How many hops are too much?

Or how do I push my IPA to the max? I love my IPA's and never had one too strong or too hoppy. I know there is a limit to what humans can sense, but what is the best way to get there? Is it by increasing the bittering additions, or making huge late additions?

-bittering hops for boil
-whirlpoool hops after flameout at about 170F
-hops right into fermenter with yeasts
-more hops 2 days before fermentation completes, or, traditional dry hop after fermentation and cold crash (theoretically, the yeast should take up the oxygen from this addition to prevent premature staling, as well as having beneficial hop/yeast biotransformations)
-extra dry hops right in the serving keg

As always, avoid oxygen at all times after once fermentation has almost completed. Oxygen kills hop flavor/aroma

I'd just randomly guesstimate that you would have noticeable diminishing returns after 1lb/5gal, and greatly diminished returns over 2lb/5gal... but that's just a feeling.


more reading: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1938469011/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Bat signal for MOOPS.....

I think my hoppiest beer was a NE-style IPA with 14oz for a 3gal batch.

.5 oz for bittering and the rest came with 5min or less + whirlpool + dry hop

A pretty incredible hop experience, IMO.

PADave said:

Or how do I push my IPA to the max? I love my IPA's and never had one too strong or too hoppy. I know there is a limit to what humans can sense, but what is the best way to get there? Is it by increasing the bittering additions, or making huge late additions?

Click to expand...

Lot's of late additions, hop stands, whirlpool hops, dry hops in the FV, dry hops in the keg, hopbacks. I keep it simple on the variety. 1-3 types of hops in a brew.

These are all useful tools to get your IPA's punching hard with hop aroma. Personal preference is all over the place so experimentation is key.

Here is my last IPA as an example. 5.5 gallon batch. Dry hops in Fv and in the keg until the keg kicks. I like the results.

I recently did a 1.059 IPA at a rate of 1lb/5 gal. I would consider going a little higher but its honestly so much hoppier than anything you can buy that i don't know if its worth adding more... but i wouldn't talk you out of it. Doubling it is probably too much just from the perspective of wort absorption and diminishing returns.

I made a hop extract + all-steep version with the same hops and it was a waste of premium hops and malted barley. I spread the hops around to layer the flavor and complexity.

Some general guidelines:
60 (target getting most of your IBUs here - use up whatever random hops you have!)
30 (1-2oz/5gal)
15 (1-2oz/5gal)
10 (1-2oz/5gal)
5 (1-2oz/5gal)
massssssive steep (at least 6oz/5 gal)
massssssive dry hop (at least 6oz/5 gal)

Some say to skip the middle additions, but i think in a big hoppy beer all of these additions add their own mark.