Aroma Hops for Irish Stout??

[superslomo]

I'm doing a full-boil of the Northern Brewer Irish Stout kit, and instead of saving a comparatively useless quarter-ounce of the cluster hops (kit calls for partial boil, 2 ounces of cluster to be added for 60 minutes), which leaves 40IBUs, and style can accomodate 1IBU per point of OG... if I use about 1.75 ounces of the hops, I get the right bittering...

Is it worth saving that 0.25 ounces, or can I pretty harmlessly just toss them in as aroma hops for the last few minutes? I know the traditional style is NOT to have aroma hops, just wondering whether that small an amount will make next to no difference and is in order.

 

[JohnnyO]

You're right. Aroma hops is not traditional to the style. However, it's your beer to do as you choose. A 1/4 ounce of aroma hops might add just a little more complexity to your beer. The only caveat that I see is that it might battle with the roasty quality you look for in the aroma of a stout.

 

[superslomo]

Alternately, would it just be fair to accept the higher IBUs of using the full 2 ounces... or just do a partial boil?

 

[superslomo]

I'm not trying to mess up the recipe outright, btw, but it seems like a quarter ounce of hops won't be much use for future purposes.

 

[McGarnigle]

I probably wouldn't save 1/4 ounce unless I already had them targeted for another recipe. In Radical Brew, Randy Mosher advocates dry hopping stouts. But I don't know if Cluster are the best dry hop, or even if 1/4 ounce will be very noticeable.

You could bitter with all two ounces but add at 50 minutes rather than 60 (or whatever...you can run the numbers).

 

[superslomo]

according to beercalculus, I could shorten the bittering boil to 30 minutes. Is there any reason to boil the LME any longer? i.e. if the bittering is done with 30 minutes boil, do I NEED to do any more than that at a full volume?