This makes me a really bad Oregonian: I’m not a hophead (I’m from Maryland, where I thought I was a hophead until I got here). But lots of my friends are hopheads. You very well may be a hophead. And if you were to come over to my house, I’d want to have something hoppy to serve you that I enjoy as well. So a year ago I wrote up a recipe for a beer with a simple yet solid malt base to which I could add enough hops to satisfy both myself and my lupulin-loving pals. I’ve brewed the beer three times now, each time altering the hop bill and/or yeast to test out new varieties (like my most recent, which will be dry-hopped with Meridian, fermented with Thames Valley II) and to really get a grasp on the nuances of classics like Crystal and Simcoe, British II and Scottish Ale (from Wyeast).
So what’s your launchpad? As homebrewers, I think we’re naturally investigative, constantly changing, and highly critical of our beers. I found that creating a great malt base as a control has increased my awareness of different hops and yeast. And by the same token, you can do the same with hops, yeast, and even your water.
My recipe is no secret: 75% Maris Otter, 15% Koln (or sub pale Munich), 5% Crystal 10L, 2.5% malted wheat, and 2.5% CaraFoam. Mashed at low temps (the first batch was between 140-145F!), this produces a pale gold, dry beer with great head and a malt flavor that bridges the grainy-sweet palette (of course, this is yeast dependent). I can make it as bitter as I want, late-hop the crap out of it, mash it at 155F, or put it on Belgian yeast if I want, but I’ll always have the malt bill as a reference point. The second brewing utilized one bittering addition and 2 pounds of fresh Simcoe at the end. It was shocking to taste the beer change over the course of a few weeks; at first it literally tasted and smelled like cat pee. A couple weeks later, it took first place in a Club Only Competition for fresh-hop and “harvest” beers.
I encourage all brewers to experiment using controls like this. The malt bill is an obvious starting point (or it was for me). But if you know you like a certain hop or combination of hops, there is a pantheon of delicious specialty grains that don’t regularly show up in many recipes. For example: I love Magnum for bittering, and a combination of Crystal and Cascade for flavor and aroma. Now, if I wanted to test out the new Crisp CaraMalt or the Simpson’s Dark Crystal, you just plug that in with a simple malt base and your hop bill and let ‘er rip, right? It’s like a “choose your own adventure” novel!
The same can be said for yeast. This may be a little trickier if you’re brewing one carboy at a time, but taking careful notes of your brewing process (gravity readings!) and giving your finished product a thorough sensory evaluation (invite friends!) will give you a pretty clear idea of how your recipe and yeast play together. Keep in mind that your cell count may never be the same twice, nor will your fermentation temperature; this is where it helps to talk to other brewing friends or come to the shop and pick our brains about different yeast experiences, and you really start feeling like a brew geek!
As with any experiment, take notes and share your findings. Make sure your control doesn’t become a dominant trait; let your innovation shine through and you’ll appreciate the familiarity of the flavors you choose as a backdrop. And as always, take care of your yeast; it will return the favor.
–Aaron
