Hopshot Question

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Gustatorian

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The general idea behind the hopshot is 1ml = 10IBUs added to a low/mid-gravity beer at 60 minutes. Per their instructions, this is for 5 Gallons of beer.

1.) Is this 5 gallons of packaged beer, or into-fermentor volume, or pre-boil volume? It's never specified on the sheet provided.

2.) Let's assume it's for 5 gallons of packaged beer (most likely). If I end up with 7 gallons of wort post-boil, 1G stays as kettle loss, and 6G into fermentor, would you increase the amount of HopShot used to hit your desired bitterness? I would assume multiplying the amount used in 5 gallons at 60 minutes by 1.4 would give you what you need to bitter 7 gallons of wort...could be wrong though.
 
I used 4ml in a 5 Gallon brew. perfect bitterness I braufessors neipa
Nightmare to clean though
 
Got my answer from Northern Brewer:

"Thank you for contacting us. The 5 gallons is referring to 5 gallons of wort after the boil. So yes for 7 gallons post boil you would be looking at 1.4 as in your example. It will still be a bit of trial and error to see how that actually works out with your system, since each system has different utilization of hops. Sounds like you are on the right track."

Seems like you would have to adjust regardless. I don't know a single brewer who only has 5 gallons at the end of the boil. Most account/adjust for BK trub loss, tubing loss, chiller loss, loss in fermentor, etc.
 
I use these almost every beer for my 60 min addition. It is ingredient in BeerSmith. I just set up the recipe and then decide how many ibu I want from the shot and then adjust ml till I get there. I usually do the shot calculation last after I see how many ibu I'm getting from other additions.
 
If you're going to use a substantial amount of that, buy it in 3ml or 10ml syringes from Yakima Valley Hops. Or split a 100gr can with another brewer or 2, and fill your own syringes.
 
I use these almost every beer for my 60 min addition. It is ingredient in BeerSmith. I just set up the recipe and then decide how many ibu I want from the shot and then adjust ml till I get there. I usually do the shot calculation last after I see how many ibu I'm getting from other additions.

Beersmith measures my hopshot in ounces, how did you adjust to milliliters?
 
If you're going to use a substantial amount of that, buy it in 3ml or 10ml syringes from Yakima Valley Hops. Or split a 100gr can with another brewer or 2, and fill your own syringes.

Definitely fill your own syringes, I'm about 1/3 of the way through a can I got last November. Still super fresh (I use 10 ml synergies with luer lock caps to keep out O2, stores at 4C in a foil bag).

For IBU prediction, I have found entering them as 61.1% AA works very well, just make sure to convert ml to oz (5 ml = 0.17 oz).

I also don't know what the fuss with clean up is, mine never leave any extra residue on the kettle?
 
Definitely fill your own syringes, I'm about 1/3 of the way through a can I got last November. Still super fresh (I use 10 ml synergies with luer lock caps to keep out O2, stores at 4C in a foil bag).

For IBU prediction, I have found entering them as 61.1% AA works very well, just make sure to convert ml to oz (5 ml = 0.17 oz).

I also don't know what the fuss with clean up is, mine never leave any extra residue on the kettle?

Thanks for this! Never had an issue with kettle clean-up either. A vigorous boil always does a good job with hop resin/oil solubilization.

Do you mind linking where you got cans of the stuff, syringes, and caps?
 
Thanks for this! Never had an issue with kettle clean-up either. A vigorous boil always does a good job with hop resin/oil solubilization.

Do you mind linking where you got cans of the stuff, syringes, and caps?

Extract = http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/CO2HOPExtractCan_p/extractco2hopextractcans.htm
Syringes = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XF54JNF/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Caps = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GC0TBV0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Make sure you warm up the can in a pot of water before filling syringes. I think I got around 17 of these filled up (~170 ml in the can). It was right around $50 for all the supplies, so around $1.50 per 5 ml addition, but next time I just have to buy the extract, brining down the price to under 75 cents :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Extract = http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/CO2HOPExtractCan_p/extractco2hopextractcans.htm
Syringes = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XF54JNF/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
Caps = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GC0TBV0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Make sure you warm up the can in a pot of water before filling syringes. I think I got around 17 of these filled up (~170 ml in the can). It was right around $50 for all the supplies, so around $1.50 per 5 ml addition, but next time I just have to buy the extract, brining down the price to under 75 cents :)

Is it difficult to reuse the syringes? That stuff can't come off plastic that easy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Is it difficult to reuse the syringes? That stuff can't come off plastic that easy.

I wouldn't bother with reusing the syringes, you're looking at 20 cents per when you buy 100. I do suck up some hot wort into the syringe when injecting into the kettle, that gets the last of the residue out.
 
I wouldn't bother with reusing the syringes, you're looking at 20 cents per when you buy 100. I do suck up some hot wort into the syringe when injecting into the kettle, that gets the last of the residue out.

Where did you get the foil bag? Do you flush the bag with CO2 occasionaly after opening it? I assume the hopshots are super sensitive to oxygen...
 
Definitely fill your own syringes, I'm about 1/3 of the way through a can I got last November. Still super fresh (I use 10 ml synergies with luer lock caps to keep out O2, stores at 4C in a foil bag).

For IBU prediction, I have found entering them as 61.1% AA works very well, just make sure to convert ml to oz (5 ml = 0.17 oz).

I also don't know what the fuss with clean up is, mine never leave any extra residue on the kettle?

Ok so I'm trying to work the math here...I input 0.17 oz for 5ml of hopshot as a 60 minute addition in a 1.040 beer (saison). Total wort volume at end of boil is roughly (for me) is 7.25 gallons. (If it were 5 gallons, it would be 50 IBUs) BeerSmith is giving me approximately 33 IBUs for that addition. This is because I'm using 5ml in in 7.25G (not 5G).

Math Below:

7.25G/5G = 1.45
50 IBUs / 1.45 = 34.48 IBUs (BeerSmith giving me 33 IBUs)

Not sure why, but 5mL in a 1.040 beer feels like an awful lot. I guess it sounds about right if I'm bittering 7.25G and not just 5 gallons...
 
Ok so I'm trying to work the math here...I input 0.17 oz for 5ml of hopshot as a 60 minute addition in a 1.040 beer (saison). Total wort volume at end of boil is roughly (for me) is 7.25 gallons. (If it were 5 gallons, it would be 50 IBUs) BeerSmith is giving me approximately 33 IBUs for that addition. This is because I'm using 5ml in in 7.25G (not 5G).

Math Below:

7.25G/5G = 1.45
50 IBUs / 1.45 = 34.48 IBUs (BeerSmith giving me 33 IBUs)

Not sure why, but 5mL in a 1.040 beer feels like an awful lot. I guess it sounds about right if I'm bittering 7.25G and not just 5 gallons...

Exactly, your volume is nearly 50% higher too. That looks pretty spot on to me. You can always get a feel for the bitterness as you use it more often too.

Per the bag, I just taped foil to the outside of a ziplock freezer bag :) the caps keep out O2, so no need for any purging. Even if you open the syringe and use half, almost no O2 gets in there (re cap obviously).
 
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