First Wort Hopping

Anyone use this method? Do you really notice a difference?

Yes and yes...I don't use it all the time, but have always been pleased with the resulting beer.

I tried it for the first time yesterday in a kolsch. I'd be curious to hear what affect others say it has on the beer.

I have used it on a few beers, but I have never done a side-by-side. I haven't noticed any particular characteristic that would lead me to believe it is affecting the final product but some will swear it has an impact...

I do it for all my IPA's, but I've never done one without and vice versa.....so I guess I'm no help

I do it a lot. It provides a smooth flavor contribution.

I have used it. In my experience I would still use a decent size bittering addition when FWH'ing. I have done FWH as the only 60 minute addition followed by a moderate size 45 addition followed by a ton of late hops. It was smooth ......... too smooth for my taste as it lacked the bitter punch you expect from an IPA.

I have used FWH a few times.

You would consider it when you want a particular hop to contribute to both bitterness and flavor. For instance suppose your brew calls for 2 oz EKG @ 60 and 1 oz EKG @ 20. By using 1 oz from the bittering addition as the FWH you smooth out the bitterness and add some to the flavor. At least that's the story...

I'm thinking about splitting up my XPA batch this weekend. 1/2 FWH 1/2 with a 60 minute addition. It's the only way to really figure out what the difference is for myself! I'll keep you posted on the results

Really good post about FHW. Great side by side comparison done

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/first-wort-hopping-white-paper-sort-50941/

I use my flavor hops as my FW, I still add all of my 60min bittering... I mellows out the harshness, while giving a fuller profile - IMHO. I would suggest running the numbers through beer smith

WildKnight said:

Anyone use this method? Do you really notice a difference?

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Yes and yes there is a difference.


This is a common hop timing for my APA/IPA beers
FWH - bitterness
20 min.
15 min.
10 min.
5 min.
Flameout/Whirlpool
Dry hop
-

But when doing Belgian or French beers I use the traditional timing>
90 or 60 min - bitterness
20 or 15 min
5 or flameout
Dry hop if needed but very rare.

I started using it a few batches back for my IPA's using high alpha aroma hops like Cent and Amarillo. The quality of these brews are a step up from previous. I can tell the obtuse edges of bitterness have been smoothed out and the aroma is more distinct. The only problem is the dogs don't get their spent grain cookies.

coastwx said:

The only problem is the dogs don't get their spent grain cookies.

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Why? Are you putting the FWH in your mash?

If you put them in the mash then you're not FWH. I do on my IPAs and I agree with everyone else that helps round the bitterness out. I still use bittering hops but I use less flavor hops when I do it.

MajorTom said:

Why? Are you putting the FWH in your mash?

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Well Damn I did what I though was FWH the last few batches, but it was actually just mash or better, sparge hopping. Must have misread the information or had one too many that day I decided to try it.

I FWH all my beers, not so much for the change in flavor (I really haven't noticed much difference), but so I don't forget to add them at the beginning of the boil.

Boy said:

Really good post about FHW. Great side by side comparison done

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/first-wort-hopping-white-paper-sort-50941/

Click to expand...

That is a good write up. What I don't understand is, that the article clearly states no aroma hops were used yet the beers still had a very pleasing aroma, and most people in that thread seemed to be replacing bittering hops with FWH. I'm going to try a Classic German Pils much like they did in the experiments with no aroma hops and might split the batch to dry hop some, and see what happens.

What I get from the article is that the increased bitterness is somewhat nullified by the smoother hop taste, so to keep it balanced you still need the bittering addition.

http://brewery.org/library/1stwort.html

http://www.franklinbrew.org/brewinfo/brauweltfwh.html

I use brewpal on my iPhone for recipe calculations. It allows me to calculate FWH IBU's and it uses the defined boil time for calculating how many IBU's will come from the FWH. Thus, the FWH should provide a full boil level of IBU's from the hops.

I am not saying a bit more long boil hops (not used as FWH) or a bit of a reduction of late addition hops isn't warranted. You might need to tweak it to you likings. But, it seems like adding both FWH and 60 minute boil hops will give you a very bitter beer.

For example, using a base recipe of 2-row (8 lbs) and carapils (1 lb) with a final gravity 1.052-1.056 and 3 oz of cascade hops (4.6% AA), you can get several IBU's. (the differences are MUCH greater with a 90 minute boil)

Option 1 (FWH only, no long boil, with late flavor add'n)

1oz FWH
0 oz 60 min
1 oz 15 min
1 oz 5 min
Total IBU = 33

Option 2 (both FWH & long boil, without flavor add'n):

1oz FWH
1 oz 60 min
0 oz 15 min
1 oz 5 min
Total IBU = 44

Option 3 (combination):

1oz FWH
1/2 oz 60 min
1/2 oz 15 min
1 oz 5 min
Total IBU = 38

I FWH a recent beer with Hersbucker and while it gave it plenty of flavor and some aroma the flavor and the aroma it gave was different than what I normally attribute to Hersbucker. Kinda vegetable and plant like.