Which Hop stage gives the most Hop Flavor?

[Scturo]

I'm trying to maximize the Hop flavors in my beers without throwing a ton of hops at them. So I want to see where to focus my Hopping. I've been reading up, but would like some opinions if possible. Here are the Hop stages that I usually follow:

First Wort Hopping
Boil Hopping
Flameout Hopping
Whirlpool Hopping
Dry Hopping

Which of these adds the most flavor (not bitterness) to the beer?

 

[Dcpcooks]

Late additions will offer you more aroma. So focus on the last 10 min through flameout and whirlpool. Use a healthy dry hop as well

 

[RM-MN]

Our sense of taste is mostly a sense of smell. To get the most smell, you would dry hop.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

Try splitting your dry hop portion in two. Dry hop for a few days, then add the rest. I've noticed quite a bit of a difference between this way or adding all at once. Much more noticeable aroma and flavor with the same amount of hops used. Why? Hell! I don't know!

 

[TheHopfather]

Another vote for dry hopping. Everyone always says late hops/dry hops for aroma, but don't let that confuse you, you'll taste all that "aroma" as well. The only problem being, creating a really hoppy beer without a lot of hops isn't really possible.

 

[Beer-lord]

Try splitting your dry hop portion in two. Dry hop for a few days, then add the rest. I've noticed quite a bit of a difference between this way or adding all at once. Much more noticeable aroma and flavor with the same amount of hops used. Why? Hell! I don't know!

I agree. I do this often even if I only dry hop a little. Maybe 7 days and 3 days.
If you keg, you can also keg hop with an ounce or two. That gives it some extra aroma. I've even had beers I don't particularly liked so much once I kegged them then I added 2 ounces of hops and it saved the whole keg and made it very enjoyable.
Play around with your own taste and see what you like best.

 

[kev211]

Another vote for dry hopping. Like as been said, try double dry hopping (I usually like 5 and 3 days) for a nice variety in flavor profiles

 

[pvpeacock]

Dry hopping. I've also used hop tea in the keg to make an IPA really "juicy" either when I kegged it or after a few weeks when the dry hops start to fade. Fight On.

 

[Scturo]

Thanks everyone for the replies,

Another vote for dry hopping. Everyone always says late hops/dry hops for aroma, but don't let that confuse you, you'll taste all that "aroma" as well. The only problem being, creating a really hoppy beer without a lot of hops isn't really possible.

Yeah, that's the next question, for a 5'gal batch how much hops should I use to make a hoppy beer? I usually use 4 - 6 oz of dry hop for a 5 gal batch, is this enough?

Dry hopping. I've also used hop tea in the keg to make an IPA really "juicy" either when I kegged it or after a few weeks when the dry hops start to fade. Fight On.

I've been reading up on this also, would this have a similar effect as whirl pooling?

 

[VagueSkunk]

One of these days (once I get my BIAB setup going...) I'm going to experiment with a dry hopped only beer.

 

[kev211]

Thanks everyone for the replies,



Yeah, that's the next question, for a 5'gal batch how much hops should I use to make a hoppy beer? I usually use 4 - 6 oz of dry hop for a 5 gal batch, is this enough?



I've been reading up on this also, would this have a similar effect as whirl pooling?

One of the brewmasters at Karl Strauss once told me that for their APA's they usually use 1lb/Bbl for dry hopping and go up from there for IPA's and so on. So basically just over 3oz for a juicy pale. IF you're going for a hoppy IPA I see no problem using more (I just dry hopped an IPA with 6.5 oz of hops).

And no to the whirlpooling. Hop tea is literally making a tea with the hops and adding it straight to the keg (basically water+hops+kegged beer in this case). Whirlpooling is done at the end of the boil. It helps swirl the hops in and get more utilization and also causes everything to settle in the bottom of the kettle to avoid getting trub into the fermenter.

Oh, and Fight On!

 

[tjmac5071]

I am going a bit against the grain with this take probably but I make beers with tons of hop flavor and very rarely dry hop. You can get much more depth of flavor in my opinion from a 10-15 min addition and a hopstand starting at 160-180 for 15 minutes with a bit of agitation a few times during the stand. I dropped the dry hops altogether in my house pale ale

For my tastes heavy dry hopping gives beer a rough flavor I am not a huge fan of, it's not just my beers either...I taste the same thing in trillium and stopped buying it.

That's not to say I never dry hop, I made a DIPA I dry hopped the **** out of and it was incredible. Just for me if I'm looking for hop flavor in a standard pale ale or IPA I focus more on kettle hops.

 

[sky4meplease]

I like flame out hops. 2-3 ounces at flame out drops the temp to 200. Let it sit for 10-15, drop the temp to 165 and toss in another couple ounces. That addition drops the temp to 160. Let that sit for 10-15 and chill to pitch temps.
+1 for dry hopping but I don't feel I get my best flavor there.
If your looking to brew 5 gallons of IPA with three ounces of hops there is no stage for that.

 

[Bigfly]

I have been adding my first dry hop at high kreusen for 3 days. Then the second in the keg while it keg carbonates or the last week in primary.

 

[TheHopfather]

Well the OP did ask for the "most bang for your buck addition". If you are simply looking to make a hoppy beer I feel like you just need to add a lot of hops in various stages. For regular old west coast IPA's I typically add a bittering addition at 60 min, then I like to go with a 10 min, 5 min, hopstand and dry hop. Sometimes I'll add a 15 min addition in there as well.

Going with various additions at different times allows a depth of flavor you just aren't going to get with a single addition at any one stage. Hoppy beers need lots of hops, that's just how it works.

Yeah, that's the next question, for a 5'gal batch how much hops should I use to make a hoppy beer? I usually use 4 - 6 oz of dry hop for a 5 gal batch, is this enough?

4 - 6 oz sounds about right. I just did a NEIPA that had a small bittering charge then nothing until a 6oz hopstand and a total of 6oz in the dry hop over 2 additions. It's just recently gone into a keg so I haven't sampled the finished beer yet but the gravity sample was plenty hoppy. I'd say go with the 4 - 6oz and experiment with going up from there.

 

[pvpeacock]

In my experience, adding hop tea to a keg is far more potent than whirl pooling particularly since you are adding it after fermentation is done and the beer is already kegged.

 

[Remmy]

Most of my IPA hop additions start at 10 and 5 minutes, respectively. I get strong hop flavor from 2-3 ounces @10 and a few more ounces @5 as well as good aroma. Sometimes, I don't even bother to dry-hop because the beers already smell good.

 

[Morrey]

Yeah, that's the next question, for a 5'gal batch how much hops should I use to make a hoppy beer? I usually use 4 - 6 oz of dry hop for a 5 gal batch, is this enough?

I love making a hoppy wheat beer similar to 3 Floyd's Gumball Head if you happen to be familiar with it. I use 5 ounces of fairly high AA% Amarillo in the process, most of it during the KO/whirlpool and dry hop stages. The IBU level of 35 of this beer is deceiving as supported by using BeerSmith to design my recipe. I use .5 oz for 60, 1 oz for 15, .5 for 5, then the rest at knock out/whirlpool and dry hop. These late additions and dry hop additions contribute very little to the IBU level, so most of the hops are taste/aroma focused. Your olfactory senses translate aromas into tastes and the beer seems quite hoppy although 35 is not exceptionally hoppy in my opinion.

 

[Jim311]

In my experience, adding hop tea to a keg is far more potent than whirl pooling particularly since you are adding it after fermentation is done and the beer is already kegged.

Do you mind elaborating on your process to make the hop tea? I've never tried this but I'm thinking maybe I should, it seems to make sense.

 

[Weezy]

I'll quote Ray Daniels again in that some hop flavors are only creates by actively cooking (boiling) the hops. There is a point to hop additions in between 60 minutes and flameout. However, those flavors are minimized and complicated when brewing state of the art IPAs that are so heavily late hoped. But on the other side, if you're​ brewing something like a small English beer or other more delicate beer, multiple boil additions will yield positive results.