Confused on Recipe

So I am going to write down a recipe I am trying to follow.

Place crushed crystal malt in water and steep at 155 degrees for 30 minutes. Removed spent grains and add extracts, 1 and a half ounces cascade hops and gypsum. Boil for 1 hour, adding the irish moss for the last 10 minutes. Turn off heat, add 2 ounces of Cascade hops, and steep for 10 minutes. Cool wort and pitch yeast.

Am I supposed to turn off all the heat and let the finishing 2 ounces of hops just sit there for 10 minutes. There will not be any chance of contamination because I am letting it sit? Also after the hour do I just leave the 1 and half cascade boiling hops in with the finishing hops and take both of them out at the end. Or do I take the boiling hops out and then just put in the finishing hops for the last 10 minutes? Thanks for the advice on this recipe?

For the finishing hops, it says to turn off the heat and then add the hops. Let them sit without heat for 10 minutes. Yes, that is typical for a flame-out hop addition.

You don't need to worry about contamination from the hops. They are naturally antibiotic/bacteriostatic, and help protect the beer from bacteria infections. (For recipes that dry hop, you add the hops directly to the fermenter at fermentation temps, after the primary fermentation is finished. No worries about infecitons!)

Most recipes show your hop additions at 'minutes left in boil', so that a 60-min addition is in the boil for a full 60 minutes. If you had a 20-min addition, it would be in there for the 'last 20 minutes' of the boil, along with the earlier additions.

In your case, you just have the 1.5 oz Cascade for the full 60 minute boil, then flame-out and add the 2 oz and let it steep for an extra 10 minutes without heat.

Good luck!
--LexusChris

LexusChris said:

For the finishing hops, it says to turn off the heat and then add the hops. Let them sit without heat for 10 minutes. Yes, that is typical for a flame-out hop addition.

You don't need to worry about contamination from the hops. They are naturally antibiotic/bacteriostatic, and help protect the beer from bacteria infections. (For recipes that dry hop, you add the hops directly to the fermenter at fermentation temps, after the primary fermentation is finished. No worries about infecitons!)

Most recipes show your hop additions at 'minutes left in boil', so that a 60-min addition is in the boil for a full 60 minutes. If you had a 20-min addition, it would be in there for the 'last 20 minutes' of the boil, along with the earlier additions.

In your case, you just have the 1.5 oz Cascade for the full 60 minute boil, then flame-out and add the 2 oz and let it steep for an extra 10 minutes without heat.

Good luck!
--LexusChris

Click to expand...

So then your saying to take out the boiling hops for the last 10 minutes that I do a flame-out and add the 2 oz hops? Just double checking on whether or not to keep them in or take them out? Thanks for the help.

You pretty much never take hops out. Many of use can't as we don't use a hop bag.

It is strange that it recommends letting it sit for 10 minutes, though the wort will never cool to room temp immediately anyway. The wort will be safe for those 10 minutes as it will still be very hot.

I'd just leave in your original hops the whole time. They'll add some bittering for those 10 minutes, but no big deal. The recipe may already account for that.

LexusChris said:

For the finishing hops, it says to turn off the heat and then add the hops. Let them sit without heat for 10 minutes. Yes, that is typical for a flame-out hop addition.

You don't need to worry about contamination from the hops. They are naturally antibiotic/bacteriostatic, and help protect the beer from bacteria infections. (For recipes that dry hop, you add the hops directly to the fermenter at fermentation temps, after the primary fermentation is finished. No worries about infecitons!)

Most recipes show your hop additions at 'minutes left in boil', so that a 60-min addition is in the boil for a full 60 minutes. If you had a 20-min addition, it would be in there for the 'last 20 minutes' of the boil, along with the earlier additions.

In your case, you just have the 1.5 oz Cascade for the full 60 minute boil, then flame-out and add the 2 oz and let it steep for an extra 10 minutes without heat.

Good luck!
--LexusChris

Click to expand...

Also one more question. Should I cover the pot when I do the flame out or leave it open? And I should be using hop bags correct?

A hops bag is optional. Many homebrewers just dump the hops in the boil at the times recommended, and leave them in there during cool down.

As I understand it, the isomerization process of alpha-acids in the hops (which creates the bitterness) only happens at boiling temps. So any hops added after the boil stops, are not contributing bitterness. They are only contributing the hop oils which give so much of the flavor & aroma.

When you cool down the wort & transfer to your fermenter, many brewers try to leave the hops & hot-break material behind. A simple process of stirring quickly to 'whirlpool' the wort will accumulate most of the material into the center of the pot. This makes it simple to drain and leave most of the solids behind. However, do not worry if you cannot do this or if some gets through. Some just dump the whole batch, solids & all, into the fermenter and don't have any trouble with it.

Relax. Don't worry. Enjoy and have a homebrew!

--LexusChris

So one other question because I have never added the hops straight without a bag. Should I stir them into the wort or just let the wort boil and do its thing? Thanks for the help.

Are you using whole or pellet hops? Pellet hops will dissolve as soon as they hit the boil, so nothing to worry about there. Whole hops you can kind of mix up a little if you want, but the boil will do a pretty good job of moving them around.

If you decide you want to use a hop bag, do a quick search for "hop spider". Basically its a big bag with an opening at the top. The large bag allows the hops to fully contact the wort, which increases utilization (you don't want your hops tightly packed in a bag or they won't work as well). The opening at the top lets you use the same bag for all your additions, so you could just throw the last cascade in after the heat was turned off. After the boil you can just pull the bag and hops right out and not have to worry about them. Since pellet hops dissolve I'm not sure how it works for them, but I've heard good things about whole hops.