Hops, Hops, and more Hops

[BluesHarp]

Being a fan of hops flavor - New Glarus Hop Hearty, Three Floyd's Alpha King, and Sierra Nevada pale Ale as examples; I have not had much success duplicating this "fresh" hop flavor in my homebrew. Does anyone have any ideas on how to achieve this flavor? I do grow my own hops; how could I best utilize these for this purpose??

[toneyc]

Well, if you like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, here are a couple of simple recipes from my local homebrew shop:

AHS West Coast Pale Ale/SNPA clone:

Half pound Crystal 60L
7 lb Pale extract
1.5 oz Cascade (60min)
3/4 oz Cascade (15min)
3/4 oz Cascade (5 min)
White Labs California or Wyeast American Ale 1056 or Nottingham dry yeast

AHS IPA American I/Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone:

Quarter pound Special B
1 lb Crystal 60L
8 lb Pale extract
1 oz Columbus (60min)
1 oz Cascade (15min)
1 oz Cascade (5 min)
White Labs California V Ale or Wyeast American Ale II 1272 or Nottingham dry yeast

The second recipe is hoppier and I like it more, YMMV.

:) Toney.

[Tweek]

Dry hopping will give you a good fresh hop flavor. You might want to give that a whirl.

[BluesHarp]

Tweek,
When do recommend adding the extra hops, and how much? I generally leave my brew in the primary fermenter until the initial activity dies down, then rack into a secondary fermenter for a week or two, depending on the length of the fermentation, and then keg it.
I assume whole hops would work better than pellets for this?

[S.F.B.]

I have always dry hopped in the secondary. .5 - .75 oz. of hops in a grain sock and then syphon in over the top. Let sit for a couple weeks.

[Tweek]

SFBs method is a favorite. Another way is to put it in to the boil kettle at cool down time. AS far as how much you will just need to experiment to find what is right for you. If you are a fan of Sierra Pale perhaps try a half ounce first(for 5 gallon batch), I would stick with whole hops for dry hopping if at all possible. pellet hops are great for bittering and work for aroma/flavor as well but they are pulverized to turn them into pellets so their glands are crushed, it may just be in my head but for dry hops I think whole tastes better.

[b3s]

one of my favorites. and sierra nevada has a nice web site where they tell you the grains and hops they use, but not the amounts (although they do tell you the beginning and ending gravities).

as you can see from the pale ale page (http://www.sierra-nevada.com/html/beers/paleale.htm) they use perle for bittering and cascade for flavor/aroma. mmmm, i do like cascade...my first brew was centennial for bittering and cascade for aroma and it was quite close to sierra nevada pale (just not bitter enough).

[b3s]

Originally posted by S.F.B.
I have always dry hopped in the secondary. .5 - .75 oz. of hops in a grain sock and then syphon in over the top. Let sit for a couple weeks.

do you really need the sock for whole hops? can't you just put the hops in whole and then siphon over them? can't be any more cleaning than getting the trub off of the bottom!

i'm curious since i'm going to dry hop an ounce of fuggles on my stout. thought that might be interesting.

[S.F.B.]

Originally posted by b3s
do you really need the sock for whole hops? can't you just put the hops in whole and then siphon over them?

I guess you could. I started with using a sock and have never thought about not using it.

[BluesHarp]

Thnaks, everybody, for the advice.
I mentioned Sierra Nevada, but I have been drinking a lot of Alpha King and New Glarus Hop Hearty lately...had NG this weekend...just wasn't the same. I think a good ounce would be in order! I can't get too much hop flavor.
I will try the whole hops, as I had minimal success with pelletized last attempt. When my homegrown hops are ready this fall, I will use some of those. Freshly picked and dried Cascade should be just the ticket!