Hop suggestions to go with Centennial

mrskittle

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I'm sure I'm going to get a big list of varieties but let me explain what I'm looking for. I've really nailed down the recipe for my house IPA (Elephant Rock IPA) and am looking to add a little to mix it up. My hop schedule for a 5 gallon batch is as follows:
Bittering - 1 oz Apollo at 60 minutes
flame out - 1 oz centennial, 1.5 oz cascade
whirlpool - 1 oz centennial, 1.5 oz cascade
dry hop - Same as above

The wife and I are very happy with this schedule but I'm looking to add or sub a hop that will add some more fruity flavor. I feel like the centennial and cascade are giving me plenty of the citrus and piney taste that drew me to IPA's in the first place. What I'm looking for now is some more exotic, even sweet fruity flavor. What I don't want is anything with a grassy, green pepper, or any other vegetal flavor. We got a crowler from a local brewery a while back (i think it was a hazy IPA) and it was terrible. I finally put my finger on the offensive flavor and it was green pepper. Not for me!
 
Mosaic, Azacca, Galaxy all work well. There are a lot more out there I'm sure. I like to add them in addition to Cascade, Centennial and Citra. I think makes for a more complex hop profile when old school hops are blended with the newer hops.
 
Mosaic, Azacca, Galaxy all work well. There are a lot more out there I'm sure. I like to add them in addition to Cascade, Centennial and Citra. I think makes for a more complex hop profile when old school hops are blended with the newer hops.

You pretty much said what I had in mind: pair my classic American hops with some bright, fruity new world varieties. I'm just not too familiar with using any new world varieties. After looking through some flavor profiles I'm thinking mosaic, simcoe, or el dorado. I"ll have to read up on Azacca and galaxy.
 
Well problem solved for this batch. My LHBS is really a "make your own wine" store that has a decent variety of homebrew supplies. The issue is their on-hand stock. I don't think I've ever walked out with everything on my list, without some substitutions. Today was no different. I had galaxy, mosaic, and eldorado on my list and ended up coming home with simcoe, which sounds awfully similar to the two hops I'm already using. At least they had the single pound of Vienna that I needed. The lesson here is that I need to plan a brew at least a week ahead and make sure they have, or can order what I need. I'm sorry, but with the #pandemic parenting I've got going, I'm just not able to look ahead that far...
 
Well problem solved for this batch. My LHBS is really a "make your own wine" store that has a decent variety of homebrew supplies. The issue is their on-hand stock. I don't think I've ever walked out with everything on my list, without some substitutions. Today was no different. I had galaxy, mosaic, and eldorado on my list and ended up coming home with simcoe, which sounds awfully similar to the two hops I'm already using.

Simcoe is pretty legit. I do a SMaSH with Simcoe that people seem to really enjoy.

I'd go galaxy personally, but Simcoe and Centennial are very underrated to me
 
Galaxy was on the top of my list but there were none. Eldorado was second but there was only one ounce. Mosaic was my third choice but there were none. Honestly, simcoe wasn't even on my list but the fridge was totally picked over for any IPA hops, other than cascade and centennial... Isn't that the way it goes? The owner said someone was in over the weekend and really cleaned out her stock. Obviously they were an IPA brewer.

Here's a question a bit off topic but I'll throw it out there: are there steps you can take along the way of brewing/fermenting that can tease out particular flavors of a complex hop like Mosaic? I'm afraid if there actually is a way, it's beyond my skill at this point in my brewing journey.
 
I'm in the market for a temp control and had one in my amazon cart. Then I remembered I had some rewards over at Adventures in Homebrewing so I checked there for an inkbird and it was the same price as amazon. While I'm not Anti-amazon, I'm always happy to shop elsewhere. I also decided to throw a few hops in the cart since I struck out at my LHBS.

Long story short, galaxy is no longer at the top of my list as it costs $5 an oz. I'll stick to the sub $4 strains as a way to keep the costs down. That's one of the reasons I'm a fan of cascade. It's tasty and cheap! This batch will have the simcoe and next time I decided on el dorado.
 
You will be fine with what you have. Many commercial brewers use Simcoe in their IPAs. Just stick with your recipe above and record what you did. It’s about the journey as much as the result. Cheers!
 
I'm not anti-Amazon either, but I am anti-monopoly. So they are always last on my places to buy from. First is obviously to buy local and only if they don't have it do I go online. Competition keeps prices lower and variety higher.
 
Simcoe will serve the purpose fine I get fruity and some lovely subdued pine notes.
I usually pair it with more fruity hops like Mosaic or Eldorado- Equinox.
To get more.of them subtle flavours out of it try a hops stand and dry hop even a Biotransformation at high krausen depending on yeast.
 

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