi Ace for flavoring and aroma. Just my 2 cents!