HBC Apollo Mashkit

Leon103 · Sep 3, 2015

Has anyone done the kit before? I don't mean the HBC Exceedingly Good IPA (23 litres) 4.6% (Apollo) kit. I mean the one that also contains Columbus hops.

I ask because I have both Apollo and Columbus already and was thinking of making something similar and was wondering how it tasted.

clibit · Sep 4, 2015

I haven't, but have used both hops. They are both of the heavy dank herbal type, Columbus also has citrus. I reckon it would be good, if you like that kind of hoppiness. Not everyone does. I do.

Leon103 · Sep 4, 2015

Have you tried both together in the same brew?

clibit · Sep 4, 2015

No I haven't sorry. I like sound of it myself, reckon it would be good.

Spapro · Sep 4, 2015

I am brewing this very kit tomorrow (Saturday). Obviously won't be ready for 6-8 weeks to try properly but will certainly post back on how the brew day goes, and then some tasting notes once its reayd to drink.

Leon103 · Sep 4, 2015

Look forward to hearing about it. Just trying to plan a few brews so I can a big order with HBC. It would be good to know how much of each hop they gave you and when to use them.

Spapro · Sep 5, 2015

Leon103 said:
Look forward to hearing about it. Just trying to plan a few brews so I can a big order with HBC. It would be good to know how much of each hop they gave you and when to use them.

Just published details of my brewday:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=514812#post514812

Forgot to measure the hop bags, there are 3 which are marked as 60 minutes, 15 minutes and 0 minutes (flame out). Like most all grain mashkit suppliers, HBC don't publish anywhere how much of each hop is included to protect their recipe which is fair enough by me.

I did measure the 0 minutes hop bag at 25g, and this was the smallest bag by far.

There was a whacking great big 5.9kg of grain in the kit (mainly Maris Otter with a small amount of Crytal). I held 1kg of grain back for another day, was looking for something I can have a few pints of without getting blotto.

Anyway, take a look at my brewday post and happy to answer any questions you have, and will post some tasting notes as things progress from here.

Leon103 · Sep 5, 2015

Thanks spapro will give it a read now

stpete · May 20, 2016

Hi Spapro, quick question please help, I have just got an Apollo kit and on checking my hops the smallest bag is 60 mins and I believe the very high AA hop the rest are bigger bags. Did yours seem right or is mine wong? Thanks

Simonh82 · May 20, 2016

stpete said:
Hi Spapro, quick question please help, I have just got an Apollo kit and on checking my hops the smallest bag is 60 mins and I believe the very high AA hop the rest are bigger bags. Did yours seem right or is mine wong? Thanks

I don't know the specific kit but Apollo are very high alpha hops. The ones I got recently are 20% alpha acids. I think anything more than 20g at the start of the boil and you are going to be in super bitter territory.

I have a recipe for a pale ale which uses 12g of Apollo at the start of the boil and a moderate amount of Cascade and Amarillo at 10 min. This gives 42 IBUs.

Simonh82 · May 20, 2016

stpete said:
Hi Spapro, quick question please help, I have just got an Apollo kit and on checking my hops the smallest bag is 60 mins and I believe the very high AA hop the rest are bigger bags. Did yours seem right or is mine wong? Thanks

I don't know the specific kit but Apollo are very high alpha hops. The ones I got recently are 20% alpha acids. I think anything more than 20g at the start of the boil and you are going to be in super bitter territory.

I have a recipe for a pale ale which uses 12g of Apollo at the start of the boil and a moderate amount of Cascade and Amarillo at 10 min. This gives 42 IBUs.

It seems likely to me that the smallest hop bag is the 60 min addition.

stpete · May 20, 2016

Thats what I thought Simonh28, seems odd that Spapro's had the smallets at flame out and largest at 60 mins?

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/member.php?u=14688

Leon103 · May 20, 2016

Weigh the packs and run them through a brewing software.

Spapro · May 21, 2016

I would use as they are labelled, Shane at hbc knows his stuff. Maybe he now uses very high Aa% hops for the 60 min bittering addition which would explain the small weight.

I would go with it, but you could always weigh the bags and drop Shane an email to check.

Dads_Ale · May 21, 2016

I have done the Apollo mash kit before and used the hops as directed. Turned out great although it does have a distinctive flavour.

Slid · May 21, 2016

Spapro said:
I would use as they are labelled, Shane at hbc knows his stuff. Maybe he now uses very high Aa% hops for the 60 min bittering addition which would explain the small weight.

I would go with it, but you could always weigh the bags and drop Shane an email to check.

Very much in agreement here. Herkules was used in the HBC kit I got with the boiler and cooler Kit. Any high Alpha will do the job of bittering, it is the other, later additions that make the contemporary beers.

Of course, the old English styles like Mild and Brown and Scottish beers use very few hops. I have done a half brew (stove-top) of the Greg Hughes Northern Brown Ale recipe and that was very good.

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