Comet Hops -- Homebrew Recipe and Results
Wild American flavor with some deep roots in craft beer, Comet hops were bred in the 1960s to be a bittering hop for lagers, but in recent years they’ve been snuck into many of our favorite IPAs (particularly hazy ones) to add some diverse flavor and to intertwine in loving fashion with hops like Galaxy and Citra.
Comet offers aromas of Mandarin, Lemongrass, Black Currant, Pineapple, and Apricot, and flavors of Grapefruit, Resin, Grass, Spice, and Tropical Fruits. It really brings a lot to the table for one of our lesser talked about hops.
I must admit that I had very low expectations for Comet this month, but my, oh my, has it passed into a new stratosphere I never thought possible. But what changed my mind? And what makes Comet hops so impressive? We’ll find that out soon enough. Here is the malt bill we used for our recipe, after the recommendation from Vinnie Cilurzo, the genius behind Russian River Brewing Company.
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 a nice even cover from bitterness to flavor to aromatics. Comet hops, though originally bred for bittering, are slightly lower on the bitterness scale with 9-12% alpha-acid, and we were intrigued to see how it compared to the higher alpha-acid (13-18%) Galaxy hops. So, along with the same malt bill, we also added the hops at the same intervals and weights as we did for our Galaxy APA. Here are the hop additions.
Hop: (Total 0.7 oz.)
60 min (start of boil) - 10% Total hops (0.07 oz. for our 1-gal batch)
15 min - 30% (0.21 oz for our 1-gal batch)
10 min - 30% (0.21 oz for our 1-gal batch)
0 min (flame-out) - 30% (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.
After a long wait, here are our first impressions:
First Impressions:
On the Eyes--It is golden and clear with little head formation.
On the Nose--Pineapple strikes me first, followed by mandarin, apricot, and some nice earthy, grassy aromas.
On the Palate--Grassy grapefruit! That’s my final verdict on this one. It has some nice resin and herbal notes that balance the more tropical flavors. But predominantly, the most forward flavor is the earthy grapefruit. It has a moderate mouthfeel. A little adjusting (maybe more Carapils or a bit of oats) and it could be smoothed out. It has a nice effervescence. One attribute that I have used to identify Comet hops in other beers is the earthiness at the finish. It comes through with the grapefruit, and I would say that this is where the Comet hop gets its “Wild American” tag.
Verdict:
I can see how some might find the earthiness of the Comet hops a little overbearing, especially when compared to something like Galaxy, but I really love this hop, and its potential does lie in its ability to pair. It is a good wingman, and that’s an all right place for a hop to be. It may never get the credit it deserves, but it’s humble. One thing I really enjoy about this hop is its uniqueness. Not all hops are distinguishable in complex hop bills--this one is. It is distinct and lively, and it really does add a lot of “Wild American” flair. I enjoyed this single hop APA, and knowing that Comet is such a great wingman, I cannot wait to test its unique qualities in our upcoming Space IPA.
Brew on!
Mr. Brew