All told, between these Brew Dudes and one of the Dudes’ brother, we have 7 different hop varieties growing in our yards. The 2018 harvest was a bountiful one and it has given us the opportunity to brew beers with just one hop in them. A few weeks ago, I brewed a SMaSH with Chinook hops. This time around, we taste a beer with only homegrown Cascade hops.

Some Hops Notes

These hops came from my brother’s backyard. I went over his house on Labor Day weekend and we picked them all off the bines. When I left, my five gallon bucket was halfway full. Once the drying was done, I had 6 ounces of Cascade to use for my brew

Cascade SMaSH recipe

For a 5 gallon batch.

Grains:
10 pounds of Maris Otter Malt

Hops:
2 ounces of homegrown Chinook hops at 60 minutes to go in the boil
4 ounces of homegrown Chinook hops at flameout/whirlpool for 20 minutes

Yeast:
1 packet of Danstar Nottingham Ale Dry Beer Yeast

Brewing Details:
Mashed at 155°F
Boiled for 60 minutes
Fermented at 68°F for 7 days
Racked to keg and carbonated

Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 4.73%

Tasting Notes

Appearance: Cloudy, with a light amber to copper color. It has a white persistent head with some lacing on the sides.

Aroma: There is a nutty, earthy quality to the aroma. Mike said it was like a Brazil nut.

Flavor: There is a strange, enhanced malt like quality to the beer. The flavor had a diesel quality to it. Beyond that, there was a small amount of fruit character to it. It wasn’t citrus notes but rather a pineapple/plum thing. Clearly, this hop took on a bunch of the terrior of my brother’s back yard.

Mouthfeel: The mouthfeel was medium. We feel like the hops and yeast added a full malty quality. The Maris Otter gave the beer a good foundation but the rest of the ingredients brought a fullness.

Overall Impression: I don’t think I had enough hops to really brew a beer that let the hop shine. In my experience, I need a half pound of hops at minimum to get something going in the aroma and flavor of the finished beer. I still wanted to see what these hops could do even with the amount I had. Experimentation is a big part of my homebrewing and it should be a part of yours too – once you get to a certain level of experience.

Thanks for reading and brew on!