hop flavor/aroma - what matters - AA% or ounces?

When adding flavor and/or aroma hops does AA% give you an idea of "intensity" like it does for bittering? I ask because I brewed an APA with Summit, but because Summit is such a high alpha hop, I didn't use a lot of it in my flavor addition (I didn't want to bump up the IBUs too much).

I also added some Palisades, but because they were lower in AA% I used more of them. Drinking it now, I don't get a lot of Summit flavor, but I think I'm getting the Palisades (though to be honest, this is my first time using Palisades so I don't really know its flavor).

I was thinking adding a little Summit for flavor would go a long way because of its AA%, but now I am thinking that it doesn't work that way and that I should have added more ounces of Summit to get the flavor I was looking for.

No, completely different set of chemicals. AA% has nothing to do with the hop oil levels and I've never seen a packet of hops with any kind of rating for the oils.

If you want to use a high AA hop for flavor, you'll have to back off on the bittering add.

Ehh, you might listen to the brewstrong podcast on dry hopping. They make a case for using high alpha acid hops.

When you're adding hops in the aroma/flavor stages of brewing, the AA% really doesn't matter as much because you're not getting the same isomerization. I use hops like Centennial, Chinook, and Nuggett all the time for aroma/flavor. You just need to watch what kind of hops they are. Some bittering hops don't go well as flavor/aroma hops. I usually add the same amount of hops I would for a lower AA%.

For my recipe, I added only a 1/3 ounce of Summit at 20 minutes and a 1/4 ounce at 8 minutes. I added so little because the AA% was 18.5%. The result seems to be that the beer has very little Summit flavor.

I dry-hopped with a full ounce of Summit, so the aroma is good. Which makes it kind of a weird beer to drink in that the aroma hints at one thing, while the flavor delivers another.

Try digging around for a technique called "hop-bursting". I do not recall specific rquantities or ratios. Basically you try and get over half of your ibu's from additions in the last 15 minutes of your boil. You will end up using way more hops but you will get more hop flavor.

JLem said:

For my recipe, I added only a 1/3 ounce of Summit at 20 minutes and a 1/4 ounce at 8 minutes. I added so little because the AA% was 18.5%. The result seems to be that the beer has very little Summit flavor.

I dry-hopped with a full ounce of Summit, so the aroma is good. Which makes it kind of a weird beer to drink in that the aroma hints at one thing, while the flavor delivers another.

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That's because, as said above... the AA% has nothing to do with the flavor/aroma of the hops. All that tells you is the bittering potential. So...even though something is 18%, it's not lending it's bitterness to the beer in the last 20 minutes of the boil. There's no reason to worry about it because of this. Next time you brew, don't worry about the AA% unless it's specifically being used for bittering.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

That's because, as said above... the AA% has nothing to do with the flavor/aroma of the hops. All that tells you is the bittering potential. So...even though something is 18%, it's not lending it's bitterness to the beer in the last 20 minutes of the boil. There's no reason to worry about it because of this. Next time you brew, don't worry about the AA% unless it's specifically being used for bittering.

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Yeah, this is what I am realizing now.

Is there a "standard" for how much hops to add for flavor/aroma? Something like - 1/2 ounce for low, 3/4 ounce for medium, and 1+oz for high? (and less than 1/2 ounce for none!?)

Not really. It all depends on the flavor of the hops, and how much you personally want in there. Read up on hops a little bit if you'd like to learn more about them. It's a very in depth subject that can't really be explained in a post.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

So...even though something is 18%, it's not lending it's bitterness to the beer in the last 20 minutes of the boil.

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Well, 1 ounce of 18% AA hop pellets at 20 minutes in 1.055 wort gives about 43 IBU's.

That's quite a bit of bitterness.

(using this calculator http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/ )

bakins said:

Well, 1 ounce of 18% AA hop pellets at 20 minutes in 1.055 wort gives about 43 IBU's.

That's quite a bit of bitterness.

(using this calculator http://www.brewersfriend.com/ibu-calculator/ )

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Try this experiment some time... Brew two batches of identical wort. The only thing different should be the hop schedule. In one, use enough summit hops to create 43 IBU's @ 60 minutes. In the other, use enough to create 43 IBU's @ 20 minutes. You're percieved bitterness is going to be higher in the 60 minute beer than the 20, regardless of IBU's.

IBU's are a dumb way of calculating bitterness if you ask me.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

You're percieved bitterness is going to be higher in the 60 minute beer than the 20, regardless of IBU's.

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Okay, I'll buy that. Like how FWH is actually more IBU's but "tastes" like much less.