Hops: Flavor and Aroma Only?

Are there any recipes that call for late addition hops for flavor and aroma with no early addition for bittering? Would it not taste like beer?

From my understanding, you have to add a bittering hop early in the boil or the beer would come out so sweet that it would be undrinkable. I actually read that in How to Brew. I would really advise you not to try it.

I've not done one, but you'll find some threads on this board about "hop bombing" at the 20 minute mark. It's not cheap though...basically you start adding your hops with 20 mins to go, and add about 7-8 ounces for the last part of the boil.

It's all about how long you allow the hops to boil. The longer you boil them, the more bittering you get from them.

Just as an example:

If you add 1oz at 60 minutes you will get x number of bittering units. If you add that same ounce at 30 minutes, you will get 1/2x, or half the bittering units you would have from adding them at 60 minutes.

So, to get to a desired bitterness, it is more efficient to add your bittering hops at the beginning of the boil.

Can you do only late additions? Sure. But it will take a lot more hops to balance out the beer.

I think the OP is asking if there are any recipes for a beer with little or no bitterness but some, or a lot, of hop flavor and aroma. I've not seen one, but it could probably be an interesting experiment.

It wouldn't necessarily taste sweet without bitterness-- that depends on the final gravity and amount of remaining sugars-- but it might taste out of balance, i.e. too malty, if the recipe has too much malty tasting malt. Some styles like Oktoberfest and Scottish Ales are focused on malt flavor and modest bitterness, but also have little hop flavor and aroma.

Maybe a light lager or ale? I bet there's some kind of mix that would work. Of course, it sounds like you'd be approaching BMC territory...

-Steve

JacobInIndy said:

If you add 1oz at 60 minutes you will get x number of bittering units. If you add that same ounce at 30 minutes, you will get 1/2x, or half the bittering units you would have from adding them at 60 minutes.

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I'd use a bitterness calculator if in fact the goal is to come out with the same IBU's but add at a different time. It doesn't work out to 1/2 actually, though I think it may be somewhat close on the Rager scale. Gaerts, Tinseth and Daniels all measure the amount hops used in boil rather differently....

A 20 minute flavor add will still give you 60% the IBU that boiling for 60 minutes does. If you use hops with low AA% and only make flavor and aroma adds, there will still be some bittering.

The only way to avoid bittering is to not boil the wort. If you keep the wort around 160F, there will be very little isomerization of the alpha acids.

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No hop additions till the 40 minute mark.