Changing the amount of hops in a recipe

[Ronald C Gregory]

So I am very green with brewing beer. Bottling my first batch this weekend green. I used a brewers best amber ale kit, I was looking at the different kits on Brewers Best website trying to decide which stout I wanted to try as my second batch. I noticed they had each recipe available for download and it lists all ingredients needed as well as how much of each on the PDF. It's actually the exact same you get when you buy the kits themselves. So my question is this at my HBS I can get everything but the hops exactly. I can only get the hops by the oz. The recipe needs 1.5 oz. So would adding in that second 0.5 oz. Be a big change in the recipe pr easy enough to just do?

Thanks the help in advance.

Ron

 

[MrPowers]

It could change it dramatically, depending on the hop variety. If the new hops are much higher in alpha acids compared to the original hops in the recipe (Ex. Magnum/Warrior/Bravo compared to Goldings, Fuggles, Willamette) the beer could turn out much more bitter than it was intended to be.

Try to find a similar or slightly lower alpha acid hop to substitute, and you should be ok.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Can you show us the recipe and where you plan to add the extra half ounce?

You could always suck-n-seal the extra half ounce and put it in the freezer for later use.

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/assets/1023_irishstout_recipe.pdf

here is a link, I am at work and cant download the pdf just view it.
My thought was instead of half an oz at the end of the boil doing a full oz of the hops then.
this will likely be my last batch till close to December as school started yesterday so between work and school I wont have a lot of time for brew days. how long will the hops keep in a freezer?

 

[BigBlueDog]

That "late hop addition" towards the end of the boil is an aroma addition, intended to impart hop aroma character in the finished beer. Doubling that addition (to a full ounce) will increase the aroma character, not necessarily in a bad way.

Vacuum sealed hops can be stored in the freezer up to a year without a drop in the originally stated alpha acid content. Stored longer or another way (i.e, in the fridge, not in an airtight container), you can still use the hops but it's a good idea to use an online calculator to estimate the reduction in AA content so you use enough to get the hop character called for by a given recipe.

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

That "late hop addition" towards the end of the boil is an aroma addition, intended to impart hop aroma character in the finished beer. Doubling that addition (to a full ounce) will increase the aroma character, not necessarily in a bad way.

Vacuum sealed hops can be stored in the freezer up to a year without a drop in the originally stated alpha acid content. Stored longer or another way (i.e, in the fridge, not in an airtight container), you can still use the hops but it's a good idea to use an online calculator to estimate the reduction in AA content so you use enough to get the hop character called for by a given recipe.

So the additional Hops wont make a drastic change in my procedure with the recipe. It will just add more hops aroma to the finish project. I will try it with the extra hops when I brew the batch then.

thank you again for the help

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

BrusolopyBrulosophy podcast Episode 046, Maintaining Hop Freshness, is worth a listen.

edit: updated typo

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

Brusolopy podcast Episode 046, Maintaining Hop Freshness, is worth a listen.

I was looking for this podcast earlier today. I cant seem to find it anywhere. can you check the spelling or let me know the best place to look. I enjoy listening to podcast while driving

 

[dstockwell]

https://soundcloud.com/brulosophy/episode-046-maintaining-hop-freshness

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I was looking for this podcast earlier today. I cant seem to find it anywhere. can you check the spelling or let me know the best place to look. I enjoy listening to podcast while driving

Sorry about the typo (which I fixed). http://brulosophy.com/podcast/

Interestingly, both google and duckduckgo were able to autocorrect the typo during the search. The page does show up when I search on

Brusolopy podcast Episode 046, Maintaining Hop Freshness

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

Sorry about the typo (which I fixed). http://brulosophy.com/podcast/

Thanks I was listening to it with the other link a bit will finish up here soon

 

[applescrap]

Would it be that bad if you saved or threw out half an ounce? Maybe just splash out and toss the rest.

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

Would it be that bad if you saved or threw out half an ounce? Maybe just splash out and toss the rest.

Bad not really. Wasteful more likely. I also feel if I have the ingredient in hand, I would rather use all of it. If the extra half ounce of hops wasn't going to give a drastic change to the recipe then why not personalize my beer from a kit recipe a little.
Politely people would say I'm frugal but my wife and I both know we are cheap

 

[applescrap]

When you add them could add more biterness or not. Depending on when you add them and what they are. Size of batch matters. Wanting to save them is a great idea, so is using them. I would lean towards more biterness i think. Depends on how strong the stout is to. When saving vacu seal and they will last great and you can have fun experimenting later. I save a lot of money buying bulk. That is where the really good savings are at. I can get a 50 pound sack of average 2 row for 34 here in denver. Get one of those and a bulk pound of hops and you will be set, financially anyways. It will require having not always the right hops. I might stop buying hops in bulk unless its for ipa. The other beers with less i think i would rather have the right hops. Let me know if i can help with that anymore.

 

[Blazinlow86]

As others have said. If you add the extras at the end it won't make a big difference. Now if you add them at the beginning it *may* make quite a difference in the bitterness of your beer. Additionally the recipes IBU is probably based on effective chilling as soon as the flames turned off so if your process leaves the wort hot for a longer time your already going to be more bitter than planned. I'd say add them at flame out to be safe if you must. To me I'd always rather come out lower than expected than higher when bitterness is concerned however.cheers

 

[Ronald C Gregory]

As others have said. If you add the extras at the end it won't make a big difference. Now if you add them at the beginning it *may* make quite a difference in the bitterness of your beer. Additionally the recipes IBU is probably based on effective chilling as soon as the flames turned off so if your process leaves the wort hot for a longer time your already going to be more bitter than planned. I'd say add them at flame out to be safe if you must. To me I'd always rather come out lower than expected than higher when bitterness is concerned however.cheers

again thanks for the advice. will let everyone know how it turns out. It sucks having to wait till October for my next brew day