First Wort Hopping

[Moezart]

Hello everyone!

For my next home brew I would like to experiment with First Wort Hopping... It sounds like a pretty good technique from what I read.

Has anyone tried First Wort Hopping? And is the any negative or positive fpositiveabout this technique. Do you have any recommendations on how to go about it?

Always appreciate the tremendous help I get from this forum!. Thank you all!

 

[kh54s10]

It is simple. Put the hops in your boil kettle then drain the mash into the kettle. The hops will start isomerizing (if that is a word) and continue through the sparge, then the boil.

It give a slightly less harsh bitterness.

I can't think of anything negative unless you want a more harsh bitterness. I like different beers with different kinds of bitterness so I use both FWH and normal 60 minute additions.

 

[mongoose33]

It is simple. Put the hops in your boil kettle then drain the mash into the kettle. The hops will start isomerizing (if that is a word) and continue through the sparge, then the boil.

It give a slightly less harsh bitterness.

I can't think of anything negative unless you want a more harsh bitterness. I like different beers with different kinds of bitterness so I use both FWH and normal 60 minute additions.

I tried it once and it produced more bitterness than I expected. Which is to be expected.

 

[kh54s10]

I tried it once and it produced more bitterness than I expected. Which is to be expected.

Did you use a program to calculate the amount of hops to use? I would expect that you need a different amount than for a 60 minute boil.

I use Beersmith and set it for FWH and get the expected amount of bitterness. It seems less harsh to me. YMMV.

 

[enkamania]

I only FWH, I also think it tastes less harsh. Try it for yourself is the best way.

 

[mongoose33]

Did you use a program to calculate the amount of hops to use? I would expect that you need a different amount than for a 60 minute boil.

I use Beersmith and set it for FWH and get the expected amount of bitterness. It seems less harsh to me. YMMV.

Yeah, you have to take into account the greater utilization of the bittering compounds.

I've been diddling a bit with using hop extract instead of hop pellets for bittering. It produces a smoother bitterness, a more rounded effect. @Morrey and I once did the same recipe differing only by how it was bittered; I used pellets, he used hop extract.

The flavors were very similar except that mine (hop pellets) had a little bite to it, while his was more...rounded or relaxed. Both were good, just depends on what you're looking for.

 

[catdaddy66]

I like it. I don't do it all the time but depending on the hop style and IBU level I will. As previously pointed out it can smooth out harshness in the bittering.

 

[dmtaylor]

I doubt anyone can taste the difference in a blind triangle FWH vs. 60-minute. But if you want to try it, by all means, go right ahead. Learn stuff.