American Brown Ale Hops Pairing.

[J1791Hernandez]

I'm Brewing an American Brown Ale and was going to use Chinook and Cascade together but not sure how much to use. Would I bitter with Chinook and finish at 15 min with Cascade? Or the other way around? Bitter with Cascade and finish with Chinook?

 

[J A]

Chinook is one of those hops with a very strident presence as a bittering hop. It can come off as harsh. It's a wonderful hop and the alphas are right for bittering but it can lend a little too much lingering piney bite if overused. A brown ale can stand up to some strong bitterness and the flavor profile is a good match so it's a solid choice.
I'd get no more than 1/3 of total IBUs in the 60 minute addition using Chinook. Then come in with a good flavor addition at around 20 minutes giving equal IBUs in Chinook and Cascade. Then finish with a good dose of Cascade at the end, maybe 5 minutes, to round out the IBUs and pack in flavor and aroma.
You end up using up a little more hops with a schedule like that but staggering additions and utilizing the same hop at different times adds a lot of complexity.

 

[J1791Hernandez]

Chinook is one of those hops with a very strident presence as a bittering hop. It can come off as harsh. It's a wonderful hop and the alphas are right for bittering but it can lend a little too much lingering piney bite if overused. A brown ale can stand up to some strong bitterness and the flavor profile is a good match so it's a solid choice.
I'd get no more than 1/3 of total IBUs in the 60 minute addition using Chinook. Then come in with a good flavor addition at around 20 minutes giving equal IBUs in Chinook and Cascade. Then finish with a good dose of Cascade at the end, maybe 5 minutes, to round out the IBUs and pack in flavor and aroma.
You end up using up a little more hops with a schedule like that but staggering additions and utilizing the same hop at different times adds a lot of complexity.

So since I'm trying to shoot close to 30 IBUs should I then only be using .3 oz of Chinook instead of the .6 oz to get me 10.55 IBUs which is 1/3 of 30, and then at 20 min add 1 oz. of Cascade which gives me another 11.47 IBU's, and at 5 min add 2 oz of cascade to get me another 7.55 IBUs with a total of 29.57 IBU's?

This is what I have so far.

Fermentables
Briess LME Pale Ale - 6.3 lbs

Steeping Grains
Chocolate Malt - 8 oz
Crystal 60L - 16 oz
Biscuit Malt - 8 oz

Yeast
Wyeast American Ale II 1272

Hops
Chinook (60 min) - .3 oz.
Cascade (20 min) - 1 oz.
Cascade (5 min) - 2 oz

OG: 1.053 FG: 1.014 ABV: 5.1% IBU: 29.57 SRM 23.85

 

[J1791Hernandez]

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[J A]

It seems like that would work pretty well, though I might use some of the other Chinook in the middle or late additions and save some of the Cascade. that gives a little more of the Chinook flavor that will go nicely with a beer like this. For a relatively low IBU beer, you might make things easier and go to a half ounce of Chinook at 60 and calculate from there.
Another way to think about this: Extract recipes don't necessarily benefit from a full 60 minute boil. Just re-calculate the recipe based on a 40 minute boil and you solve the issue of potential harshness from the Chinook.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Chinook and Cascade are in a lot of browns but rather than IBU's...if you are going towards a more hoppy brown, what kinda flavor or aroma are you looking for from your brown?? I like something earthy so I lean mine towards the porter choices like EKG or Fuggles

 

[J A]

I like something earthy so I lean mine towards the porter choices like EKG or Fuggles

Good suggestion...Willamette is the go-to for earthy/floral/spice flavor and it pairs perfectly with Cascade up and down the hop addition schedule. Still it's nice to have that piney/resiny bite from Chinook or Nugget in a true Northwest style American beer.

 

[Nosybear]

I would think Cluster for bittering, Willamette for flavor would be a great and classic combination for American Brown.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I use fuggles for mine and I really like it as a finishing flavor next to any dark beer that uses grain for most of the flavor and not hops

 

[Ward Chillington]

I use fuggles for mine and I really like it as a finishing flavor next to any dark beer that uses grain for most of the flavor and not hops

Fuggles is my only hop plant sitting under 8 inches of snow...I think this year we are gonna see some cones..fingers crossed