Sipping on my Session 42 Session Pale Ale, I'm getting a better understanding of what this famous "Conan" yeast strain can do to a beer. I've found (my interpretation) is that Conan will blend the hop flavors together, cutting the perceived bitterness down. Adding a fresh tropical/mango-ish flavor. I have to assume this is yeast driven, (I wonder if it is Belgian in linage?) that pairs well with the popular trendy hops. It really makes me question the clone Heady Topper recipes that are out there. A production brewery, even small, wouldn't use this yeast if it covered up hop aromatics. It would be cost prohibitive. I believe by using this yeast, Heady Topper reduces the total amount of hops used. Using the phenols from the yeast to fake the presence of hops. (Now this is NOT a clone recipe post, just a personal thought) For example, I got tons of Citra like flavors in my previous batches using this yeast. Why in the world would I toss Citra hops into the beer knowing this? So to test this theory, I wanted to create a Red IPA. Using big piney American hops. To see how the yeast handles a different flavor profile.
The idea was simple, lots of hops. Letting the yeast add the tropical flavors to balance the beer. Since I believe this yeast strain will lower the perceived bitterness down, I wanted to over hop the recipe. (Now I've been a big fan of lowering the bittering hops for years, sometimes not bittering at all. So this IBU charge is a big change for me) I'm also going to add a 20 min hop addition, which I haven't done in years. This will bump the IBU's to around 65. The rest will be whirlpool, aroma or dry hops. Which are reflected as 0 IBU's in Beersmith but we all know add some bitterness/flavor/aroma, calculated or not.