I’ve changed my mind on this so many times that I’ve paralyzed myself into not being able to make a decision. I’m planning a DIPA with Galaxy hops this weekend, and could use some feedback or suggestions for the malt bill and hopping schedule. While I like highly hopped west-coast IIPAs, I prefer more balance. 2-hearted in cans is absolutely phenomenal.
Here’s what I’m planning at the moment…
3-gallon batch
Water corrected to pH 5.4, sulfate around 300 ppm
7# 2-row
1# Vienna
6.4 oz Crystal 20
4 oz wheat malt (just to use it up)
8oz Demerera sugar
Hopshot to 100 IBUs
.5 oz Galaxy 10 min
.5 oz Galaxy 5 min
.5 oz Galaxy 1 min
1 oz Galaxy, steep 20 min
Vermont Ale Yeast
1.5 oz Galaxy dry hop
I’m looking for around 1.08 OG, ~150 IBUs (probably 70-80 in reality)
Good/Bad idea? Any suggestions for what would work better?
looks good, but I would double your hop additions. - I use 4-6oz for 5 min, whirlpool and dryhop additions for 12gal of IIPA and that tends to give me the right intensity.
I like Galaxy a lot - I think you’re going to be very happy with what you have there.
looks like a solid beer to me, but I would agree, for that high gravity, definitely double at least the whirlpool and dryhop additions. I would use the hopshot. We’ve really liked the results when we’ve used it.
Conan/VT ale should help give you the balance you are looking for, and I am a fellow fan of 2-hearted so I think our palettes/preferences for hop expression are probably in line.
Its a great yeast for flavor and body, but Kimmich at Alchemist alludes to this ‘particular way to use it’ to get the right balance of esters out of it. I can’t tell if that means:
-pitch low 60’s and keep it low
-pitch low and raise (this is what we have done with all of our conan beers)
-pitch high (high 60’s) and hold
and haven’t had the time to experiment with it. We do have a pretty big slug of it leftover and may be using it this weekend in either a stout or maybe an english beer.
There aren’t a lot of hops that I would use as the ONLY hop in a beer, but Galaxy is one of them, along with Centennial and likely Mosaic. :cheers:
[quote=“porkchop”]Thanks, will do! I’ve never used galaxy before, so I’m not sure what to expect.
Also, I’m not set on using the hopshot for bittering. Also have summit, simcoe, mosaic, centennial, and some other random hops.[/quote]
ive not yet used the hopshot but am going to experiment with extract soon. I’ve read a lot of good things about it - and especially with the small batch you are doing, wort loss needs to be minimized -i’d proceed as you were.
hopshtos are a milder bitterness IMO. They are great to use but much milder than the specs state.
I like to add them in but I like just a little bit more bite in my bitterness so I combine with my faovrite hop.
If you dont like the bite some hops give you will be fine with just the hop shot, but the one shot which is suoposed to be like 40 ibu is a soft 40 ibu
[quote=“grainbelt”]hopshtos are a milder bitterness IMO. They are great to use but much milder than the specs state.
I like to add them in but I like just a little bit more bite in my bitterness so I combine with my faovrite hop.
If you dont like the bite some hops give you will be fine with just the hop shot, but the one shot which is suoposed to be like 40 ibu is a soft 40 ibu
You need more hops at all your end additions.[/quote]
It might depend on the source of the hops - do we know what variety the hopshot is? a YVH says their extract is from apollo and the qualitative feedback i read from brewers that used it said as expected. maybe hopshot is magnum or something like that.
anyhow - excellent point, especially since the OP is using what NB carries.
+whatever to upping your late additions. I made a 3 gallon Galaxy IPA and used about an ounce at each of those same times. I’d consider a FWH as well. I did that in my IPA and got really good flavor.
[quote=“blatz”][quote=“grainbelt”]hopshtos are a milder bitterness IMO. They are great to use but much milder than the specs state.
I like to add them in but I like just a little bit more bite in my bitterness so I combine with my faovrite hop.
If you dont like the bite some hops give you will be fine with just the hop shot, but the one shot which is suoposed to be like 40 ibu is a soft 40 ibu
You need more hops at all your end additions.[/quote]
It might depend on the source of the hops - do we know what variety the hopshot is? a YVH says their extract is from apollo and the qualitative feedback i read from brewers that used it said as expected. maybe hopshot is magnum or something like that.
anyhow - excellent point, especially since the OP is using what NB carries.[/quote]
I only have used NB’s and they have had 2 different choices when I have gotten them both were different hop varieties I cant remember exaclty which ones they were but both still on the lower end of bitterness. I started using about 1.5-2 times they amount they suggested
also from their website…“Test batches indicate that this bitterness may be slightly less agressive on the palate than your average hop addition. Click here for help with HopShot IBU calculations: HopShot”
[quote=“grainbelt”][quote=“blatz”][quote=“grainbelt”]hopshtos are a milder bitterness IMO. They are great to use but much milder than the specs state.
I like to add them in but I like just a little bit more bite in my bitterness so I combine with my faovrite hop.
If you dont like the bite some hops give you will be fine with just the hop shot, but the one shot which is suoposed to be like 40 ibu is a soft 40 ibu
You need more hops at all your end additions.[/quote]
It might depend on the source of the hops - do we know what variety the hopshot is? a YVH says their extract is from apollo and the qualitative feedback i read from brewers that used it said as expected. maybe hopshot is magnum or something like that.
anyhow - excellent point, especially since the OP is using what NB carries.[/quote]
I only have used NB’s and they have had 2 different choices when I have gotten them both were different hop varieties I cant remember exaclty which ones they were but both still on the lower end of bitterness. I started using about 1.5-2 times they amount they suggested
I havent been to NB in a while but the hopshot was listed on what hop it was in the store…they do not list it online
also from their website…“Test batches indicate that this bitterness may be slightly less agressive on the palate than your average hop addition. Click here for help with HopShot IBU calculations: HopShot”[/quote]
It really depends what you are looking for. I find that the ‘new’ east coast IPAs / Vermont IPAs (Heady, Hill, SoS, Substance) have less bitterness than the best examples of West Coast (Racer, Pliny, Maharaja, etc.), but I heavily prefer Vermont’s flavor profile - slightly less dry, more dextrinous, heavy sulfate, impossibly pale, but frigging juicy hop flavor and aroma, complimented by the right yeast esters. I find the excessive bitterness to get in the way of this flavor profile, but again, that’s my preference. Hopshot has worked out great for me having that preference.
[quote=“Pietro”]looks like a solid beer to me, but I would agree, for that high gravity, definitely double at least the whirlpool and dryhop additions. I would use the hopshot. We’ve really liked the results when we’ve used it.
Conan/VT ale should help give you the balance you are looking for, and I am a fellow fan of 2-hearted so I think our palettes/preferences for hop expression are probably in line.
Its a great yeast for flavor and body, but Kimmich at Alchemist alludes to this ‘particular way to use it’ to get the right balance of esters out of it. I can’t tell if that means:
-pitch low 60’s and keep it low
-pitch low and raise (this is what we have done with all of our conan beers)
-pitch high (high 60’s) and hold
and haven’t had the time to experiment with it. We do have a pretty big slug of it leftover and may be using it this weekend in either a stout or maybe an english beer.
There aren’t a lot of hops that I would use as the ONLY hop in a beer, but Galaxy is one of them, along with Centennial and likely Mosaic. :cheers: [/quote]
I’ve been doing a lot of single-hop beers lately (Citra, Mosaic, Centennial), but haven’t been entirely happy with the result. Obviously I’m not adding enough hops though! I have 8 oz to use up, so I’ll think about the hop schedule and post something else. Might as well get 'em all in there.
Have you tried fermenting cool and keeping it cool? This is probably what I’m going to try.
Have you tried fermenting cool and keeping it cool? This is probably what I’m going to try.[/quote]
No I have not tried holding the temp at the pitch temp for the whole ferment. I have always raised it after a few days to try to coax more esters out of it, as that’s what really makes Heady so good IMO. But who knows with that yeast, maybe that will get more esters out of it!
If you do go with that schedule, please post the results, specifically, whether the yeast produced a lot of esters and attenuation! :cheers:
0.5 oz 10 min
1 oz 5 min
1 oz 1 min
2.5 oz, steep 20 minutes
3 oz dry hop
What do you think? Too much?
I’ll definitely post back the results. I’m planning on a little bit of an underpitch and plenty of O2, so hopefully that will generate some esters at cooler temperatures.
0.5 oz 10 min
1 oz 5 min
1 oz 1 min
2.5 oz, steep 20 minutes
3 oz dry hop
What do you think? Too much?
I’ll definitely post back the results. I’m planning on a little bit of an underpitch and plenty of O2, so hopefully that will generate some esters at cooler temperatures.[/quote]
