I just bottled the Breakwater Pale Ale, I have the RyePA in the primary and will most likely be brewing the Kiwi Express this weekend. I have to order a few things and usually try to buy a kit or two at a time to save on shipping. I think I am going to try the Kolsch for a change of pace but for the second one I am trying to find a good example of a kit that showcases just one type of hop (or at least predominately does). I am still relatively new to this and I am trying to get more familiar with which hops do what for the flavor/aroma.
As far as suggestions, I can throw out the following, depending on what you like. Keep the grain bill simple, but based on which one you choose and/or your flavor preferences there are some minor tweaks you can make to the grains to make them suitable for each hop:
-Saaz - one of my favorites, imparts clean bitterness, and a floral, slightly grassy, slightly spicy, but overall clean and mild flavor and aroma. You can basically use these in an all 2-row brew (though it won’t have much malt character)
-Fuggle - people get everything from earth to floral to fruit, which links up well with some biscuity English malts, such as Maris Otter, or British Pale Ale malt. Love these too.
Centennial, Amarillo (especially), Cascade - More of what Americans think of as ‘hoppy’. Citrus, pine, floral, very intense aroma and heavier bitterness. I have a friend that makes a great SMaSH brew with Centennial hops and Vienna malt.
Not sure if that answers your question, but you can troll the webs for single-hop recipes and brew them to find out! Mikkeller also does a single-hop IPA series if you can get his brews in your area.
I’d suggest reading up on hops, find ones you think you might like, and then brew the breakwater again with only one type of hops. Do this with a few different varieties and taste the difference.
[quote=“GarretD”]Dead Ringer kit is all centennial hops.[/quote]I really like the all Centennial IPA, this year I was limited to only a pound of them from Hopsdirect.com so I used Columbus for bittering and finished with Centennial, it worked out great.[quote=“Barishi”]I am trying to get more familiar with which hops do what for the flavor/aroma.[/quote]You can also bitter with a neutral hop like Magnum then use the single hop you want to try for flavor and aroma.
Brewing the Chinook IPA next weekend. And was thinking of using the same recipe but just change out the hops for a brew this fall. Extract version. But that would be the same as the others are saying as using a simple grain bill…wouldn’t it?
