Aroma/Flavor Hop Edition Question

I've been disappointed with the hop aroma/flavor from my last couple of extract brews. The bitterness is fine but the beers have been lacking in both hop aroma and flavor.

When brewing extract beers I start with 2 gallons, boil this down to 1 1/12 gallons and then top up with water to 3.75 gallons with the aim of kegging 3 1/2 gallons. I try to take into account the effect of diluting the wort when calculating my hop additions and generally end up with the level of bitterness that I'm aiming for by increasing the bittering hop additions, and adding some of the extant towards the end of the brew.

My question is am I adding enough flavor and aroma hops to compensate for diluting the wort. Below is the last recipe I brewed. Do the aroma/flavor hop editions look right for the amount I am diluting or should I be increasing them, if so are there any general rules/guide lines calculating the additions?

Ingredient Amount % When
US Caramel 60L Malt 0.70 lb 8.5 % In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 20L Malt 0.35 lb 4.2 % In Mash/Steeped
US Caramel 10L Malt 0.35 lb 4.2 % In Mash/Steeped
Extract - Light Dried Malt Extract 2.85 lb 34.5 % Start Of Boil
Extract - Light Dried Malt Extract 4.00 lb 48.5 % End Of Boil

US Magnum 16.0 % 1.55 oz 96.0 60 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 0.40 oz 10.1 30 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 0.40 oz 0.0 At turn off
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.65 oz 0.0 Dry-Hopped

The O.G was 1.072 and the F.G was 1.017.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

In order to get hops flavor and aroma, you've got to add hop flavor and aroma additions to the beer. I know, that's sort of a "duh!" statement, but I'll try to explain.

Hops added before about 20 minutes before the end of the boil contribute to bitterness, with very little flavor. At 20-15 minutes, you get a maximum flavor contribution. At 10-0 minutes, you get some flavor but mostly aroma as you near 0 left in the boil.

That means that a traditional hops schedule of:

.75 ounce 60 minutes
1 oz 15 minutes
1 oz 5 minutes
Dryhop

is a pretty good standard schedule for a beer like an American pale ale or American amber.

The more hops that are added later in the boil, the more hops flavor and aroma you get out of them.

In your schedule, you used no "flavor" hops at all, and some aroma hops. .4 oz at flame out is like a 'pinch' and really not enough to notice.

In your example, I would expect firm but not harsh bitterness and a slight hops aroma from the dryhopping.

Hi Yooper.

Thanks for your quick reply. Your description of my beer was spot on, I'm enjoying it but would want to boost the hop flavor and aroma on subsequent batches.

Given this would the following hop schedule get me closer to my goal:

US Magnum 16.0 % 1.30 oz 60 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1 oz 20 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1 oz 5 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.65 oz Dry-Hopped

As you predicted above the dry hopping only resulted in a slight hop aroma given the new schedule do you think I should also increase the amount of hops when dry hopping?

lucasweb said:

Hi Yooper.

Thanks for your quick reply. Your description of my beer was spot on, I'm enjoying it but would want to boost the hop flavor and aroma on subsequent batches.

Given this would the following hop schedule get me closer to my goal:

US Magnum 16.0 % 1.30 oz 60 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1 oz 20 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1 oz 5 Min From End
US Centennial 8.5 % 1.65 oz Dry-Hopped

As you predicted above the dry hopping only resulted in a slight hop aroma given the new schedule do you think I should also increase the amount of hops when dry hopping?

Click to expand...

For a 3.75 size batch, I think 1.65 oz is fine for dryhopping. I don't know how long you dryhop for, but I'd suggest dryhopping for the last 5 days before packaging the beer. It really has been great for me! I just wait until the beer is totally clear and ready to package, and five days before I plan to keg or bottle I gently add the dryhops. It really gives a fresh hops aroma that I love.

I think your modified hops schedule looks great- sort of a Bell's Two Hearted hops flavor.