Hop Schedule and IBU's

Hi everyone! It's been about 2.5 years since I last brewed and even then I hadn't brewed much. My first batch, an APA, just finished carbonating and I have some witbier in the primary.

I remember reading about hopping and how different hop schedules may yield different tastes. Does this go for hops used for bittering? I hopped Cascade at different amounts for every ten minutes starting at the boil and I think I hit the IBU's, may have been a little higher than what Beersmith put out. Well, I was thinking if there is really any point to that kind of hop schedule for bittering since, If I remember correctly, flavors are boiled off for anything about 20min or so. Would it be better (and more economical) to use a higher alpha acid hop and throw in enough for 60min to get your target IBU?

Sorry if my question may be a little confusing...I'm not very good at putting my thoughts into words, especially right now Ok, not really...I only had one

I honestly don't think that it matters how you get your bittering addition. I've used different hops for bittering and never really noticed a difference. All I really notice is the 20 minute and below hop additions. But I've only been at this for a short while, so I could be wrong. The exception to this is first wort hops. I have found that I can taste a difference with those. So now I skip my 60 minute addition and FWH.

Hops added in the beginning of the boil are for bittering. Hops later on in the boil attribute less bittering and more flavor. Hops at 30 would be more bitter than hops at 10. But the hops at 10 would give you more hop flavor. This is the reason people dry hop to get the most flavor out.

So the answer to your question (can you just add some high AA hops at 60 for bittering), is of course. Especially for something like a wit, they usually just have a bittering hop at 60. That's the style. But if you wanted to make an IPA thats a whole different hop schedule.

You should google hop schedules. That would be a good thing to learn. Then you can decide for yourself how you want to add your hops and when.

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the quick responses! Yeah, I only had a 60min and 30min hop addition and just enough to keep the IBU's to style. But this helps, and I'll definitely be looking for some info on it next time I brew...or even just compare to other recipes I see.

Yes, like the others have said, your 60 min addition is for bittering. New research has emerged stating that the most IBU's you can get from a 60 min addition is 50 and a new trend is to drop in lots of hops from 20 mins on to get lots of bitterness as well as the flavor and aroma. The best part of homebrewing IMO is experimenting and finding out what different things do to your beer.

Mojzis said:

Hops added in the beginning of the boil are for bittering. Hops later on in the boil attribute less bittering and more flavor. Hops at 30 would be more bitter than hops at 10. But the hops at 10 would give you more hop flavor. This is the reason people dry hop to get the most flavor out.

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Just to clarify, dry hopping adds aroma. While what we smell greatly effects our perception of taste, dry hopping isn't considered a method for hop flavor.

Challenger440 said:

Just to clarify, dry hopping adds aroma. While what we smell greatly effects our perception of taste, dry hopping isn't considered a method for hop flavor.

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An aroma that you can taste IMO is a flavor.

OP here is a good link for many things about brewing:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-1.html

Like pretty much everything in brewing, there is more than one way to hit an IBU. Some brewers get most of their bittering from a 60 minute or first wort additions. Some brewers do that plus a 30 minutes. Some brewers add hops every few minutes. Some brewers add everything in the last 15 minutes and make up for time with volume.

Most big breweries use a higher AA hop early because it is more economical, but there are notable exemptions. On a homebrewing scale? We are only talking about a couple bucks per batch, so the cost usually takes a back seat to the flavor preference of the brewer.

Mojzis said:

An aroma that you can taste IMO is a flavor.

OP here is a good link for many things about brewing:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-1.html

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Thanks for the link! Although, I do have the book, have read it and keep it open while I'm brewing...I don't know why I didn't go and look at that page lol, pretty much answers my question! But now I'm wondering about FWH. So I'll get aroma from it, do I also calculate IBU's for a 60min boil for whatever I use? Sounds like something I should be doing for APA.

DonMagee said:

I honestly don't think that it matters how you get your bittering addition. I've used different hops for bittering and never really noticed a difference. All I really notice is the 20 minute and below hop additions. But I've only been at this for a short while, so I could be wrong. The exception to this is first wort hops. I have found that I can taste a difference with those. So now I skip my 60 minute addition and FWH.

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Different hops add different flavours, for example the other day I tried a batch of beer I brewed using nugget hops as the bittering ones, and my beer is strongly herbal, maybe a bit too much(I think I will not use nugget any more, at least not alone).

What is true is that some hops are similar, and can be used as substitutes because of the similar flavours they give to the beer.