Hop Utilization and DME

Walker said:

hop utilization is negatively affected by the gravity of the wort that the hops are boiling in. The thicker the wort, the less utilization you get.

This is why people who do partial boils often use more hops than would be necessary if they made that same recipe in a full volume boil.

But, if you are adding the DME at the end, then it's kind of irrelevant. The hops will have boiled in the thinner wort and would not be impacted.

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Walker said:

your dry hops won't be affected. it's really all about the amount of bitterness you get out of the hops, so really only the hops that get boiled for a long time.

also note that the gravity does not even make a major impact on the hop utilization unless the gravity is significantly raised.

example:
5 gallons of 1.050 wort with 1 oz of a 10% hop boiled for 60 minutes will get about 45 IBUs.

If you up the gravity to 1.060 (which is a pretty big difference) and keep the hops the same, then you get only (gasp!) 42.5 IBUs.

45-42.5 = 2.5 IBU lost due to a 10 point gravity difference. that's not much difference.


it's more important for people who do the 3 gallon thick wort boils.

another example:
end product is going to be 5 gallons of 1.050 wort.
it is cooked as 3 gallons of thicker wort with a gravity of 1.083 (that's a MASSIVE difference from 1.050)
that 1oz of hops will end up giving you only 38 IBUs after you dilute the 3 gallons of cooked wort to 5 gallons.

so, now we're talking about a bigger difference. 45 IBU vs 38 IBU.

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Ernst-Haeckel said:

I think I will add the DME at 0 or 5, since the recipe calls for adding corn sugar at 0 and that is what I am replacing with DME. So only the 0 min hops and maybe the dry hops will be affected? I think I can live with that!

Thanks!

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maida7 said:

+1 for everything Walker Texas Ranger has already stated.

kinda off topic... But why are you replacing the corn sugar with DME? why not use the corn sugar?

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Ernst-Haeckel said:

basically I am sometimes disappointed that Black IPA's don't highlight a bit more roast flavors; I have had a couple that you would have no idea were even dark beers if you hadn't poured it in a glass, dark in color only, not flavor.

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Walker said:

For what it's worth, that's the way the Black IPAs are supposed to be. In BYO's article talking about this becoming a new and official style, the description of it was that you shouldn't be able to tell it apart from a normal IPA if you tasted the two side-by-side with your eyes closed.

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Ernst-Haeckel said:

I am not worried about staying true to standards, just appeasing what my pallet is in the mood for!

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maida7 said:

I expect the corn sugar was to keep the beer light in body. IPA's do best with a light dry finish. The corn sugar keeps it from being too sweet. Subing it out for DME really won't help boost the roast flavor it will just add more body and malty sweetness.

If you want more roast, ditch the carafa and up the chocolate malt to .5 lb. But a black IPA is usually not very roasty. Just black without the roast. That's what the carafa does for it.

PS
Do a search for Janet's Brown Ale. Try that recipe, I think you'll like it.

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