Getting the most out of hops

[boxtool5]

I keep brewing and I keep good notes, every one of my notes includes "More hops next time!". I'm already using nearly double an "average recipe amount". So I thought this would be the place to run an idea by some folks with more experience than me. I'm thinking of putting my hops in a blender (after boil) and in a home made hop back sorta thing(like an open ended coffee press), "rinsing" out the lupulin as I transfer to the fermenter. So far, my best home brews are the ones that I've added hops to the bottles(see my pictures). My last batch was fwh, doubled bittering hops, extra flavor and aroma hops, dry hopped and the best ones were the few that had a couple cones added to each bottle. I should mention that my last batch was a repeat recipe and despite adding 50% more hops, I still wanted more. I'd like to find a way to avoid simply adding more and spending nearly $20 on hops per batch.

 

[IffyG]

What is your process like? Extract or all grain? Partial boil or full boil? What are you using for bittering hops? What's the timing of your hop additions? We really need more information to help you out.

 

[iaefebs]

I keep brewing and I keep good notes, every one of my notes includes "More hops next time!". I'm already using nearly double an "average recipe amount". So I thought this would be the place to run an idea by some folks with more experience than me. I'm thinking of putting my hops in a blender (after boil) and in a home made hop back sorta thing(like an open ended coffee press), "rinsing" out the lupulin as I transfer to the fermenter. So far, my best home brews are the ones that I've added hops to the bottles(see my pictures). My last batch was fwh, doubled bittering hops, extra flavor and aroma hops, dry hopped and the best ones were the few that had a couple cones added to each bottle. I should mention that my last batch was a repeat recipe and despite adding 50% more hops, I still wanted more. I'd like to find a way to avoid simply adding more and spending nearly $20 on hops per batch.

Do you buy hops in bulk? If so what is your storage method? If you are buying them as you need from the LHBS how are those stored? How do commercial craft beers taste to you? Do they need more hop taste?

 

[boxtool5]

I'm brewing with extract & grain. Brew in a bag method, then 60+ minute boil. I'm primarily using a mix of locally grown Cascade, Hallertauer & Hersbrucker Hops. I started brewing months ago with fresh whole frozen hops, but now am using the same supply, dried, vacuum sealed (2oz bags), kept in the fridge. I accented my last batches with Saaz Pellets from my local homebrew shop, I've used Galena and Northern Brewer too. I do like a heavily hopped beer heavier on the flavor and aroma, I like bitter too, but had a 60 IBU recently that I wasn`t fond of. I'm aiming for a hoppier version of Fuller's ESB or Creemore Springs Traditional Pilsner (probably my favorite beer, most days). The closest I've come is with my "bottle hopped" brews adding 8-10 cones to each 750ml bottle. It'll be a few months until I can afford the stock pot I need to move on to all-grain brewing ($500 a month on car payments ends in March). Another Idea I had was to boil the hops separately(full vigorous 90minute boil), add my extract later in the process and then cool, dilute & transfer to the fermenter. Right now, I`m limited to a paper thin Stainless 16L (4gal) stock pot & have scorched it a few times. So I never get a full, 60 minute vigorous boil, more of a inconsistent rolling boil. Maybe that accounts for a loss in extraction too? I have a 6gal batch that`s bottled and almost done and another 10gal batch to be bottled this weekend. The 10gal batch seems to be my best so far, but unless I bottle hop it too, there`s a good chance I`ll be crying for more hops. Below is a summary of both recipes. Both are altered versions of a Creemore Lager clone recipe. I called “Wheatmore” and “Amber Wheatmore”

6gal
2.6kg light lme
600gr crystal malt (40L)
600gr wheat dme
100gr hallertauer (fresh whole frozen) 25gr saaz pellets (60 mins)
60gr hallertauer (fresh whole frozen) (35 mins)
80gr Cascade (fresh whole frozen) (15 mins)
8gr Cascade (dry whole) 15gr Sazz pellets (5min)


10gal
2.6kg light lme
2kg 2-row pale malt
1.4kg wheat dme
500gr amber dme
500gr crystal (40L)
38gr Hallertauer (dry whole) + 28gr Saaz (70mins)
19gr Hallertauer (dry whole) (35mins)
25gr Cascade (dry whole) (15min)
18gr Cascade (dry whole) + 28gr Saaz (5min)

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[ultravista]

I let my flame-out hops sit for 45 to 60 minutes with a lid on the keggle. Without know exactly what is happening, the hop flavor, bitterness, and aroma seem to be heightened.

Leaving the hops to steep is what I do for every batch. Anyone else?

 

[IffyG]

My initial inclination is that you are heavily using noble hops for bittering. That's not exactly the most efficient way to bitter a batch of beer, nor the best use of noble hops. I'd switch to some higher alpha acid hops for bittering and save the noble hops for aroma additions.

 

[blizzard]

My initial inclination is that you are heavily using noble hops for bittering. That's not exactly the most efficient way to bitter a batch of beer, nor the best use of noble hops. I'd switch to some higher alpha acid hops for bittering and save the noble hops for aroma additions.

I agree with this. 65 grams (2.3 oz) of noble hops in a 10 gallon batch isn't very much bittering. Also, fresh (wet) hops weight 4-5 times more than dried hops, so take that into consideration when you are using the fresh frozen hops. 125g of fresh hops is not very much bittering either, even in five gallons.

 

[scottland]

I let my flame-out hops sit for 45 to 60 minutes with a lid on the keggle. Without know exactly what is happening, the hop flavor, bitterness, and aroma seem to be heightened.

Leaving the hops to steep is what I do for every batch. Anyone else?

45min? - no. But I do leave mine to steep for 10min on my hoppy beers

 

[tesilential]

If you are making 6 and 10 gallon batches in a 4 gal pot, you must be using a significant amount of top off water.

Good Hop AA extraction depends on having a large volume of water. In your case if you did a 3 gallon boil, your hop extraction will be very low. Then when you dilute it it will decrease by another 50% for a 6 gal batch.

Also I've heard there is a maximum IBU you can get in an extract batch (due to high gravity and small volume) and then diluting cuts that down even more.

 

[RumRiverBrewer]

These are all good questions. I'd suggest though, string some lines and grow your own. I'm growing hops and adjusting actual vs. expected in brewsmith to get the hop bitterness % of my setup. I have an abundance of hops so I can increase as necessary. After 2 years I'm getting close to the maturity I expect in brew and the comparison between the homegrown and the LHBS variety.

 

[samc]

What's your AA% of the hops? You say "local" does that mean they have not be lab tested for AA?

Also, water chemistry plays a big factor in hop usage in your beer. Gypsum will bring the hops front and center, but you need to know what your water is like before adding minerals.

 

[Jocahauck]

With your batch sizes and your boil size, you should try late malt extract addition. Check it out here in the forum or google it, but the gist is that hop utilization is a function of time AND the gravity of your boil. I use about 25% of my LME upfront and add the rest for the final 5 minutes. Beersmith v2 has a function built in to calculate your IBU contributions with the lower BG. You can calculate it yourself by adding up the IBUs at the lower BG for the boil time minus 5 minutes and add to that the IBUs from the hops at the post LME addition BG for 5 min boil time. That will get you close enough if you don't have Beersmith. I am fermenting an English Pale Ale that I was able to raise the IBUs from the teens to the 30's with a 30 minute 3.6% fuggle boil and 15 min 5.0 EKG boil.

 

[jhayes3920]

is it bitterness you want or hop flavor. If it bitterness use a hop like magnum and double up on flavor hops. Magnum or other high alpha acid will give the bitterness and your flavor hops can shine thru.

 

[pickles]

Like others said previously; lose the noble hops for bittering (use magnum,etc), don't substitute wet hops for the same measured qty of dry hops, use only hops that you absolutely know the AA% of (until you find your sweetspot); lastly if you want a hop bomb then try "hop bursting". It'll get you where you want to be!

 

[neko]

There's a few things that might be issues and they might be adding up to a weaker hop presence.

You might want to try something besides noble hops, especially for bittering. Try to get some C hops like Chinook, Columbus, Centennial to go with the Cascades and see what that does.

Try storing the hops in the freezer instead of the fridge. You'll lose AA at a slower rate.

Partial boils will not give the same hop profile as a full boil.

 

[jeliasik]

I just tried the french press method to get more hop flavor and aroma in my partial-mash stovetop system. You can read about it here in other threads, but it seems that it hasn't been fully investigated.

Here is what I did - with 1 oz chinook and 1 oz willamette, I added a quart of water at 160 degrees. let sit in my french press for 30 minutes. Then, I pressed and put the "hop juice" in a sanitized jar in the fridge. Put the the rest of the hops into the boil for bittering for 60 minutes. After primary fermentation was over, I poured the hop juice into the fermenter.

I just did it, so I can tell you yet how it is going to turn out, but the smell was great, and the "hop juice" was still very greenish-brown with some sediment when I threw it in. I think I got good bittering as well, judging from the smell during the boil. I wish more people would try this method and post about it. More data needed! From what I understand, one major issue is potential grassy flavors. We will see.

 

[bovineblitz]

I just tried the french press method to get more hop flavor and aroma in my partial-mash stovetop system. You can read about it here in other threads, but it seems that it hasn't been fully investigated.

Here is what I did - with 1 oz chinook and 1 oz willamette, I added a quart of water at 160 degrees. let sit in my french press for 30 minutes. Then, I pressed and put the "hop juice" in a sanitized jar in the fridge. Put the the rest of the hops into the boil for bittering for 60 minutes. After primary fermentation was over, I poured the hop juice into the fermenter.

I just did it, so I can tell you yet how it is going to turn out, but the smell was great, and the "hop juice" was still very greenish-brown with some sediment when I threw it in. I think I got good bittering as well, judging from the smell during the boil. I wish more people would try this method and post about it. More data needed! From what I understand, one major issue is potential grassy flavors. We will see.

I just did this too with THREE oz of cluster/chinook/cascade in an attempt to get something close to Troegs Java Head. 3oz is kind of an outrageous amount for a french press because I couldn't compress it nearly as much as I would've liked, lol... it only went down about 3/4 the way after I worked it for a while. The hop extraction was extremely delicious smelling though, hopefully it adds a lot of the hopback type character I was going for. I'll try and remember to report back here.