LC123 wrote:I love summits, but I find a little goes a long way. I always use them as a blending hop, always using half as much as other hops. The flavor is potent and can overpower. For example. If I use .5oz of summits in finishing or dry hop, I use at least 1oz of my other hop. Much like columbus, I find it punches up the hop character if used complimentary. If overused, it's too much. I've also found that I only dry hop with them for no more than 5 days. After that, you get more vegative flavors and aromas.
-That's interesting, and it makes sense to me.
I have done 3 beers with Summit and other hops in conjunction, all heavily late-hopped pale ales. They all had a 1/4 ounce addition of summit at the beginning of the boil, 1 oz. Summit at 20, 1 oz. Centennial at 15, 1 oz cascade .5 oz amarillo at flame-out.
The first one was dry hopped with an ounce each of centennial/amarillo. It was awesome, and I didn't pick up onion but it may have been there in low levels. Whatever it was the summit added, I liked it.
The second one was the same but I dry hopped with .75 oz summit and 1.25 oz Amarillo. It was a little bit oniony and the hops aroma was just not as good, not as fresh. It had a slightly English grassy hop presence.
The third was the exact same recipe as the first. I've just brewed and dry hopped this, and I used 2009 summits. Either because of year-to-year crop differences or freshness, the beer has a lot more onion, and seemingly less of the citrus I would expect from the dry-hops, but this may change with a little time. But, I am sure that changing the batch of Summit I was using had a significant effect!
Anyway, at this point I am thinking of maybe dropping the Summit entirely and going with Citra instead, at least to try it for 1 batch. In general, I think it stands to reason that the onion aspect of the hop would volatilize and not make as much of an appearance if used earlier in the boil, but some times these things are counter-intuitive.
