Improving Hop Bitterness/Aroma

I just bottled my English Pale Ale and sampled a bit of it in the process. Although a Pale Ale isn't supposed to be very hoppy, I was hard pressed to detect very much if any hop bitterness or aroma at all. It was an extract partial boil recipe with steeped grains where I used 1 oz of Target at 60 minutes and 1 oz of Kent Goldings at 1 minute. I'm not sure if it was the concentration of the boiled wort or the fact that it was diluted later when added to the fermentor but it didn't seem like the hop utilization was very good. My question is: Is there a better way to get more hop aroma and bitterness in this type of recipe aside from using more? I really love hops and I'm planning an IPA next and I don't want to be disappointed in the final product. Any input is greatly appreciated!!

Try dry hopping for aroma with Cascade or similar hops. Target should have given you a good run on bitterness. Were the hops old?

- WW

No, I used them less than two weeks after purchasing the ingredients in person at Northern Brewer and kept them in the refrigerator the whole time.

wilsonwj said:

Try dry hopping for aroma with Cascade or similar hops. Target should have given you a good run on bitterness. Were the hops old?

- WW

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For bitterness, you can always boil the hops for a a loger time. If you are using extract, only add half of it at the start of the boil and add the rest near the end (the thicker the wort, the worse the hop utilization.)

Walker-san said:

For bitterness, you can always boil the hops for a a loger time. If you are using extract, only add half of it at the start of the boil and add the rest near the end (the thicker the wort, the worse the hop utilization.)

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I'm confused. I would think the wort would be at it's thickest toward the end of the boil, as more water would have boiled off and the density would have gone up. Or is it more a matter of protein breakdown?

Well, if you only add half of the extract at the beginning of the boil, the wort won't be as thick at that point. You don't have to boil ALL the extract for the full 60 minutes. When you then add the rest near the end, the wort will be thicker, but you've already extracted most of your bitterness so it doens't matter.

I think the rule of thumb is just to make sure all extract is boiled for 15 minutes, both to make sure any nasties are killed and to remove any break material.

Doh! I thought he was saying to add half the hops at the beginning and half the hops halfway through. My confusion was due to an inability to read

In that case, would there be any downside to boiling the hops in pure water or your grain tea for a period of time before adding any extract at all?

You can always boil your hops in a seperate pot with about 2-3 quarts of water. Boil for the necessary time.....even aroma hops. Then add the Hops tea to the wort at the end of the wort boil. This will improve your utilization alot.


"In that case, would there be any downside to boiling the hops in pure water or your grain tea for a period of time before adding any extract at all?"

Yes, you will increase the bitterness of the bittering hops becasue of the extended boil time. Remember that you have to boil your extract so if you boil the hops in the grain tea then your hops get double boiled. Your flavor hops wil also turn into bittering hops and your aroma hops will turn into flavor or bittering hops.

You will have one bitter brew unless you add the hops tea at the end of the wort boil so not to extend the boil time.

I see what you're saying, but the idea was just to be able to use full boil quantities of hops at partial boil volumes of water, and still get decent utilization. i.e., save money Obviously if you use a full dose of hops and you double boil it you're gonna make things bitter as all get out

The only way to get great utilization of hops in partial boils is to make hop tea. You cannot expect 2 gallons of water with 8-10 lbs of sugar dissolved into it to be able to extract hop resins very effectively.

I guess somebody need to make a liquid Hop Extract and market it for extract/partial boil people.