Experimental Hop #6277 IPA
by Jim Vondracek on 06/13/16
A few months ago, while shopping for hops, I came across #6277 (so designated because it’s experimental, not been determined to be commercially viable yet nor named) and bought a package of it. John at Farmhouse Brewing Supply seems to often have small amounts of these experimental hops available - one of the reasons I buy hops from him.
This spring, Hugh and I brewed an American-style IPA featuring good ‘ol #6277 and recently tapped our keg of it. We’re really enjoying this beer and the hops are particularly interesting. Unlike many of the popular American hops, #6277 does not give a big hit of citrus or have a juicy quality to it. Rather, I perceive it as having a predominantly minty, pine, and wood quality, with an undercurrent of mild lemon.
A high alpha acid hop, at 13.9%, we started throwing the hops in at 20 minutes until the end of the boil and it seems to give a clean and not harsh bittering.
In our beer, the hops flavor is more in-your-face than its aroma, but that could also be because of our relatively modest dry-hopping, where we used one ounce. I find that this beer is less one-dimensional in its hop character than many single-hop beers, although to be clear this isn’t technically a single-hop beer - we used a small amount of Pacific Jade to add clean and soft bittering at the beginning of the boil. In any case, #6277 seems to give a more complex hop flavor profile than many American hops.
I think this would be an interesting hop to add to the hop schedule in a big, dank American Double IPA - one of those big beers that reminds you of walking through a dark, wet forest.
Here’s the recipe for the beer we made:
Grain Bill
Pale Malt 81.5%
Victory Malt 7.4%
Wheat Malt 7.4%
Caramel 60L 3.7%
Hop Schedule
0.5 oz Pacific Jade, 12% AA, @ 60 minutes
0.5 oz #6277, 13% AA, @ 20 minutes
0.5 oz #6277, @ 15 minutes
1.0 oz #6277, @ 10 minutes
1.0 oz #6277, @ 5 minutes
1.0 oz #6277 dry hopping
Other
Safale US-05 Yeast
Irish Moss
The Numbers
Original Gravity: 1.058
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV: 6.3%
Estimated IBUs: 76.4
Estimated Color: 8.3 SRM
Process
Single Infusion Mash, Batch Sparge, 150F
Brewed at the CHAOS Brewhouse
Primary Fermentation for one month @ 65F
Dry hopped for seven days
Transferred and cold crashed @ 40F for three weeks
Kegged with priming sugar and allowed to naturally carb in the keg for three weeks.
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