on using hops...

[Certainteed]

is there any reason why hops can't be boiled separately from the wort and blended once both pots have cooled?

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Total noob here (brewing my first 5 gallon batch tomorrow, 2 Mr. Beer batches prior to that) but yes, I remember reading something here about how you need at least some fermentable sugars in your wort to get good hop utilization.

 

[152Sumo]

without trying to sound smart, wouldnt that be more complicated?

 

[pkeeler]

I don't know if the wort sugar helps utilization. Certainly, the wort pH is critical to utilization. I believe this has been done to capture aroma and flavor compounds. But that was steeping in hot water, more of a tea, that was then added. Boiling in water separately would, as 152 suggests, seem to be more trouble than just pitching the pellets in the boiling wort.

 

[rwinzing]

You add hops a differnt ime in the boil for different things. Your bittering hops would not get utlized if not boiled in the wort for the 60 or so minutes depending on the recipe. You use late additions for aroma again every step has a purpose.

Not sure why you would want to do this anyway.

 

[Airborneguy]

The gravity of the wort increases hop utilization. You'd be wasting your time. Why exactly did you want to do this?

 

[Certainteed]

i have a small pot and have to boil twice anyway. i haven't read-up on isomerization yet and therefore have no knowledge of the process. what i do know is that the important parts of hops are in the oils. oil and water don't mix. but temperature has a way of altering things.

plus, i was thinking about steeping the hops in a pressure cooker if that'll wring more flavors out.

 

[milwaukee]

Agreeing with those saying that wort sugars affect utilization. You can get more of a sense from John Palmer's section on this.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-5.html

You have a variety of affects you can coax out of your hops. Bitter/flavor/aroma. The longer you boil, the more you isomerize the alpha acids... the more bitter the affect. The later you add... the more flavor... and with like dry hopping... you end up in the aroma end of things.

So. Short answer. Your boil time, and what you're boiling them in will affect what flavors you get.

I don't know about the pressure cooker thing. I think you'd vaporize a lot of volatile oils, and end up with some bitter stuff... but if you do the experiment, please let us know how it turns out. That's wacky.