Adding all the bittering hops at the beginning of the boil

[ljforster701]

I'm wondering if anyone has done this. Obviously after steeping the grains, has anybody added all of the bittering hops at once. If so what was the result? What am I looking for, well something along the lines of an IPA with a lower alcohol content but still has a nice hoppy flavor. Thanks in advance.

 

[JonK331]

Do you mean adding all of the hops at the beginning? Bittering hops are always added all at once and boiled for 60 minutes. Flavor and aroma hops are typically added at the 5 and 1 minute mark respectively. If you add ALL of the hops for 60 minutes you will get a very bitter beer with no hop flavor or aroma.

 

[ljforster701]

Okay, still new to extract. I've brewed three kits and am going to make a fourth this weekend. So what happens if I add the flavor hops earlier in the boil? Looking for an alcohol content around 4% or 5% with a nice hoppy flavor.

 

[bbrim]

When I brew a stout I will add all the hops at 60 minutes. It provides a crisp bitterness (depending how much you use) and a neutral character. This would not be a good technique for an IPA. An IPA would be better with all the hops after 20 minutes, if you use enough to achieve a high level of bitterness. Also, the timing of your hop additions has nothing to do with alcohol content.

 

[bbrim]

Flavor and aroma compounds in hops are volatile. This means the longer they are boiled the more you will remove from the beer. In general 10-20 minute additions add flavor, 0-10 minute additions add aroma.

 

[JonK331]

Even after 10 minutes most of the flavor will boil off. For IPA you want to get some bitterness from the 60 minute addition and then hop heavily at the end. Also look into flame out additions and dry hopping.

 

[Yooper]

Flavor and aroma compounds in hops are volatile. This means the longer they are boiled the more you will remove from the beer. In general 10-20 minute additions add flavor, 0-10 minute additions add aroma.

Right. The longer that hops are boiled (up to about 75 minutes), the more they give bittering. If you want a hoppy beer, you'd want to add more hops LATE in the boil. If you want a very bitter beer, you'd want to add more hops at the beginning.

Generally, you see this type of schedule:

60-30 minute hops: bittering only

20-15 minute hops: flavor mostly, but some bittering imparted

10 minutes: flavor, but aroma as well

5-0 minutes: Mostly aroma, but some flavor as well

Dryhopping: Almost all aroma, but since aroma and flavor are tied together, there is some perceived flavor.

so, to answer your question, if you add all of the recipe's hops at 60 minutes, you'll have a bitter beer without hops flavor or aroma. This is very common in beers like stouts, where there is no hops flavor or aroma to speak of. In some beers, like IPAs, hops are added closer to the end of the boil (besides the bittering hops) to provide hops flavor and aroma.

 

[davidat]

The best advice I have is to use brewing software. You can play with the additions and see how it effects the numbers. Was a huge help for me to see how it all comes together. I use Promash there are lots of diff ones available. Mine even gives me guide lines to stay within a particular style. Cheers Dave

 

[terrapinj]

you may want to look into the opposite, and try hop bursting

http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php