confused about a tip in the latest 'byo' mag (hops)

hi,

i don't have the magazine on me right now so i can't provide the quote, but in essence, the latest b.y.o. magazine has a feature -- something along the lines of "26 tips for the beginning brewer".

someone wrote in to provide a tip about an apparently common misconception about new brewers and hop boiling times. this person says that a lot of noobs produce overly bitter brews due to a misunderstanding of interpreting the normal recipe format.

if i read the comment correctly, it seems that this person means to say that hop boiling times such as 60 min., 1 oz. cascade, etc. should not indicate the length of the boiling time but, instead, when to add them to the boil.

ok, this makes no sense to me. if it made sense, then i'd understand that the 15-minute hops would be listed first, before the 60 mins.

anyone read it? get where this person is coming from?

thanks! i'm getting ready to do a double ipa tomorrow and will be making a hop tea, and i'll add the hops to the wort based on 60 mins. being how long they need to be boiled, et al! that is, unless i really have been misunderstanding how to read a recipe and this person is right!

thanks!

The article is actually on their site. I read it before, but will read it again and comment. Here is the link...

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - View by Issue - January/February 2009 - 20 Tips for New Brewers

Actually my understanding is the opposite of yours. As far as I gather and am virtually over 100% sure that the time listed next to the hops addition is the time in the boil.

From BYO:

I have had many first-time brewers come in with complaints of over-bittered beer. After some questioning I find that they simply misunderstood how to read a recipe. Hop boil times in a recipe read: 60 min., 15 min., 1 min. A first time brewer reads this as a 76 min total boil, however these are the points during the boil when you should add the hops, not the total boil time. Be sure you understand the hop additions when reading recipes.

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This seems pretty straight forward. He's saying that newbies just add up the times to get the total boil length. Not sure why someone would ever do this.

The boil time should be specified in the recipe. The 60, 15, 1 min is the amount of time left in the boil when those hops should be put in. So for a 90 min boil, the 60 min hops should be added after 30 mins have elapsed and there are 60 minutes remaining. Thus, it is also the length of time that particular hop is in the boil.

Hope that helps.

Deacon is right.instead of a 60 min boil with hop additions at 60 30 15.People will boil for 60 mins. for the first.30 more mins. for second and so on.

The minute my wort hits boil I add the 60 min hops if I have them and write down the time, calculate out what time I am adding each other hop and set alarms. I like to be pretty damn close to what I'm doing for additions.

Thats assuming a 60 min boil. Most of my boils are 90 minutes, so I wait 30 minutes to put in my 60 min hops

Correct. I enjoy my 60 min boils. When my setup gets better than just a pot on a stove I may consider otherwise.

jvetter said:

Thats assuming a 60 min boil. Most of my boils are 90 minutes, so I wait 30 minutes to put in my 60 min hops

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Wouldn't you want your bittering hops to boil as long as possible?So if you do a 90min. boil then throw em in at 90?Not trying to argue just curious.

It depends on what your going for. As a general rule of thumb, you extract more bitterness the longer you boil. Though there are definitely limits to this.

I've done it both ways depending on how much bittering I wanted and the amount of acid in the hop I was using.

The amount of bittering compunds you can extract from the hops really tapers off after 60 minutes, so throwing them in at 90 (or FWH) does not give you a ton more IBUs than throwing them in a 60 (Other than the hot break/hop utilization discussion)

thanks for pitching in everyone and for the quote, jvetter. in retrospect, i must've initially read too much into his statement, "these are the points during the boil when you should add the hops". for some reason, i literally thought he meant at the appointed time of the hour, not the duration. seems my original understanding was right but i somehow crossed-wires when my eyes took in the 60 min., 15 min., 1 min. markings, as to me this just looked like some weird counting backwards thing.

i blame everything on the cold meds i've been on for a few days now!

so this recipe i'm undertaking tomorrow is chock full of hops, will boil times of 60 mins, 30 mins, 10 mins (all 1 oz each) but the final addition is 2 oz at zero minutes. there's an additional oz. reserved for dry hopping.

is the zero minutes an error?

hmm....

hollsa said:

so this recipe i'm undertaking tomorrow is chock full of hops, will boil times of 60 mins, 30 mins, 10 mins (all 1 oz each) but the final addition is 2 oz at zero minutes. there's an additional oz. reserved for dry hopping.

is the zero minutes an error?

hmm....

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Holy schmoly! That's a lot of hops! On second viewing it is pretty much exactly what I added to my latest IPA.

No 0 minutes is no mistake. Add those 2 ozs when you turn off the burner. That is also called "flameout." This addition is very standard for most every type of beer, except maybe a kolsch.

hollsa said:

if i read the comment correctly, it seems that this person means to say that hop boiling times such as 60 min., 1 oz. cascade, etc. should not indicate the length of the boiling time but, instead, when to add them to the boil.

ok, this makes no sense to me. if it made sense, then i'd understand that the 15-minute hops would be listed first, before the 60 mins.

Click to expand...

Think of it as "with X minutes left in the boil".

60mins = "with 60 minutes left in the boil"
15mins = "with 15 minutes left in the boil"
etc

thanks, dontman...flameout...makes perfect sense. doi. yes, it's going to be a luscious double ipa. my first since august! i can hardly wait.

thanks fratermus and everyone, excellent feedback.

The first time I looked up recipes I was confused on the whole time and hops thing as well. I didn't know if it meant "Boil for 60 minutes, then add hops. Boil for 30 minutes, then add hops, etc" or not.

hollsa said:

hi,

thanks! i'm getting ready to do a double ipa tomorrow and will be making a hop tea, and i'll add the hops to the wort based on 60 mins. being how long they need to be boiled, et al! that is, unless i really have been misunderstanding how to read a recipe and this person is right!

thanks!

Click to expand...

A HOP TEA??! Tell me more about this hop tea you speak of. I have never heard of it. Do you use spent hop plugs? fresh hops? My wife and I are both major hopheads and she is a tea drinker. Sounds like something she may really like.

hi i-hop,

i don't know if i'm sold on the idea of the hop tea thing at this point. apparently hops attenuate (sorry if this isn't the right word, i'm in a hurry) more efficiently in water. i was shooting for a sg of around 1.085, and this is what the guy at northern brewer suggested i do.

only, i neglected to then subtract the 3 qts of hop tea/water from the water used for the wort. still, the sg was a healthy 1.070 and i must say that the initial sample out of the hydrometer tube was pretty good, with a terrific hop noseful too.