bierhaus15

Recipes 

I know this has been discussed before, but I am curious to see how other people try to achieve the best hop aroma from their flameout (0 min) additions. I was always under the impression that you get the best hop aroma by rapidly chilling your wort to pitching temps right after adding your flameout additions. I have been doing this for years and achieved good results - and I know this method is pretty much ubiquitous.

However, I have recently encountered a few big time homebrewers and professional brewers who have 'informed' me how the best hop aroma comes from letting the hops steep in the non-boiling, hot wort for a long time.

For instance, one guy adds his flameout hops, turns off the heat and lets the hops steep covered for an hour before starting to chill. He claims this gives the best aroma and routinely does this with his IPA's and IIPA's - using 3-4oz flameout additions. The other guy (professional brewer) starts his whirlpool after cutting the heat, adds his hop additions and continues to whirlpool for about 40 min, before starting to cool the wort. He also says this gives more hop aroma than adding the hops during the whirlpool and cooling quickly.

It it just me or does their process seem like a waste of hops? I forget the brew science they used as proof, but to me it seems like you would loose more hop aromatics with a long hot steep than cooling quickly? Isn't what they are doing just a big flavor addition? What is your opinion on this???

Henrythe9th

Recipes 

That's how i do it, flame out, added last hops, whirlpool 40mins, lift the bag up out for draining and then cool, sometimes it sits over night(with hop bag out of wort)
then pitch

Beerbeque

Recipes 

I took a cue from the BYO mag article about Stone Brewing. Now I flameout, toss in all of my finishing hops and let it sit for at least 45 mins before chilling. I leave the hops in until I'm ready to drain my kettle. Like the article says, You get a ton of hop flavor and aroma as well as some added bitterness using this method.. So I only do two hop additions anymore- One at the start of boil and one after boil. I never hassle with the dry hopping either but I still get super hop flavor/aroma.

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shamrockdoc

Recipes 

A hop back device would give amazing hop oil results. But I like he BYO 45 min rest before chilling idea.

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bierhaus15

Recipes 

Do you know what issue that is from? I'd be interested in reading what they have to say. I was always under the assumption that the longer you left the hops in the hot wort before chilling, the less aromatics you get. It seems like it is practiced more than I thought.

It would be interesting to see the science behind this, or find out which method actually gives more hop aroma.

oceanselv

Recipes 

I like to wait until I have cooled below 120 and then add at least 2 oz of low alpha acid hops. This works well if you are using hops with volatile esters such as Saaz or the other noble hops.

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ghpeel

Recipes 

Just did a batch today and experimented with this concept. I do No Chills exclusively and have never been totally pleased with how hops added into the cube have performed. I added 2 oz of hops (1oz each of Challenger & EKG) in my 5gal batch as I cut the flame off. I let them steep for 5 minutes before draining the wort away from the hop bag and into my No Chill cube. We'll see what kind of hop flavor/aroma I get from this technique.

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bierhaus15

Recipes 

Let us know how it turns out!

I have been doing some experimenting of my own with two of my recent batches. Both are similar beers with almost the exact same hop schedule. One of them I added flameout hops, let steep for 40 min then chilled. The other I added the hops and chilled almost immediately, achieving pitching temp in 10 min. I would still love to see some real science on the methods.

jfr1111

Recipes 

I've been toying with this, and so far, I'm pleased with the results.

MarzBock

Recipes 

It would make sense that a longer steep time would extract more hoppy aroma goodness as opposed to instantly starting the chill. I think the loss of hop aroma is due to boil-off mostly, as the desired compounds are volatile and they will evaparate more quickly if the wort is still boiling.

I've often wondered if that 5-10 minutes after flame-out was enough to extract the aroma hop addition. Personally, I'm not really into hoppy beers, so I haven't worried about it too much. Next time, I plan to let the aroma hops steep for 30 minutes at least before starting the chiller.

Those no-chill cubes sound perfect for doing IPA's and other hoppy beers. You'll get the most out of the aroma hops simply because the system is sealed and there is nowhere for the volatiles to escape. As the temp drops, the potential for generating bitterness would be lessened.

that's my 2c on the matter...