Beer Forum

I'm brewing the Green Flash West Coast IPA recipe from CYBI but I have to tweak it a little bit because I don't have simcoe. I want to keep the same grain bill and the aproach to hopping. I have columbus, chinook and centenial. I was thinking I would go with columbus and chinook or columbus and centenial. Any suggestions?

pablo_t wrote:I'm brewing the Green Flash West Coast IPA recipe from CYBI but I have to tweak it a little bit because I don't have simcoe. I want to keep the same grain bill and the aproach to hopping. I have columbus, chinook and centenial. I was thinking I would go with columbus and chinook or columbus and centenial. Any suggestions?

You won't get the same character as Simcoe with any combination of those 3 hops because they lack Simcoe's unique "catty" character. You'll still make a good beer, but it won't be the same. FYI as far as Simcoe substitutes go, I think Citra is the closest.

In my experience:
Simcoe = catty/piney/citrusy
Columbus = dank/citrusy
Centennial = candy/sweet fruit
Chinook = pineapple/peppery
Citra = catty/grassy/citrusy

I was in the exact same situation a month ago. I substituted amarillo mainly because...I like amarillo. herbaljoe's totally right that it just won't be the same, but still good. I get some catty and piney notes from chinook, but there is no sub for simcoe - though I don't have any experience with citra.

Mine turned out great with amarillo, but I wouldn't confuse the hop flavor with green flash. If you can't get to the lhbs or online store before you brew, I would sub in an asston of centennial (but that's b/c I like centennial).

Yeah I know I'm making a different beer. Both simcoe and amarillo seem to be hard to find.