Will Citra or other hops work with Tripel?

[losman26]

I'm looking at doing a tripel using hops other than the traditional ones. I have a bunch of Citra/ Amarillo/ Galaxy as well as some of the new Austrailian/NZ hops- Summer, Pacific Jade, Kohatu.


Should I go with all different hops, or perhaps throw in some European hops as well? Will these hops blend well with these Belgian yeasts? I'm using Wyeast Abbey ale. Would first wort hopping work for a Tripel? Should I not dry hop? Would late/flavor hop additions work?

Here's what I have so far, but will change the hop bill.

Style: Belgian Tripel
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.88 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.13 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.54 gal
Estimated OG: 1.083 SG
Estimated Color: 4.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 34.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 88.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
3 lbs 13.0 oz Pilsner (Muntons) (1.7 SRM) Grain 1 53.3 %
1 lbs 13.0 oz Pale Malt (Muntons) (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 25.4 %
5.6 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.5 SRM) Grain 3 4.9 %
1.8 oz Rye Malt (4.7 SRM) Grain 4 1.6 %
1 lbs 0.9 oz Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 5 14.8 %
0.32 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 15.1 IBUs
0.27 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 17.6 IBUs
1 Whirlfloc (Boil 5.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1 Servomyces 9 -
0.47 oz Citra [12.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min Hop 10 1.3 IBUs
1 pkg Abbey Ale (Wyeast) [35.49 ml Yeast 11 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 7 lbs 2.4 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 17.31 qt of water at 153.3 F 147.9 F 90 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

[mashani]

FWIW:

Citra and Saaz make an interesting combo in a blonde Belgian strong or tripel. I've done that. So do Nelson Sauvon and Saaz. Sorachi Ace is good in these too along with Saaz.

So my bet is that Citra and Pacific Jade would be good, but I've not tried this.

I *would* keep some kind of spicy hop in the mix, and not just go with fruity ones personally.

[losman26]

FWIW:

Citra and Saaz make an interesting combo in a blonde Belgian strong or tripel. I've done that. So do Nelson Sauvon and Saaz. Sorachi Ace is good in these too along with Saaz.

So my bet is that Citra and Pacific Jade would be good, but I've not tried this.

I *would* keep some kind of spicy hop in the mix, and not just go with fruity ones personally.

I've tried the Duval Tripel hop which uses Sorachi Ace. This is kind of what I'm shooting for, but with Citra, but a little more of the other hop's (citra) presence. Do you think that doing a first wort hop or dry hopping with citra is a bad idea? Also, how did you use the Saaz hop? How long did you boil it for? I was also thinking of adding some steeping hops at the very end of the boil as well for 30 mins. I did this in my last batch, which was a Galaxy IPA, and it was amazing. I'm not sure if this would be over the top for this sort of style, or maybe mask some of the flavors that you want to come out for a Tripel beer.

[mashani]

I bitter and flavor all most of my Belgians with low AA hops to keep the bitter smooth. So for the Saaz I'd use them both as bittering and flavor hops typically, and then use something else for flavor/aroma. How long to boil, that would depend. If I was using just low AA hops it would be a pretty standard hop schedule. But once you start to throw things like Citra or Sorachi in there with their 12-13%AAs, you have to remember that the flavoring addition of them is going to give you some IBUs. And not just couple, but like 10 or 20 even depending on how much you use. So if using those I'd do a more condensed hop schedule.

If I was to steep (hop stand) a beer like this with something like Sorachi or Citra then based on my experience doing that in other beers, I'd leave out all flavor/aroma additions and just do that. Your not trying to make an IPA. You'll get plenty of flavor/aroma just from doing that.

Unless you are trying to make a Belgian IPA instead of a something more like a real Tripel or Strong Golden. Then by all means, pile them on.