I've been trying to find a good recipe for a fresh hop ale. I'm going to be getting my hands on some cascade soon and they want to know how much I want. Ideally I was thinking about a SMASH recipe. Does anyone have a good one?
Mon, Aug 10, 2015 - 7:07pm
#1
Fresh Hop Recipes (Cascade)
A few tips:
Keep the grain bill simple, let the hops shine. Something along the lines of 95/5 2-row to crystal 40 is a good start.
Get a whole pound if you can, at least. Figure out how much will get you to about 50 IBUs with a 60 min addition and a 30 min addition. Keep in mind the 60 minute addition will contribute little to no flavor and a lot of bitterness, while a 30 min addition will add a bit more flavor and less bitterness. Use something like beersmith to do the math for you. Make sure you input that you are using fresh whole cones. Another good technique to try is first wort hopping, where you toss the hops in the kettle as you're draining your mash into it, without getting all sciencey it is supposed to help smooth out and round out the bitterness.
Expect very high losses. The whole cones soak up a lot of wort. A LOT.
Add a whole lot of hops in the last few minutes and/or flameout. a whole lot. Like almost all of what's left of the pound. Doing this will give you great aroma and flavor, the wort is hot enough to extract the oils from the hops but it won't be hot enough for long enough to really vaporize them, so you retain all that good flavor and aroma without the extreme bitterness.
save some for dry hopping, like maybe 5 oz. or so...dont dry hop for longer than 5 days.
Are you talking fresh-picked wet hops or dried? That makes a huge difference in the amount you need.