Mid-Boil Hop Additions: Are they worth it?

Lately I have been getting away from mid boil hop addition (i.e. 45, 30, or 15 min hop additions) and have been strictly doing 90 or 60 min additions and keeping the late additions to flameout or even whirlpool.

In your opinion, does the mid boil additions make that much of a difference?

You will find world class beers made with both methods. It really is down to your system and your preference.

Hops flavor utilization is much higher at 15-20 minutes than at 60 or 0 minutes.
Do you really gen enough hop flavor brewing your way?
I suppose it depends on the style, if you don't need much hops flavoring.

ArcLight said:

Hops flavor utilization is much higher at 15-20 minutes than at 60 or 0 minutes.
Do you really gen enough hop flavor brewing your way?
I suppose it depends on the style, if you don't need much hops flavoring.

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Do you happen to have any sources or data that might show that flavor utilization is increased at 15-20 min.? I have had trouble finding anything.

jlogue3454 said:

Do you happen to have any sources or data that might show that flavor utilization is increased at 15-20 min.? I have had trouble finding anything.

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https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attach...ing-cause-hop-flavor-lost-hop_utilization.jpg

I'm not sure who made it or where this data comes from. I assume there is a reason that most recipes call for 15 minute additions.

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/500/medium/hops47.jpg

May be the same

I do 60 minutes and then 15 through flameout. I stopped with the 30 minute additions.


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I listen to a couple of podcasts about this issue, including a pretty good one with Mitch Steele on Basic Brewing Radio (Dec. 12th 2012 show). The impression that I got was that those mid-to-late hop additions help stabilize the hop flavor as a beer ages. When pressed on the late-additions vs dry-hops question Mitch Steele basically said both bring different elements to a beer and both are required if you are brewing world-class IPAs.

Depending on the beer, at my work we consistently use all methods. If all I want is bitterness for balance but no hop flavour then I will just use a 60 min addition. If I want to pull out bitterness but leave some flavour, I will use 30 min additions to still get good IBU but have some more layers of flavour. Sometimes I will hop burst. Pull half the IBU out of my 60 min addition but then pull the other half of the IBU's from 15 min additions or later. So that translates to alot of hops right in the end. It's all about how you want your flavors and aromas to layer. I have a stout recipe that uses the majority of its hopping in a 30 min addition. only 14g in the boil, 40g in the mid, and 14g at flamout. Lets the malt character punch through a bit more in the end. So really, it depends, its all subjective, style dependent.