Apollo Single Hop APA - Homebrew Recipe and Results

Apollo, god of the sun and light, is paid the perfect homage with this fierce hop. This high Alpha-acid hop (18%!) is a real kick in the nards when added at the start of the boil, but what about at the end of the boil? Well, we wanted to find out how this hop performed when out of its element.

There really is nothing better than brewing and testing a hop’s diversity in its truest form. So, to start, we sought some advice from great brewers to see what they had to offer for brewing a solid APA. Some like a complex malt bill, but in an article on byo.com, Vinnie Cilurzo, the genius behind Russian River Brewing Company, suggested something simpler. And here it is.

Malt:

• 2-Row - 95% (38 oz. for our 1-gal. batch)

• Caramel 40L - 5% (1 oz. for our 1-gal batch)

• Carapils - 5% (1 oz. for our 1-gal batch)

Bingo! Simple and straightforward, our final weight was 40 oz (2.5lbs) of malt for a 1-gallon recipe. We mashed this malt in 3 quarts water at 150℉ for one hour, then sparged with 1 gallon of 170℉ water.

To see the diversity of this hop across the spectrum, we divided 0.7 oz. hops to get an even cover from bitterness to flavor to aromatics. No one questions the bittering qualities of the Apollo hops and their ability to add a spicy grapefruit kick, but, according to Morebeer.com, when added to the end of the boil this hop can contribute flavors/aromas of grapefruit, citrus, resin, pine, and cannabis. That’s not a bad combo of flavors for a classic APA, and we thought we’d give them a try with some later additions of this bittering hop. Like our other space themed APAs, here are our hop additions of Apollo.

Hop: (Total 0.7 oz.)

• 60 min (start of boil) - 10% Total hops (0.07 oz. for our 1-gal batch)

• 15 min - 30% Total hops (0.21 oz for our 1-gal batch)

• 5 min - 30% Total hops (0.21 oz for our 1-gal batch)

• 0 min (flame-out) - 30% Total hops (0.21 oz for our 1-gal batch)

Once the wort cooled to 70℉ we added the 3.8 grams of Safale US-05 yeast and let it do its thing for two weeks. We then added 0.81 oz. of corn sugar for priming and let this APA sit for another two weeks. And here are our results.

And here they are.

First Impressions:

• On the Eyes--Golden. Clear. Very little head formation.

• On the Nose--The grapefruit stands out with a touch of pine resin.

• On the Palate--I get a strong grapefruit flavor, not as smooth as the flavor from Cascade hops, but pretty sharp, and I also get some floral flavors I was not expecting. It is more bitter than the Comet and Galaxy beers we brewed, but with the lower dose of hops it is not overpowering or lingering. Strangely enough, I get a bit of caramel cream flavor, and some additional research showed that this hop expresses some creamy caramel flavors, which blend nicely with the mash. It also has some earthy flavors, leaning more toward the cannabis, resin side. It’s got great effervescence and kick, and it’s a pretty good beer.

Verdict:

I love comparing hops across the board with the same amount of malt and hop additions. This has been a great experience to see where I want these hops to go when combined in our Space IPA. Apollo is a bittering hop, no doubt about it, but it has some really interesting citrus, pine, and even caramel flavors that make this a fun beer to drink. It is also worth noting that this hop stores really well, something I know many homebrewers are concerned with. I’m really excited to see how it performs with the other hops as we bring this summer Space expedition to an end.

Cheers!

Mr. Brew