Hey Guys - with all of the new hop varieties I'm reading about, I need an efficient way to test them out. I plan to brew a bunch of 3-gallon batches of APA this winter, and I want your opinions on the best way to get a sense of what each variety will give me in terms of flavor and aroma.
I plan to produce about 6 gallons of wort and split it evenly into two kettles, then conduct separate boils. The grain bill will look like this:
11 lb Simpson's Golden Promise
.75 lb C 40
.75 lb Munich
Bitter with Nugget @ 60 min.
Now comes my question -
Should I chill to about 180 and then do a 30 min hopstand with 1 oz of my "test" hop?
Or should I split it and use .25 at 10 and 5, then .50 oz at flameout?
Either way I want to target about 42 IBU.
Seems to me that a single one ounce hopstand would be quite a bit easier. I just want to be sure that I'm getting a good sense of what each hop will give me.
Also, I would like to start out with a yeast audition to determine which strain to go with. I just picked up some Omega Labs OYL-52, DIPA yeast (aka Conan) to play with. I thought about putting that up against some US-05 slurry, some WY1450, and some WY1728 Scottish Ale. I've read that Conan can give poor attenuation on the first batch, so I thought that an APA would be a good way to wake it up a bit. Either way, I figured I could do some 6-gal split batches to identify my favorite APA strain too.
Any thoughts about the hop schedule and yeast options would be welcome. Thanks!