Late extract additions

What is the benefit of a late extract addition?

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Be sure that you reduce the hop amounts slightly. It wasn't noticable in a dark beer, but in a blonde, yeah, it will be obvious.

dang -- I've started doing the 1/2 late extract addition on my last several batches to try to maintain the lighter color. But, I didn't make any hop adjustments... I should have read up on this a bit more first I guess.
Fortunately, one of those is an IPA, so hopefully the extra hop utilization won't be a bad thing, but I'll have to see how the others turn out.

I have an example of the difference late additions make. I made my Dead Guy clone when I first started brewing. Later, I did it with the late addition of most of the extract. Tasting it, I thought it seemed about twice as bitter as the original. When I bought brewing software, my guess was confirmed: the original was around 15 IBUs, and the late addition version had IBUs of around 27. Still a good beer, but noticeably more bitter.

If you don't have brewing software, you can approximate the higher gravity boil results (as far as the hops utilization) by lowering your bittering hops addition approximately 25%.

But seriously folks, I've seen Late Extract Additions in stout recipes, so there'd be no intent of keeping color light there, I just alway thought from my readings of Papazian that the malt extract itself was what we wanted to have in contact with the hop oils during the boil to extract the goodness. That just always confused me.

I've never noticed the differences in the need to adjust the hops for a late extract additions...the difference in apparant bitterness would imho be too small to notice.

In fact if you listen to this basic brewing podcast, you'll find that subtle differences in IBU's are almost too small taste...

March 20, 2008 - What Is an IBU . . . Really?
John Palmer, author of How to Brew, shares information from a conference that challenged his concept of what defines an International Bitterness Unit (IBU).

http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbr03-20-08ibu.mp3

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Hmmmmmm...and yet many people have stated, in their own anecdotal evidence, the taste was QUITE noticeable. Hmmmmm.

Teddi Brewski said:

Hmmmmmm...and yet many people have stated, in their own anecdotal evidence, the taste was QUITE noticeable. Hmmmmm.

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You ever hear the saying "ask 10 brewers the same question and you'll get 12 different answers?"

It depends on how much you really want to sweat the calculations...if you get a few ibu's difference I doubt people notice...if it's 10 or more, then yeah, maybe...but like Palmer said in the podcast we really can't taste slight variances in IBU's.

Revvy said:

You ever hear the saying "ask 10 brewers the same question and you'll get 12 different answers?"

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I haven't, but then again, i never was very good at math...

My 4 latest batches have all been brewed with late extract addition. 1 (MWS Honey Bee Ale) has been bottled for about a week. The other 3 (MWS Octane IPA, BB Dunkelweizen, MWS Honey Amber Ale) are in primary. I guess I'm going to find out first hand in 2 or 3 weeks when I sample the first Honey Bee Ale.
Good topic though...

I've been thinking about this and started wondering why late extract addition isn't standard procedure with many extract kit recipes? I would think that with the hop shortage, if this is a legit way to achieve the same IBUs with perhaps 3/4 ounce of hops rather than a full ounce, the kit makers would be all over that...

Teddi Brewski said:

Hmmmmmm...and yet many people have stated, in their own anecdotal evidence, the taste was QUITE noticeable. Hmmmmm.

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I really think it depends on the beer. Like in my Dead Guy clone, the original IBUs were around 15. With the late extract addition, my IBUs were around 30. That's a very noticeable difference- almost twice as bitter. If it was a different beer, say 30 IBUs and the late addition but it at 40, that's not nearly as noticeable.

In a beer with higher IBUs, the differences would be more subtle.

I know that some kits DO instruct for late additions, mainly to help keep the color light I think.