Hop of the Week (HOTW) -- Crystal, What do you think? Options

[cj in j]

I am quite surprised -- as of this moment, 27 people have voted, but 15 of those have never tried Crystal hops. Where are all you Crystal users?!?!?

[Oldfart]

Where are all you Crystal users?!?!?

There is a possibility that I might become one...

A while back, a beer judge was tasting a sort of English rye PA that I made, and was starting to suggest that to suit the style, maybe some crystal should be added. Then for some reason the conversation changed course, and I never did follow up on this. So as long as you brought this up, could you possibly complete this conversation? Would crystal be cool with rye? I like EKG for aroma with this brew, thinking more of maybe crystal for bittering or flavor. As usual, duhhh... (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/eh.gif) OF

[SammyP]

There is a possibility that I might become one...

A while back, a beer judge was tasting a sort of English rye PA that I made, and was starting to suggest that to suit the style, maybe some crystal should be added. Then for some reason the conversation changed course, and I never did follow up on this. So as long as you brought this up, could you possibly complete this conversation? Would crystal be cool with rye? I like EKG for aroma with this brew, thinking more of maybe crystal for bittering or flavor. As usual, duhhh... (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/eh.gif) OF

Seems more likely to me he meant crystal malt, considering the context.

[Oldfart]

Seems more likely to me he meant crystal malt, considering the context.

Could be, but he mentioned that the beer was "sweet", in a seemingly negative way, and it already had plenty of crystal malt in it. So I came away thinking it was crystal hops that he was referring to. Oh, well, who knows... OF

[erichonour]

Old thread, I know. Still, I just tapped my latest couple of beers. Both were made with nothing but Crystal hops.

The first is an all-Crystal American IPA, bittered to about 53 IBUs and dry-hopped in the keg. The Crystal works out pretty well in this beer, although I have to say it tastes considerably more citrusy than I expected. It's no Cascade/Amarillo-esque citrus bomb, but there's definitely some orange/lemon thing going on in there in terms of flavor. The aroma is more herbal/floral, which is what I really thought I would get from this hop, based on the descriptions and my previous experience with it. It gives the IPA a very smooth bitterness, as I expected since it's pretty low in cohumulone. Still, this is not my favorite IPA I've brewed, and I don't necessarily recommend going the all-Crystal route for an IPA, even if Brutal Bitter does. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/tongue.gif) I just really get off on IPAs/DIPAs made with more aggressive hops, I guess.

The other beer is an American wheat, bittered to about 24 IBUs, and also dry-hopped in the keg. The Crystal works out GREAT in this beer. The same fabulous herbal/floral aroma paired with the hint of lemon I always seem to get out of American wheat beers is really fantastic.


(IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/cheers.gif)
EH

[DJ in KC]

Old thread, I know. Still, I just tapped my latest couple of beers. Both were made with nothing but Crystal hops.

The first is an all-Crystal American IPA, bittered to about 53 IBUs and dry-hopped in the keg. The Crystal works out pretty well in this beer, although I have to say it tastes considerably more citrusy than I expected. It's no Cascade/Amarillo-esque citrus bomb, but there's definitely some orange/lemon thing going on in there in terms of flavor. The aroma is more herbal/floral, which is what I really thought I would get from this hop, based on the descriptions and my previous experience with it. It gives the IPA a very smooth bitterness, as I expected since it's pretty low in cohumulone. Still, this is not my favorite IPA I've brewed, and I don't necessarily recommend going the all-Crystal route for an IPA, even if Brutal Bitter does. (IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/tongue.gif) I just really get off on IPAs/DIPAs made with more aggressive hops, I guess.

The other beer is an American wheat, bittered to about 24 IBUs, and also dry-hopped in the keg. The Crystal works out GREAT in this beer. The same fabulous herbal/floral aroma paired with the hint of lemon I always seem to get out of American wheat beers is really fantastic.
(IMG:style_emoticons/brewboard/cheers.gif)
EH

Interesting, I'm guessing this is not the IPA you had a couple weeks ago. I know that when I've used it there was something in the beer that I wasn't happy with and they were beers that had either all crystal or mostly crystal. Still I've used it blended with other hops and late additions that didn't run me off. I've had the same experience but not as much so with Vanguard. Hope I get a chance to taste yours. And of course Brutal Bitter was what got me to try it - before I had a chance to actually try it. Drewseslu brought some home for me a while back. Nice beer - but I was underwhelmed because of the anticipation.

dj

This post has been edited by DJ in KC: May 5 2007, 10:24 PM

[erichonour]

Nope, the beer a couple of weeks ago was an APA, not an IPA. That was done with Cascade and Chinook. This one was just tapped tonight.

I really don't know if this hop is for everyone -- it's got some unique character for all that it's supposed to be really similar to Mt Hood and Liberty. Still, I like it a lot in the Am. Wheat.

EH

[azmtnbiker]

I am glad you brought this thread up again. I have now used crystal in several lagers and one pale ale and really like the hop. I think it works better in lagers and used it in my last ofest just because I had so much of it around. That one is still lagering but the taste at transfer was really good. The pale ale was a combo of perle/crystal/saaz and you can smell the saaz aroma and the taste the perle but the crystal is lost in there some where.
I really like this hop for lagers. I will be purchasing more in the near future.

[OhioMurb]

Updating an old thread, but anyone who made the Brutal Bitter clone, did you use the BYO clone recipe or something else? Did you tweak the recipe or would you make any changes now that you've tasted it?

[Boxx]

I brewed this and it came out very nice.

Crystal Pale Ale (3 gallons)

7 lbs. 2 row pale malt
1 lb. crystal malt (40-80 L)
1/2 oz. Crystal hops (5% aa) - boil 60 mins.
1/2 oz. Crystal hops - boil last 15 mins.
1/2 oz. Crystal hops - dry hop after 4 days in the primary fermenter.
1 tsp. gypsum in mash water.
American Ale liquid yeast.
Boil wort for one hour total. Primary ferment for 7-10 days and bottle. (Note on dry hopping: try adding hop pellets to the primary fermenter around four days after you brew. Fermentation will be pretty much over and will not blow off the hop aroma from the pellets. Hop pellets will slowly sink to the bottom of the fermenter over the next few days. This gives a beautiful hop aroma to your beer.)

http://www.classiccitybrew.com/homebrew.html

[pods8]

OTOH, I still have quite a bit of it and I think it's a great choice for dry hopping.

I'll go ahead and say not in my opinion. I dry hopped a rye I made with crystal and picked up a major grassy profile that even after aging 6months still had a presence.