Jump to content
Coopers Community

Galaxy Hopped Pale Ale


Hairy

Recommended Posts

I have some galaxy hops but have never used them before. I am a fan of the Stone & Wood Pacific Ale with it's big hit of galaxy hops.

 

I was planning on brewing a Pale Ale / Hybrid Wheat Ale thingy (sorry, I don't what the style actually is). A lighter style beer with low bitterness and heaps of hops.

 

My proposed recipe is:

 

1 x Coopers Pale Ale

1 x Coopers Wheat Malt Extract (1.5kg)

40g Galaxy Hops - steeped

40g Galaxy Hops - dry hopped

Yeast - US-05

21 litres

 

I have heard that Galaxy hops pack a punch flavour wise; so I was after some advice from someone that has used them before as to whether the hops in my recipe are ok or over the top.

 

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks something like a Belgian white ale. My wife has one ready to bottle when we get the money tomorrow (retiree pay day!). Anyway,it used wheat malt DME,pilsen malt DME,& pilsen light malt LME (briesse). I think it was cascade hops,though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a bit stronger than I intended but I will live with that if I must [happy]

 

Despite my reservations in my first post, I have decided to increase the hops to 45g for each addition. For no other reason than I have a 90g packet of hops and couldn't be bothered hanging on to the excess 10g.

 

I will let everyone know how it turns out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Muddy. I tend to get a bit carried away with flavours that I love (and I love galaxy hops [love] ).

 

I don't mind being the guinea pig on this one and I'll report back. But I will go with my original recipe of 40g each addition.

 

The worst that could happen is ending up with undrinkable beer. But I have managed to drink VB and keep it down so this couldn't be worse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I took a hydrometer reading of this last night; I'm due to bottle it on the weekend.

 

It tastes like I'm drinking a can of passiona. It brought back memories of my childhood.

 

I think it might take some time to mellow. If not, at least I have made myself some alcoholic soft drink. Or is that now a hard drink?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I cracked one of these open to try. Its only been in the bottle for (nearly) two weeks but I like to have a taste early to see how they are tracking.

 

It's amazing what a few bubbles and a nice cold temp does. It softens the passionfruit taste and this beer seems like it is going to be a winner[love]

 

A bit more time in the bottle and by the time spring comes around it will be a great refreshing warm weather beer.

 

The only problem is that my wife loved it and it looks like I am going to have to share it. She says its a great "girls beer" but I like it too; it guess that means I am in touch with my feminine side.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Hi Hairy

 

I too love Galaxy hops, Amarillo as well, this looks very nice I did a Mexican with honey, LDM to 20L.

 

I want to do a IPA with similar hopping schedule with Galaxy or Amarillo, whats the final verdict on Galaxy levels.

 

Any suggestions

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This one is a blast from the past.

 

Once this settled down it was a really great beer. I wouldn't dry hop more than 25g, in fact I would probably drop it down to 15-20g.

 

I would also do a short 10-15 boil of the hops rather than steeping them. But that was with the Pale Ale kit which isn't very bitter.

 

Well thats what I would do, it really comes down to your taste.

 

Are you planning a full extract IPA or using the IPA kit?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love the flavour that Galaxy gives a beer so I decided to do a brew using only Galaxy hops. I did this in a 10L boil with the steeped liquor and 1.5kgs of the LLM.

 

3kg Coopers light liquid malt

250gms chocolate malt(steeped 20 min and boiled in the 10L@ 70C)

25gms Galaxy (60 min boil)

25gms Galaxy (10 min boil)

10gms Galaxy (0min boil)

Coopers re-cultured yeast.

Total 23L

 

The brew was a bit to bitter but after time it was a very moreish brew and I think that the Galaxy hops has a good case for replacing Pride of Ringwood as a bittering hop. Its flavor/aroma profile is some what unique but it is delightful even if some people think I have put pineapple juice in my beer. It's a hop I think well worth experimenting with in a brew as a single hop brew.[joyful]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Hairy, will take that advice I get a bit carried away with hop flavours I like. Its a kit brew haven't yet graduated to full grain, I'm trying to grasp what effect my flavour ideas have on the brew, still cracking malts and steeping out the goodness etc just using the can to give me a base.

 

We have four fermentors (my mate and I brew in my shed - he doesn't have a shed) and we are quickly building up stock but our partners have began drinking our beers may need more fermentors

 

[biggrin]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Michael, Yes it is my own mix. No it doesn't taste like anything I've had before. The idea behind the brew was to see how well the hops came out as a single hop brew. So in other words its all galaxy nothing else,apart from the chocolate malt and that was only to change the colour from light to reddish or to be more appealing to my eyes. Again all I wanted to do was to see how I could use the hop and I like to do this with any duel purpose hop that I use. Duel purpose meaning the hop was grown for both bittering an flavour/aroma.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well bugger me if I didn't reply a day earlier. I do think the Galaxy hop I great for bittering, 25gms is plenty just lower the flavour hops. 10-15 gms plenty.

Now last night(Friday) the family and I went to one of the breweries along West Swan Road in the Swan Valley, Perth and the brew they had on tap used galaxy as a flavour/aroma hop and I can tell you it was BAD[devil] I have never smelt moldy oranges in an overly sweet beer before....just BAD. And the wife said she would drive home Bull.hit I drove home. BAD brewer.

I guess it comes down to who is brewing but it is a great bittering hop and a great flavor/aroma hop if it is used wisely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Jason. I think I am going to stick with a clean neutral bittering hop and use the Galaxy for flavour & aroma.

 

I've had plenty of 'craft' beers that have been terrible. And I have had some over-the-top galaxy hopped beers (some of them were mine).

 

I am heading back in the direction of subtle additions of the fruity hops. I'm sure its just a phase I'm going through.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know its a fairly bitter hop but I wouldnt have thought that 20gm @ 15 would have made it that bitter. Personally I would have done 15gm @ 15 min and 15gm @ 0. I actually think I have done a brew like that. Ill check my records tonight.

how long has it been in the bottle for?

may be it needs to be aged a little more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What did you use to work out your hop profile?

I find that Ianh's spreadsheet located HERE is a very good resource.

 

Using this spreadsheet and your recipe it gives 36.3 IBUs with 13.4 AA% Galaxy. If you want to tone it down for non hop heads then maybe around 10g @ 15min which will give you 25.7 IBUs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know its a fairly bitter hop but I wouldnt have thought that 20gm @ 15 would have made it that bitter. Personally I would have done 15gm @ 15 min and 15gm @ 0. I actually think I have done a brew like that. Ill check my records tonight.

how long has it been in the bottle for?

may be it needs to be aged a little more.

 

I was surprised too. Prior to that I was making stuff with 80-100g of Cascade so I thought 40g of Galaxy wouldn't be too over powering. I don't really have a great understanding of the minutes thing - which add to flavour and which add to aroma?

 

It's been in the keg force carbed for close to three months now. I finished one keg, still got about 3/4 of one to go

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a good chart you can use to give the general idea of Bittering/Flavor and Aromas.

 

hop_utilization.jpg

 

Galaxy has a higher AA% than that of Cascade which is why you would want a lot less. You need to account for this difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...