First Wort Hopping: To replace which addition

[Bjornbrewer]

Great information in this thread guys, thanks!

Questions though:

In Beersmith, you have the option to change any hop addition to FWH, but you still have the ability to change the time. Why is this (probably a question for the creator) and what would be the best time to input to get the most accurate IBU calculation?

Someone (I think Pol) mentioned setting it to 20 min in Promash. Would that be the same in Beersmith?

I'm planning on brewing my Amber with FWH...just want to dial it in. Thanks guys!

 

[Denny]

Someone (I think Pol) mentioned setting it to 20 min in Promash. Would that be the same in Beersmith?

Probably, but I'm not sure how FWH utilization works in Beersmith. It's subjective, anyway. I set it to that because that what it tastes like to me.

FWIW, in Promash FWH utilization is set not as a time, but as a % of the total boil time. I set my Promash FWH utilization to -65%, which equals 2/3 of the way through a 60 min. boil, or 20 min.

 

[The Pol]

Probably, but I'm not sure how FWH utilization works in Beersmith. It's subjective, anyway. I set it to that because that what it tastes like to me.

FWIW, in Promash FWH utilization is set not as a time, but as a % of the total boil time. I set my Promash FWH utilization to -65%, which equals 2/3 of the way through a 60 min. boil, or 20 min.

Yah, in ProMash I just used like 1 ounce of Cascade at 20 minutes and looked at the IBUs. Then I just kept tweaking the utilization #s for 1 ounce of FWH until it matched. Again, it is subjective and it is perception of IBU. You can set it to whatever you like.

 

[Bjornbrewer]

Thanks. I'll give it a whirl and see how it works.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Some excerpts from this article:

Good information. Thanks.

My two cents:

I've used FWH in about 55 batches. Mind you, this was a long time ago. But what I personally noticed was that, yes, it cleaned up the bitterness. It was more round and cleaner. I don't believe it lowered the IBUs though. I used all sorts of hops with this. If you like the way the hop smells, go ahead with it. I've used Chinook for this and had great results, for example.

Also, I had 3 beers that I entered into a Collaborator competition in Portland back then (in 2000) and as part of that competition, they give you free chemical analysis of your beer. At the time I was not using brewing software, I was hand calculating the IBUs but from what I recall I was using the equations in Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers book. In two instances, I calculated the FWH as 27% utilization (using whole hops) in a 90 minute boil. In the third instance, it was pellets calculated at 34% utilization.

And in 2 instance the IBUs were a little lower in my calculations than in the measured IBUs. In the third, with pellets, my calculation was 1 IBU higher than reality.

Mind you, I did not have a control beer that did NOT have them added. So, take this for what it's worth. Not exactly scientific, but it's the only time I had my beer analyzed by a lab, so thought it might be worth sharing.

Beer 1 was as such:

FWH Columbus (15.5% AA) .25 oz.
FWH Chinook (12.3% AA) .25 oz.
FWH Crystal (2.1% AA) .75 oz.

This beer I calculated at 63 IBUs. It was measured as 65.9. (And it won!)

Beer 2:

FWH Horizon (11.3% AA) .25 oz.

This beer I calculated at 49 IBUs. It was measured as 56.3.

Beer 3 used pellets. So, I calculated it at 34% utilization for this:

FWP Northdown (10% AA) .50 oz.

This beer I calculated at 50 IBUs. It was measured as 49.

These beers used other hop additions at 30, 15 and 5 minutes from the end of the boil. I didn't remove any aroma or flavor hops when using this and generally had good results, though rereading this material makes me consider minimizing some aroma additions when doing this.

 

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

Preface: Newbie..


From what I've read FWH is reserved for partial and AG methods, what about extract brewing? Is a similar result achieve by adding the hops when steeping the specialty grains? Would it have a similar or different effect?

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

...
At the time I was not using brewing software, I was hand calculating the IBUs but from what I recall I was using the equations in Ray Daniels Designing Great Beers book. In two instances, I calculated the FWH as 27% utilization (using whole hops) in a 90 minute boil. In the third instance, it was pellets calculated at 34% utilization.
...

Are those the same % as a 90 minute addition that isn't FWH?

Also, did you put all of your bittering hops in FWH?

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Are those the same % as a 90 minute addition that isn't FWH?

Also, did you put all of your bittering hops in FWH?

That is the same utilization % that I was using at the time for 90 minute additions, yes. And yes, I put no other bittering hops. Other hop additions were at 30, 15 and 5 minutes from the end of the boil.