Hop schedule question.

[jroberts548]

Sometimes I see recipes that call for adding hops at various times during the boil.

As I understand it, the longer the hops boil, the more alpha acids end up in the beer, and the more bitterness. The less the hops boil, the more aromatics from the hops end up in the beer, which contributes aroma and taste, but not bitterness.

So what's the point of adding hops in the middle of the boil? What do you get by adding hops with 45 or 30 minutes left that you wouldn't get by either adding a smaller amount of hops for 60 minutes or for 5 minutes or for 1 minute?

 

[m00ps]

I generally dont see any benefit from mid-boil additions. IME, anything that boils longer than 15min or so is very muddled in the end beer. I just do a 60min addition (adjusted to desired bitterness) and save all the aromatic and flavorful hops for the end of the boil. For hop forward beers, I always do a hopstand once I add the flameout hops

 

[javaking]

So what's the point of adding hops in the middle of the boil? What do you get by adding hops with 45 or 30 minutes left that you wouldn't get by either adding a smaller amount of hops for 60 minutes or for 5 minutes or for 1 minute?

Essentially, adding the hops at different times brings out different parts of the hop character. Boiling the hops for 60 minutes is what you do to extract bitterness. Later hop additions (like the 15 min and 1 min) are used to bring out hop flavor and hop arome. So adding the hops at various times is essential to produce specific beer styles.

Here is something for you to reference
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter7-3.html

also
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter5-1.html

Cheers!

 

[Weezy]

Actively cooking the hips creates flavor compounds that are not otherwise present.

 

[unionrdr]

I like bittering additions at the classic 60 minute mark, flavor additions at from 20 down to 10 minutes, & aroma additions at 3-5 minutes, or dry hop. Mid-boil additions just add to bittering, so why waste hops at those 30 to 45 minute marks? But I will add this. A bittering addition at 45 minutes does give a softer bittering. One of my German beers does this, I forget which one off hand.

 

[jroberts548]

So when you say "softer bittering," is that just a function of the shorter boil getting fewer alpha acids out of the hops, or is it more qualitative?

Let's say we have two beers. In one, the hops are added at 60 minutes, and in the other, slightly more hops (so that we get the same IBUs) are added at 45 minutes. Will the second beer taste different?

 

[unionrdr]

So when you say "softer bittering," is that just a function of the shorter boil getting fewer alpha acids out of the hops, or is it more qualitative?

Let's say we have two beers. In one, the hops are added at 60 minutes, and in the other, slightly more hops (so that we get the same IBUs) are added at 45 minutes. Will the second beer taste different?

I'd use the same amount of hops in both, otherwise, you'd probably keep the IBU's the same & would perceive no difference. To put it another way, the 45 minute bittering addition would give a tad less bittering in a 1 hour boil. It tasted a little softer on the bittering. That is to say, a little less "edge" on the bittering.

 

[Psylocide]

FWH and Hopstand and dry hop and don't look back.