First Wort Hopping: need a recipe

[jldc]

I've never brewed a recipe with FWH, and I'm interested in trying one. Any recommendations of a recipe that highlights the technique?

 

[brewmasterpa]

ipa comes to mind. im doing an ipa this weekend that im fwhing 1 oz warrior and doing a 90 minute boil. of course i have many more hops in the schedule as well.

 

[Edcculus]

I've FWH'd an APA before. Turned out pretty good. I'd suggest one of Edwort's recipes. Instead of the 60 min addition, just FWH it. You might have to adjust the boil if you do his IPA. You wouldn't want to boil the first addition for 90 min.

 

[Anthony_Lopez]

I use a FWH addition on beers that I want to have assertive bitterness, but not that kick that you get with a full boil addition. I find it gives me a much smoother bitterness. I also use it on IPA's where I'm using two different bittering hops. I use one as a FWH, and then add my full boil hop.

 

[the_bird]

We did a side-by-side tasting of two Pilsners that Kai brewed, one FWH and the other with a traditional hopping schedule, and I was shocked at the different in flavor profile. I can't say that for this particular recipe I *preferred* the FWH'ed beer, but there was absolutely a different in flavor profile that went well beyond just a potentially different bittering level.

 

[Gordie]

Pilsner is a great example of a brew that will show you the difference. That or a higher-BU blonde or pale ale.

 

[BrewBrain]

Pick a past recipe you liked and do it again with FWH. Otherwise you won't really know what FWH'ing accomplished.

 

[jldc]

Pick a past recipe you liked and do it again with FWH. Otherwise you won't really know what FWH'ing accomplished.

Actually, that's what I've been thinking. Also, I've been thinking of something relatively lightly hopped (ie, not an IPA) where the FWH would represent the majority of the hops. My thought is that this would highlight the differences in flavor and bittering for my not-very-sophisticated palate.

 

[Bob]

See this article for a very interesting bit of FWH research.

I second the notion of reducing the number of variables. Since your goal is learning the difference between FWH and regular hops schedule brewing, brewing two different single-addition SMaSH beers will do the trick nicely. I'd approach it with two half-size batches. Brew a single-malt grist to approximately 1.048. Use the same hops variety, the same amounts, just vary when you add them to the kettle. Ferment to completion with the same yeast, and package identically. The only variable here is the hops addition schedule.

I think you'll enjoy the result of FWH. I know I do!

Bob

 

[Edcculus]

Maybe you could FWH a simple SMaSH. The first of many FWHSMaSH's!

A SMaSH would be an excellent way to bring out the difference too.