Boiling hops

[DamianPollard]

I have a really dumb question. I am new to home brewing (I have brewed one batch) and was reading in Palmer's book on home brewing that you can get more utilization out of your hops if you only add half of you malt while boiling your hops. My question is why can't you boil the hops in water to get the most utilization out of them before adding the malt? Is it because then the bitterness wont bond with malt? If that's the case, then wouldn't you have the same problem when you add half the malt later? I'm confused.

Thanks,

Damian

 

[Walker]

You can boil the hops in just water.

Some folks do exactly that. They boil their hops for the specified times according to the recipe and then, near the end of the boil, add ALL of the extract.

 

[DamianPollard]

You can boil the hops in just water.

Some folks do exactly that. They boil their hops for the specified times according to the recipe and then, near the end of the boil, add ALL of the extract.

Thanks for the response! I might try that on my next batch.

 

[Walker]

I should add that (according to ProMash) the hop utilization is not affected unless your gravity is really high (over 1065 is what I think I saw when I was tinkering with it once.)

SO, keep that in mind. You probably won't get better utilization in just water than you will with half the extract in there.

 

[DamianPollard]

I should add that (according to ProMash) the hop utilization is not affected unless your gravity is really high (over 1065 is what I think I saw when I was tinkering with it once.)

SO, keep that in mind. You probably won't get better utilization in just water than you will with half the extract in there.

Oh, so if I am making a blond ale (with a gravity of 1051), I might as well boil the hops with all of the extract? But if I ever go to a stronger beer (like a stout), then it would benefit me to boil the hops with half of the extract?

 

[DamianPollard]

One more question. I read in Palmer's that one disadvantage to using whole hops instead of hop pellets is that the hops soak up some of the wort. Would boiling them in water and adding the malt later take care of this problem?

 

[Walker]

Are you doing full volume boils?

 

[DamianPollard]

I'm not sure what you mean. I am brand new to brewing.

 

[Yooper]

When you make the beer, will you be boiling the full 5 gallon volume from the start, or will you be boiling a smaller volume (because you have a small pot) and then add water to bring the batch size to 5 gallons?

 

[DamianPollard]

Oh, I boil 3 gallons and then add water to bring the batch size to 5 gallons.

 

[Walker]

Are you boiling 5+ gallons of wort or do you boil less than this and then top off the fermenter with water to make 5 gallons?

 

[DamianPollard]

I boil less and then top off the fermenter.

 

[JefeTheVol]

Welcome to HBT fellow memphis homebrewer. I think what hes getting at is some people add the hops in a hop bag or filter them out after the boil. This would remove some of the wort from your boil. But by boiling in water and then transferring the water to the wort they are going to soak up just as much water from the 'stand alone' boil as they would in the wort, and consequently take with them vital alpha acids (aka bitterness).

So really you have to gauge whether you want the hops to take wort or alpha acids with them...in the end if you let them drip dry its probably negligible. Or just leave them in there and chalk it up to trub.
-Jefe-

 

[Walker]

Ok. That means that the gravith of your 1051 beer is is higher than 1051 in the kettle because you have a concentrated thick boil.

If you boil 2.5 gallons of 1102 wort and then add 2.5 gallong of water you end up with 1051 wort.

I'm on my phone. And typing at red lights but yooper can set you right if my short responses are confusing.

 

[DamianPollard]

Thanks for the help JefeTheVol. I have another question if you don't mind, how well do hop plants grow in Memphis? I am thinking of growing some in my back yard.

 

[DamianPollard]

Ok. That means that the gravith of your 1051 beer is is higher than 1051 in the kettle because you have a concentrated thick boil.

If you boil 2.5 gallons of 1102 wort and then add 2.5 gallong of water you end up with 1051 wort.

I'm on my phone. And typing at red lights but yooper can set you right if my short responses are confusing.

Oh thats right! I did read that in Palmers, but forgot about it. So in that case, I might get some better utilization by boiling with half malt over full malt, but I wouldn't see any difference boiling water over half malt?

Thanks!

 

[JefeTheVol]

Thanks for the help JefeTheVol. I have another question if you don't mind, how well do hop plants grow in Memphis? I am thinking of growing some in my back yard.

I have no personal experience with them but I asked around to a few homebrewers who have been doing it for years and they told me that they dont grow very well here. I dont think they gave me a reason, but maybe its that they dont grow 'wild' very well here. If you took proper care of them Im sure you get good results.
-Jefe-