Chinook / Fuggles / Goldings SMaSH

[Doglaner]

Hello,

Has anyone done a SMaSH with Chinook? I've got enough, and if I just get some pale malt, I'm ready to go. Does Chinook work as a single hop?

Alternatively I have substantial amouns of Fuggles and Goldings. Do either of these work in a SMaSH? For some reason I have a feeling that they are more mellow and used in tandem.....

Maybe I should just have a go! It will be beer, and most likely quite pleasant, eh?

Dog.

 

[Hoppyland]

I see absolutely no reason why Fuggles or Goldings wouldn't work superbly. I'd use them as a late hop, to get flavour, and then as a dry hop, to get aroma.
What I would not do is use either as a bittering hop (assuming you want a bitter finish). If you put a low-alpha hop in at first boil to provide bitterness - well, you're just wasting hops.

Say your Fuggles are 5-6% alpha acid, but packed full of flavour.
You'll need a lot at the start of the boil to give reasonable bitterness - but all of the aroma & most flavour will be boiled off.
If you use, say, Warrior at 17% alpha-acid, then you'll need only 1/3 the quantity for the same bittering effect. You don't need to worry about the loss of flavour or aroma, because that isn't what Warrior provides.
Pop your Fuggles or Goldings in as very late boil hops to get flavour. Dry hop with them to get aroma. OK, not strictly a "one hop" brew, but so what? You won't have wasted top-quality hops in trying to extract bitterness from them - not their real function at all. What you will have done is to get all of the flavour & aroma out of your "noble" hops! :)
Also, I bet you - or anyone else - couldn't tell the difference!
Cheers
Bill

 

[Doglaner]

Cheers, Bill.

From your kind words, I'm thinking the Chinook at 17% AA for bitterness. Then use the Fuggles and Goldings for aroma and also for my first foray into dry hopping.

Might use a little bit of cara malt or chocolate malt for some colour and complexity. I've got both those in stock, too. Looks like the SMaSH has turned into something rather different, already.

Hmmmm....

 

[Brewdoug]

This evening had a bottle of Brewdog's brand new 'Ace of Chinook' single hop ale.
They describe it as grapefruit, pine and spice. I got a piney earthy flavour myself. It was ok but I would have to say not particular to my taste as a single hop, someone else I'm sure might think differently.
I've been wondering myself what a beer strongly hopped with Goldings would be like.

 

[JapanBrew]

Brewdog, what do you think added to that recipe would help? Or add another flavor that would complement it?

 

[monkier]

I've brewed a Chinook SMaSH and its possibly the nicest thing i've brewed to date (i have only done 6 or so brews). I do however really like hop forward beers.

 

[JabeerIni]

AB-SO-LUTELY! Check out my Maris Otter/Chinook SMaSH vid below!
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgMOznAnZRM[/ame]
It tasted GREAT (I made it an IPA but could have lowered the amount of hops and would have tasted good anyways or even double the amounts and would have been a great strong IPA, I really love Chinook hehe!).
Cheers! :

 

[Hoppyland]

Don't think I meant to put you off a single-hop Chinook beer!
If your Chinook hops are around 13% alpha acid then why not use them for bittering as well as flavour & aroma - you'll definitely know that all the hop characteristics are from the Chinook. There are other American hops with good flavour/aroma but also bittering properties - Amarillo at about 10% AA for example - and also new Zealand hops such as Nelson Sauvin or Rakau.
What I personally would not do is to use a lot of low-alpha hops to provide the bittering as well as the aromatics - just seems a waste to me!

 

[Doglaner]

Thanks guys for your input. Hoppyland, particularly - your comments just got me sidetracking into additional malts! I've had a word with myself and am back on track. There are just so many things that are possible. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop. Or an adult in a homebrew shop, even.

What I think I might do is just get 5-6kg of Maris Otter and produce a large volume of Single Malt wort, then split that into two batches for the boil and hop additions. I can then showcase the Chonook, and do another using either the Fuggles or Goldings. I'll have a sniff of each and decide.

I'll end up with two similar but different beers, with the showcase hop used for bittering, flavour and aroma. That would use a lot of the lower AA hop for bittering, compared the the Chinook, however it would keep it 'pure' which is the essence of what I'm trying to do.

I get the point of using the stronger AA hop for bittering, but am choosing to stick with the purity of a SMaSH so that I can learn about the taste profiles of each hop without it being potentially confused. I also take the point about not being able to tell the difference, and agree, however I think that for me, this time this is a philosophical point rather than a practical one, and will only cost me a couple of quid extra.

I should end up with 20 or so bottles of each, which is plenty.

I can also split the two boils over two days. I could then keep the day 2 wort in the fermentation fridge overnight.....

Lots to plan for.

Roll on Saturday night!

 

[JapanBrew]

Doglaner, sounds good. It's always fun experimenting like that.

 

[Doglaner]

Update to this is that I ended up doing a single 23l batch of a Chinook SMaSH. It's been in the bottle now for nearly two weeks, and the samples so far have been rather lovely, if I do say so myself.

Had to juggle brewing / kids bedtime and dinner, so keeping it simple was the order of the day.

Dog.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Stone Arrogant ******* is chinook as a single hop I think, though it has a more complex malt profile. It's a classic though.

 

[JapanBrew]

Ok now I'm a fan of Fuggles. I finally got some here in Japan and tried to do an all Fuggles brew. But when I was doing my hop tea with the bottling sugar, I threw in a few grams of cascade. Tastes brilliant.
Dog, how's your batch tasting?

 

[Doglaner]

It's tasting bloomin' marvellous. Thanks for asking. About to crack the seal on the third of the evening....

 

[mickthetrick]

Stone Arrogant ******* is chinook as a single hop I think, though it has a more complex malt profile. It's a classic though.

top beer it is too.
ive used chinook as a single hop and its great. you wont be dissapointed with it.
the brew along over on jims forum did the wee bee. its a lovely beer.
pale malt, special b and chinook hops. lovely.

 

[BeerCat]

AB-SO-LUTELY! Check out my Maris Otter/Chinook SMaSH vid below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgMOznAnZRM
It tasted GREAT (I made it an IPA but could have lowered the amount of hops and would have tasted good anyways or even double the amounts and would have been a great strong IPA, I really love Chinook hehe!).
Cheers! :

Cheers subscribed. :thumb:

 

[Linalmeemow]

top beer it is too.

I've just put a 20l batch of a clone recipe in the fermentor. I can't wait to see if I'm able to make a reasonable copy of it at home...

 

[Robin54]

Cheers subscribed. :thumb:

Im going to have a go at that, maybe double the quantities and dry hop much later

 

[BeerCat]

I think i am gonna go back to basics and do some SMASH brews. Find out what the hops really do. Good excuse to finally buy an induction pot for the kitchen.

 

[Gomas]

What was your final recipe Doglaner?

Gotta love Chinook. Once you've experimented with the recipe, you can really appreciate the flavour that it imparts. Having played around with a few versions, I found the best additions to be (10ltr batch) 5g @ 60, 7g @ 15 and 7g@ FO. Really smooth, but you could still really taste the Chinook.

Be interested to see what yours was based on if it has come out well.