Recipe using Aurora hops

[Britannia]

Just come back from my local brewery to collect some grains. I always ask what hops they have in, and this time one of them was Aurora, so I bought 100g.
However, I can't seem to find any recipes with them in. The GH bible says they are Lime, Floral and Pine, so I was thinking of trying a BrewDog type summer ale with the following 11 litre recipe.

All boiling, sparging and cooling wil be done in stock pots on my gas hob or in the sink.

2.2kg Pale Malt
50g Crystal Malt
Mash at 66°C for 60 mins

Sparge water at 80°C for 20 mins

Boil for 60 mins with:
4g Admiral at start
12g of Dried Elderflowers and half a Protofloc at 15 mins
10g Aurora at 10 mins
25g Aurora at end

I'm hoping this will give me an almost lager-and-lime light summer feeling ale.

Please feel free to shoot it down in flames and/or suggest improvements.

 

[Sadfield]

Will be interested to hear how this turns out. Will have some delivered today, that I ordered based on the them being described as Citrus, Floral, Bergamot, Anise, Lemongrass. Which I thought would make a nice Saison. I think they are generally concidered like supercharged noble hops so should give you that lager and lime vibe.

 

[Clint]

Sound great for a SAISON!

 

[obscure]

I ordered some as well a couple of weeks ago, and planning to use in a Saison, thinking will use these for the first addition then use a mixture of these and Saaz for the last five minutes.

Edit Meant to add which yeast are you planning on using.

 

[Sadfield]

I ordered some as well a couple of weeks ago, and planning to use in a Saison, thinking will use these for the first addition then use a mixture of these and Saaz for the last five minutes.

Edit Meant to add which yeast are you planning on using.

Nice. I use Safale BE-134, I've used others both wet and dry, this one just hits the spot for my taste.

 

[Britannia]

My yeast of choice is usually Safale US05, has always fermented out well and gives a crisp finish, which is what I think I'm after, but I am open to suggestions for other dried yeast to try, in stock Safale 33, Safale US04, Nottingham and Mangrove Jacks Empire.

 

[trueblue]

My yeast of choice is usually Safale US05, has always fermented out well and gives a crisp finish, which is what I think I'm after, but I am open to suggestions for other dried yeast to try, in stock Safale 33, Safale US04, Nottingham and Mangrove Jacks Empire.

If you are getting supply's from a brewery you should ask them about the yeast they are using. A good live brewers yeast is as good as it gets.

 

[obscure]

My yeast of choice is usually Safale US05, has always fermented out well and gives a crisp finish, which is what I think I'm after, but I am open to suggestions for other dried yeast to try, in stock Safale 33, Safale US04, Nottingham and Mangrove Jacks Empire.

Personally I mostly use US05 as well when I want a fairly neutral yeast also while not a neutral yeast per say I am also a fan of Mangrove Jack Liberty Bell in pale ales.

As for my upcoming batch I am using Lallemand Belle Saison (first time using this one)

 

[Brew_DD2]

I use Aurora a lot as my bittering hop in lagers.

 

[Tommo 2]

Sound great for a SAISON!

Even meaning to ask you Clint, could you give me the recipe for your saison , would like to have a crack at it for the early summer

 

[Britannia]

Aurora and Elderflower Saison

Ok, so I made it six weeks ago with the following:

2.4kg Pale Malt
50g Crystal Malt

Mash water 6.5 litres at 75.5°C
Mash temp at start 66.3°C, end 63.2°C for 60 minutes

Sparge water 9.5 litres at 81.0°C for 20 minutes.
Made 14.5 litres of wort

Boil for 60 mins with:
4g Admiral at start
12g of dried elderflowers and half a Protofloc at 15 mins
10g Aurora at 10 mins
25g Aurora at end

Amount of wort after boil 12 litres

Cooled to 23.4°C
Original gravity 1.052
Pitched 5g of Safale US05 yeast

Tested after 7 days: gravity 1.007, temperature 21.2°C

Bottled after 14 days:
Gravity 1.007, temperature 21.2°C
Recovered 9 litres of bottleable beer
50g of priming sugar (gran) added (5.5g per litre)
ABV 5.8%

Notes

I bought dried elderflowers from Chill! Wizard (see pic), but was rather underwhelmed when I opened the packet because I didn’t get the floral hit I was expecting. I tasted the beer at bottling stage and it was a bit bland. Once in the bottle and conditioned, it was very clear and bright and the taste had improved immeasurably. It now has the essence of elderflower without being overpowering; the Aurora hops complement the flavour nicely. My son – a recent convert to real ale – said it was one of the best ales I’ve made. It has continued to improve. Although a little strong for a saison, it would make a really lovely golden summer beer.

 

[clib]

Aurora hops are bred from Northern Brewer hops and are grown in Slovenia. They are quite closely related to Bobek IIRC, and share the lemon thing to some extent. They are higher AA%, Bobek was bred from Northern Brewer for aroma chiefly, Aurora for bitterness, and have a less delicate aroma. I used them once years ago but the beer wasn't great for other reasons, difficult to jude the hops from that. I've just bought another pack and wondering what to do with them. I'm into saisons at the minute, I have Wyeast 3711, T-58 and Belle Saison (I must try the BE-134 though too). So saison seems likely. I might put some into a golden/blonde ale though to get a clearer idea of the aroma. Aurora were very popular it seemed, for a while, when they were first released, and often described as fruity by home brewers.

 

[obscure]

I ended up doing a Saison with Aurora and Saaz which sadly I’m on to the last few bottles of as it came out nicely, planning to do another batch of it shortly.

 

[clib]

I ended up doing a Saison with Aurora and Saaz which sadly I’m on to the last few bottles of as it came out nicely, planning to do another batch of it shortly.

Which yeast did you use?

 

[obscure]

Which yeast did you use?

Went for something cheap and cheerful namely Belle Saison.

 

[clib]

Went for something cheap and cheerful namely Belle Saison.

I like Belle Saison. Divides people, but what doesn't?!

 

[obscure]

I like Belle Saison. Divides people, but what doesn't?!

I suspect it’s real issue is that it’s the bog standard Saison yeast that everyone uses, it ferments out quickly, gives the beer a decent Saison like flavour. A bit like US-05 it might not be the best yeast in the world but gives consistent results, which I would say is one of my primary reasons for using it. I am tempted to try a few other strains though just to see how they work out.

 

[Sadfield]

I've just used them with galaxy in a more modern style belgian pale ale (zinnebir/xx bitter type beer) using Vienna Malt and T-58 and MJ Belgian Tripel yeasts. Really like how it came out with the aurora adding citrus and savory herbal quality to the tropical fruits of galaxy.

I'm going to use my remaining aurora to brew a straight Saison.