[redrocker652002]

I am not sure I started a thread about this.  So I am going to go with this. I have been into doing single hop beers lately just to see what they turn out like. I just did a Chinook Ale, and while it was good, it was a bit on the bitter side. I used a recipe from MoreBeer and probably should have scaled it down a bit. The basic recipe is 10lbs of 2 Row Pale ale and 12 ounces of Crystal 15L 60 min mash. 60 minute boil with a Hop schedule of: 1/2 ounce Magnum for bittering and then hop choice of 2 oz at 10 mins, 1 min and then at dry hop. The OG was about 1.051 to 1.053 depending and the FG was at about 1.008 to 1.010. I used CellScience Cali yeast and fermented at about 65 degrees. The yeast took aout 16 hours to get going, but was pretty active. It seemed to take about 5 to 7 days to ferment out and the activity in the airlock was all but nothing. Took gravity readings a few days apart after about a week and a half, dry hopped for 3 or 4 days and in the bottles it went. I did this with Chinook, Cascade, Mosiac and I think Citra, although I cannot find my notes on that one right now. The one in the fermenter is Motueka and I am really looking forward to trying that one. I am getting a lemon smell from the fermenter and the brew day went well. I still have bottles of the Chinook so my plan is to side by side the Chinook and the Motueka and see what the differences are. Once I get that idea, I am going to try and build a recipe using Cascade, Citra and either Mosaic or Motueka and see what I can come up with. After doing this for a couple of years, I have found most of what I do involves a larger amount of either 2 row or Maris Otter as the base. Small additions of the Crystals for color and maybe a bit of sweetness and then other smaller amounts for maybe foam and head retention. I have gotten my setup to a point where I can hold a decent mash temp, between 150 and 154, for an hour and have added the cooler for a sparge setup to sparge for about 15 mins at somewhere around 160. I feel pretty good as I have hit most of my numbers within a point or two and have really enjoyed the last few beers I have turned out. What is the point to this post? Heck, I don't know. LOL. Just thought I would post that I have enjoyed doing the single hop beers and am moving closer to making up my own recipe's. Thanks for reading my, sober believe it or not, post. LOL. Have a fantastic day all, and please, ROCK ON!!!!!!!!!

[BrewBama]

I brewed based on the More Beer single hop beers over a Summer a few years ago to dial in my system. I had just added new equipment and needed some quick turn beers to get a handle on the new stuff. It was a great learning experience, I isolated hop flavors, and it turned out quite a few tasty beers.

[tommymorris]

I just brewed a single hop beer with El Dorado. It is very good.

[redrocker652002]

Cool.  Thanks for the input.  I am getting ready to dry hop the motueka so by the end of next week I am thinking I will bottle, let it sit for a week or two to carb up and throw a few in the fridge.  It is kinda cool to isolate the flavors of certain hops.  The Chinook I can very much see why it is used to bitter.  And the Cascade and Mosaic have been very good beers to me.  Citra is on my list and I think I will add El Dorado. 

[denny]

Cool.  Thanks for the input.  I am getting ready to dry hop the motueka so by the end of next week I am thinking I will bottle, let it sit for a week or two to carb up and throw a few in the fridge.  It is kinda cool to isolate the flavors of certain hops.  The Chinook I can very much see why it is used to bitter.  And the Cascade and Mosaic have been very good beers to me.  Citra is on my list and I think I will add El Dorado.

Chinook is a great finishing/ dry hop

[erockrph]

Cool.  Thanks for the input.  I am getting ready to dry hop the motueka so by the end of next week I am thinking I will bottle, let it sit for a week or two to carb up and throw a few in the fridge.  It is kinda cool to isolate the flavors of certain hops.  The Chinook I can very much see why it is used to bitter.  And the Cascade and Mosaic have been very good beers to me.  Citra is on my list and I think I will add El Dorado.

Chinook is a great finishing/ dry hop

Agreed, Chinook is highly overlooked as a late hop. It is also a great example of terroir in beer ingredients. PNW Chinook is generally pine-forward, with some citrus behind it. Other growing regions (MI for example) are more sweet citrus/pineapple with pine a little lower.

[erockrph]

Single hop beers are a great way to learn ingredients. I did many runs of these years ago when I had more time to devote to brewing. I did them as 1-gallon extract batches, and I was able to get a whole bunch done in one brewday. Here are my results that I posted. I still go back to these if I'm looking for a specific flavor character in a new recipe:

2012 Single Hopped Beers
2013 Single Hopped Beers
2014 Single Hopped Beers
2015 Single Hopped Beers

What I've learned since posting these is that since hops are an agricultural product, there are variations from year to year and farm to farm. Some hops that I fell in love with the first time I've brewed with them, aren't always guaranteed to perform the same the following year. Meridian, I'm looking at you specifically. And while there are too many hops for me to waste time going back to one I didn't enjoy the first time, others have had better results with ones that I had issues with.