How much hops y'all using?

[Sadu]

Just out of interest, what sort of hop amounts go into your good recipes?

It's not that I'm stingy with the hops, but since they are expensive where I live I just try to be mindful of what I'm using and try to choose the right varieties and use them in the right way. But I'm feeling I might be a couple of ounces light on the dry-hop here for my pale ales and IPAs.

So I'm just looking at some of my 5G recipes:
- Blonde ale or lager, 2oz
- Easy drinking APA, 2.5oz inc 0.5oz dry
- Dry-hopped pilsner, 5oz inc 1.5oz dry
- OK but not great IPA, 5oz inc 1.5oz dry
- Nice hop bursted APA, 6-8oz inc 2oz dry
- Pliny the Elder clone, 16oz inc 5.5oz dry

So yeah, interested to hear what the hopheads here are using in their recipes and roughly how they are used. More looking for general discussion rather than recipe printouts.

 

[jmcquesten]

NE IPA - 13 oz (1 oz @ 60, 3 oz @ 10, 3 oz whirlpool, 6 oz dry hop split in 2 additions)

 

[hogwash]

I recently did a 5 gallon batch of IPA using Zythos and Citra. I used a half ounce of Zythos for bittering, 1oz of each at 20 minutes and 10 minutes, 2 ounces of each as an aroma steep and 2 ounces of each in the dry hop. That's 12 and a half ounces and it was a great beer. That's fairly typical for me for an IPA, more for a DIPA, less for a Pale Ale, etc...

 

[jerbrew]

It depends on the type of hops for me as well as the style. I just shoved a half pound of EKG into a Porter a couple of months ago without it screaming I have a half pound of hops. Turned out great.

Other styles - PA usually around 5-6 same with my typical porters. IPAs at least 9-10 ounces maybe more if I include my second dry hop in the keg. DIPA at lest a pound because why not. That style really doesn't scream restraint so it's what I do once or twice a year. Saisons vary from about 2-5 depending on my mood. Everything else is usually an oz for flavor around 15 and whatever I need at 60 to get the IBU range I'm looking for. Unless of course I decide to do something a little different which happens more often than not.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

Just did my house IPA and it was 13oz. 3oz FWH, 5oz hopstand at 170, and 5oz dry hop. Did a Citra APA and it was 3oz dry and it was not enough. But that was I believe 8 oz total. Hopping schedule was also vastly different. I believe based on the results here, I will most likely not be boiling any hops very often anymore.

 

[Sadu]

Cool, good replies here. I'm trying to nail down my recipes and my lagers are solid. But pale ales, while great, always seem like a bit more hop character wouldn't be a bad thing. I get the same problem with most commercial pale ales too.

 

[Invertalon]

Lagers and light ales, typically around 2-4oz total.

For pales and IPA's, around 10-16oz.

For DIPA's, 18-22oz.

 

[TheHopfather]

Lagers and kolsch/blonde type ales I'm doing 2-3oz total.
Pale ales I seem to be right around 8-10oz.
IPA's are 11-16oz.
I haven't done a IIPA so cannot comment there.
Malt centric styles I just bitter to the style at 60min and call it day.

For total hop amounts it matters where you are using them in the boil. The more beer I brew the less I like the straight up bitter pale ale/IPA's and I find myself going for smaller bittering charges and dumping in lots of late hops. These days I'm a firm believer that a hoppy beer should be just that, hoppy, with just enough bitterness to backup the malt. The only way to do that is lots of late hops.

 

[kristiismean]

My pale ales are usually 2-3 oz late additions.. usually all (with the exception of the bittering hop) within the last 5 minutes.

that said, i just did a pale ale with 5 oz in the boil, and 5.5 oz dry hop.

 

[bobeer]

I haven't looked at a style description lately but I think Pale ales aren't usually dry hopped if you're brewing to its traditional style. It might save you a few bucks. I don't dry hop any of my APA's but I do use a decent amount of whirlpool hops. I'd say 3 oz's or so in a 5 gallon batch and they're always pleasing to my hop loving pallet.

I love hoppy beers but I hate paying for all the hops that go into them! I'll usually put all my IBU's in at FWH then all the rest in a whirlpool. I usually get the cheapest hop that has the highest AA% to use as my bittering hop. For the whirlpool hops I'll get whatever is cheapest or I'll trade some homebrew for some locally homegrown hops. Anything to keep a batch as cheap to make as possible.

 

[beersk]

Most hoppy styles I brew get around an ounce per gallon, most added near the end of the boil.

 

[neckemoff]

I'd say a total of 2-3 oz hop per gallon. A good starting point for a lower gravity beer is 1-2 oz per gallon whirlpool and 1 oz per gallon dry hop. For a bigger beer, you will want more. Its a spice - going too much is worse than too little in regards to taste...and hops are the most expensive ingredient in a batch.

If you do a 5 gallon batches, I'd buy 8oz or 16oz packages and split it...half whirlpool and half dry or in whatever ratio (more hops required in whirlpool). I wouldn't waste 'flavor hops' for bittering - any high alpha hop in small quantities is best...1 package of a high alpha hop will last many batches.

I do 15 gallon batches and normally use 1-3 1lb/16oz packages of hops per batch for IPA or similar styles. Grain is mostly 2 row base malt (half a sack per batch). For perspective, that's $20 for malt and $20-$60 for hops...

 

[coonmanx]

I don't do IPAs and I never will. So that saves me on a lot of hops. In general my hop usage for any one batch is right around 2 ounces or possibly a bit more depending on what beer I am brewing and what hops I have on hand. I substitute a lot for different hops so any one recipe could change based on what hops I have in the freezer. I do a lot of English ales so in general I use a lot of hops that would fall into that category. But I also may throw in a different hop that doesn't exactly "fit" if I feel like it.

I did get a lot of my hops off of Ebay and sometimes you can buy in bulk that way. I got a pound of Styrian Bobeks off of the Bay for $15. Great deal and I use those a lot. I also got a half pound of Strisselspalts from Ebay as well. I use them a lot as finishing hops in the fruit beers I do. May have to use some of them this Monday in a golden ale I am planning on doing. Can't remember how much I paid but I also have an unopened pound of Nugget hops in the freezer as well.

So maybe I am not a "hop head" per se, but I do have a good understanding of different hops. Since I don't do IPAs I save on hops quite a bit. I would say that right now the highest bitterness level in any beer that I have done would be around mid 30s for IBUs.

Hops I have on hand right now...

Amarillo
Fuggles
Williamette
Strisselspalt
Nugget
Glacier
Horizon
Styrian Bobek
Tradition

I'm hoping to convince my friend to start brewing on an electric system in his basement. That way we could go to brewing all year round instead of just when temps are OK in winter and early spring in my apartment.

 

[coonmanx]

Also my hop addition times will change based on what I have and what I am shooting for in terms of IBUs. Hop addition times may occur at one hour, 45 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes and then 2 minutes. In general I am doing at least 3 separate hop additions but I sometimes do four. It just depends on the numbers and what I have on hand. Also it depends on whether I am trying to get just bittering or flavor and aroma out of those hops.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Cool, good replies here. I'm trying to nail down my recipes and my lagers are solid. But pale ales, while great, always seem like a bit more hop character wouldn't be a bad thing. I get the same problem with most commercial pale ales too.

I have definitely increased my hop usage over the past year or two. While I don't think I am a hop head, I do enjoy hoppy beers and find that the best way to increase hop flavor is to use more hops.

• APA: 3-4 oz hot, 1-2 oz dry hop
• IPA: 4-6 oz hot, 3-4 oz dry hop
• NEIPA: 6-8 oz hot, 6 oz dry hop

I have a Hazy Pale in the fermenter that was 22 IBU at 30 min, 3 oz whirlpool, 4 oz dry hop. I am curious about playing with less hops on the hot side and moving those to a bigger dry hop addition.

 

[eric19312]

I brew mostly PA and IPA and tend to use about a pound and a half in a 15 gallon batch. Most of that is split between whirlpool and dry hop. I am trying to get more impact from smaller additions in part due to the cost and in part due to desire to yield 15 gallons out of 18 gallon fermentor.

I'd really like to try dry hopping with cryo hops and think this would address my issue but not at $5 an ounce...Anybody aware of someone selling cryo hops to homebrewers at (reasonable) per pound pricing?

 

[bracconiere]

holy jesus....i only use about 1.5oz-2oz's for a 10 gallon batch.....(but i'm cheap)