Having been disappointed with the Topaz Single Hop brew, which appears to be clearing very slowly- the FV has a "use up the old stuff" brew which is tasting really good.
The recipe for the "use up the old stuff" brew started based around 50g of Topaz split with 25g @ 15min and 25g @ flameout with 25g Columbus for bittering.
The Topaz wasn't the best 2013 harvest and not packed with the normal aroma hit when opening a vac pack of fresh hops. I would have gone with columbus for bittering but was swayed into bittering with Toapz which is why I ended up with with the 2013 harvest Topaz in the first place.
I ended up doing
- 25g columbus bittering
- 25g topaz aroma @ 15min
- 25g columbus + 25g topaz whirlpool @ 67degc
- 50g columbus dry-hop for 10 days.
Against every instinct I was against adding hops at 67deg, although I do remember a conversation where I was suggesting that I was happy to put in dry-hops because the hops themselves are probably not the best place for nasties to grow (although I think I was arguing both the hops and the alcohol combined was the reason).
The conclusions are
- fresh hops are best (I'm waiting until the 2015 harvest hits the UK before buying more stock)
- I don't think I'm the biggest fan of Topaz
- dry-hopping with bittering hops is quite good
- the world hasn't ended by whirlpooling @ 67deg
Time will tell if the Topaz Single Hop will become a stunner, but for now it's what I thought a week ago was going to be a waste of ingredients that I'll be drinking over Christmas.
The recipe for the "use up the old stuff" brew started based around 50g of Topaz split with 25g @ 15min and 25g @ flameout with 25g Columbus for bittering.
The Topaz wasn't the best 2013 harvest and not packed with the normal aroma hit when opening a vac pack of fresh hops. I would have gone with columbus for bittering but was swayed into bittering with Toapz which is why I ended up with with the 2013 harvest Topaz in the first place.
I ended up doing
- 25g columbus bittering
- 25g topaz aroma @ 15min
- 25g columbus + 25g topaz whirlpool @ 67degc
- 50g columbus dry-hop for 10 days.
Against every instinct I was against adding hops at 67deg, although I do remember a conversation where I was suggesting that I was happy to put in dry-hops because the hops themselves are probably not the best place for nasties to grow (although I think I was arguing both the hops and the alcohol combined was the reason).
The conclusions are
- fresh hops are best (I'm waiting until the 2015 harvest hits the UK before buying more stock)
- I don't think I'm the biggest fan of Topaz
- dry-hopping with bittering hops is quite good
- the world hasn't ended by whirlpooling @ 67deg
Time will tell if the Topaz Single Hop will become a stunner, but for now it's what I thought a week ago was going to be a waste of ingredients that I'll be drinking over Christmas.
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