Hopping techniques

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crusader1612

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Hey all. Interesting question I'm interested In some experiments relating to hopping schedules
Namely:
Mash hops
First Wort Hops
And Hop bursting. So I thought I'd se what people's thoughts were on each type. As looking for hop flavour and aroma

I've also done other techniques such as hop percolator and so on

Anyone done anything similar
 
For my IPA's, I use a small amount of clean, high alpha bittering hops like Warrior at 60 minutes to get about half of my IBU's. Then I add my flavor and aroma hops somewhere in the last 10 minutes of the boil to get the other half of the IBU's I'm aiming for. I then dry hop with about 1oz of hops per gallon. This gets me the hop flavor and aroma I like in an IPA.

I do however keep my grain bill in mind because the malt character of the beer will influence my perception of the hops. I also use only WLP001 or US05. They seem to accentuate the perception of hops better than other yeast strains.
 
julioardz said:
For my IPA's, I use a small amount of clean, high alpha bittering hops like Warrior at 60 minutes to get about half of my IBU's. Then I add my flavor and aroma hops somewhere in the last 10 minutes of the boil to get the other half of the IBU's I'm aiming for. I then dry hop with about 1oz of hops per gallon. This gets me the hop flavor and aroma I like in an IPA.

I do however keep my grain bill in mind because the malt character of the beer will influence my perception of the hops. I also use only WLP001 or US05. They seem to accentuate the perception of hops better than other yeast strains.

So no mid additions?
 
Most of my recipes include largish flame out charge followed by 20-30 min steep/whirlpool at about 180.

The whirlpool temp and time needs to be considered in estimating IBU contributions from late and flame out hop additions.
 
I haven't added any steeping hops at 180F, but that's been on my mind to try the next time I make an IPA. I've done a few with FWH, but didn't notice any benefit to it in my recipes, so I went back to that clean, high alpha addition at 60. This way I save all my good aroma/flavor hops for hop bursting and dry hopping.
 
Thanks. But I'm looking more for personal experiences

No problem but the book goes into detail about all the different ways to dry hop and to some extent it is an amalgamation of 'personal experiences' ;)

There isn't really anything in the book that hasn't been already done by most, if not all, forum members.
 
- Most instruct to FWH with aroma hops. I am a huge fan of getting all of my bitterness from FWH. Columbus is my favorite. I FWH with 2 ounces of Columbus in my IIPA and it leaves good bitterness and a dank undertone to my flavor hops.

- There are some studies that indicate the oil components of certain hops increase the "perception" of others. Bravo and Appollo (I think) are supposed to accentuate the floral side of some hops. I am doing a side by side adding alittle Bravo with Centennial to see.

- The IPA kegged right now has been very well received
Columbus at FWH .75 oz
Centennial at 20 .5 oz
Centennial at 15 2 oz
Centennial at 10 .5
Dry hopped with and oz each of citra/simcoe/crystal for 10.

On a side note- I have made hop teas with moderate success and Whirlpooled with some success too. Time consuming IMHO and with my setup no real consistency for me.
 
Also, from my understanding of hop usage, the alpha acids contribute to the bitterness and the beta acids contribute more to the aroma. Therefore, you benefit from using hops with high beta acids during hop bursting and possible warm steeping. A high alpha/low beta hop will give you clean bitterness with little aroma and little more than just plain bitterness for flavoring.

So this is also something to consider when coming up with a hop schedule, not just in IPA's, but in other recipes as well.

There's some more info on that here and here.
 
I am a huge proponent of late and flame out additions. In my pale ale, I get all of my ibus from late additions, namely an ounce and a half at two minutes and an ounce and a half at flame out. I then do a thirty minute hop stand before I cool and whirlpool. Finally I dry hop with an ounce of something.

This always gets me huge hop flavor and aroma. I believe, from listening to the brewing network, jamil uses only late additions in some of his beers to get all of his ibus.
 
On a side note- I have made hop teas with moderate success...

I've considering doing this too using a french press but haven't gotten around to trying it. I'm pretty satisfied with my approach to hopping my IPA's, but it's always fun to try something different. I've read some discouraging this approach and others say it has worked for them. I won't know if I like it until I try it though.
 
My experiences:

-FWH - no big difference vs. 60min charge
-Mash hops - utterly useless
-30min addition - seems to round out the bitterness vs. a 60min only charge, but needs more study
-Any additions between 30 - 5 min - waste of hops
-Hot whirlpool (180 - 211F) - great way to get late bitterness and perserve flavor and some aroma.
-Cool whirlpool (< 180F) - decent for flavor, and the only way to preserve pungent hop aroma in the kettle
-Dry hopping - mandatory if you want big aroma (due to the low flash point of the major essential oils). No more than 7-10 days contact time at most.
-Hop tea - results in pronounced vegetable character - undersireable.

In summary for hoppy beers, I add 2/3 of my IBU's at 60min or split between 60/30min, with the last 1/3 coming from a hot whirlpool. This results in the best flavor and aroma preservation going into the fermentor. I now firmly believe some flavor and especially aroma additions in the boil are really a waste of hops.
 
Mash hops seems to be the consensus that they don't do a right lot.

For those of you who haven't tried hop teas or a hop percolator it does work. I used NZ hops and got a brilliant aroma. It's definitely something to try again. Ill actually be running some tests to compare that to a whirlpool addition.
Not a flameout addition
I'm thinking like what epic pale ale does on the CYBI
An addition at 0 mins and stand for 10-15 mins
Then another addition at this point of the same amount

My experience with using hop tea is that it would be more beneficial than adding as the flameout addition but added direct to the cold Wort. Much like shipyard brewing do
 

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