SMaSH malt/hop tour

[laughingboysbrew]

Not much luck with this in the SMaSH group, so I'll post here:

I am looking to do a 4x4 matrix of 1gal batches to focus on malt/hop profiles. Here's what I'm thinking:

5 gallon mash (1 malt), lauter into a pot, then divide into 4- 1.25-gallon boils
Single yeast, like WY1056. 1L starter (split 4 ways)
Ferment in 1gal jugs, secondary in a different jug, carb in bottle

Malts:
Pale (2-row)
MO
Vienna
Munich

Hops:
Thinking: Amarillo, Cascade, Chinook and Citra
considerations: Columbus, Simcoe, Centennial?

To keep things simple, I am using BeerSmith to target a mid range IBU 30-45 with 60, 15 and 0min additions. I want to keep additions somewhat consistent across the batches for variable consistency.

Question 1: any issues with the hops I've chosen? or addition times? heard Citra can be sometimes a pain when the only hop.

Question 2: since I would have 16 different fermentations, I am thinking about storing 16 1gal glass jugs and not too keen on that. Thought crossed my mind to use filtered water jugs. Could just recycle after I'm done.

 

[freshhoarse]

As far as the citra goes for your experiment; I don't see any problems at all. It comes down to some people really like Citra while some don't, but that's the whole point right?

 

[Cider123]

Just 2 small points I noticed FWIW:

1. You have the british style malt MO but no british style hops. Maybe that was done on purpose?

2. What about our old friend pilsner malt? Doesn't he get to play? A major base grain I think.

 

[laughingboysbrew]

Just 2 small points I noticed FWIW:

1. You have the british style malt MO but no british style hops. Maybe that was done on purpose?

2. What about our old friend pilsner malt? Doesn't he get to play? A major base grain I think.

LOL, both on purpose. I actually thought about removing the Pale Ale malt, but thought the malt dimension would add to the experiment. Also didn't think British or Noble hops would pair as well with 2-row...etc. Can be convinced otherwise. EKG? Or something else?

Along with the point above, 5x5 would be ideal...but I just don't feel like storing that many bottles of beer (this is for an event). While not required, I would want to lager the pils and my fermenter is currently occupied.