Three Hearted ale kit full boil hop utilization question

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
BeerWard

BeerWard

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2010
Messages
169
Reaction score
2
Location
Greenville
I have been brewing kits while getting my process down, and have made some tasty beer. I have done about 10 batches and always to a full boil. I haven't really adjusted the hop schedule in the past for a full boil. The next batch is the Northern Brewer three-hearted ale, my first IPA. If I wanted to adjust for higher hop utilization would I just reduce the bittering hops, or should I cut back on the late hop additions as well?
 
BeerWard said:
I have been brewing kits while getting my process down, and have made some tasty beer. I have done about 10 batches and always to a full boil. I haven't really adjusted the hop schedule in the past for a full boil. The next batch is the Northern Brewer three-hearted ale, my first IPA. If I wanted to adjust for higher hop utilization would I just reduce the bittering hops, or should I cut back on the late hop additions as well?
Click to expand...

You don't ever want to cut back on the late additions. If you want to reduce the bittering charge by 15% or so, that would be ok. I'd probably just do it as written, because I'm not convinced there would be a big difference in utilization.
 
Thanks Yooper, that is what I will do. That 15% that I hold back early will just get added at Flameout.
 
I emailed Northern Brewer about this same question a week ago and they said the exact same thing as Yooper; when doing full boils cut the bittering hops by 10 to 15-percent but leave the flavoring and aroma hops as listed in the recipe.
 
I did this kit 6 months ago using a full boil and just added hops as called out and it turned out great. I didn't feel like it was overly bitter.

I've actually done a few dozen of their kits as a full boil with no adjustments and everything has turned out well.
 
One thing you might want to do is add 5.2 Buffer to your "mash" if you do not do any water conditioning. Hops will be utilized better for an IPA with better water!
 
So the beer is finally done. I held back 15% of the bittering hops and added those at flameout. What a great beer. Side by side with Bell's and it hold up like a champ. It might be just a little less bitter, but is still full of that wonderful citrus hoppiness. Next time, I probably won't adjust.

I have now gone all-grain and will be trying eschatz recipe for this beer next.
 
Any thoughts on whether or not this beer actually needs the secondary they recommend? I know most on here say that ales don't need it, but pretty much every reviewer on the NB website referred to using one, so I'm a bit hesitant to go against the grain on this one.
 
I have done this beer a few times. Never have I done a secondary. I do like to opt for a longer primary. Three weeks, then dry hop right in the primary bucket. It has worked well for me.
 

Similar threads

D
First Recipe: 1 Gallon Maris Otter / Goldings SMaSH (Comments, suggestions?)
Replies
6
Views
372
Northern_Brewer
Northern_Brewer
Tony B
First batch
Replies
10
Views
672
Kornssj
Kornssj
K
Help me with my recipe! (Pseudo beer / hopped seltzer)
Replies
4
Views
957
KiljuBrew
K
F
Water treatment for steeping grain (extract kit)
Replies
8
Views
942
mabrungard
mabrungard
Gadjobrinus
N. England - late hopping guidance, IBU's?
Replies
24
Views
1K
day_trippr
day_trippr
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top