IPA Hop Additions

[MIWI]

First off I been brewing for three years and have not gotton to brewing IPA's yet. Mainly because I just did not car for the extreme hop bitterness. My son got me into a few IPA that are really good. So, I decided to look at brewing a IPA that I would like. I spoke with other homebrewers and a new microbrew pub in my city. I want to add an awsome brewmaster that has a couple IPA's that I like. After sitting down with him at his facility on a weekday when he was not busy we discussed all types recipes both mine and his. I asked why his IPA is not of the real harse bitter tasting. I call it the rubber band taste! Hope I did not offend anyone but that is not my taste and how I descibe it. He told me his secret is to use a strong alfha for 60 minutes, suggested .5 oz on 5 gal and utilize the remaining additions at flameout and/or whirlpool. Also stated that one needs to explore the kind of hop and amounts of additions to your liking. He also stated that the majority of his hop addition is dry hopping also. With all this said it is a very complex subject that has so many variables for the end results.

I just am looking for your thoughts on hop additions and what IBUs I should be looking at for each application to make a east coast style IPA. Thanks for your thoughts and happy brewing.

 

[Golddiggie]

I brew an English IPA (lower IBU range for the style) and use the hop bursting method. I also whirlpool now, which has reduced the amount of hops needed to get the bitterness balance to the malt. With my recipe, ALL hop additions are 20 minutes from the end forward. That recipe (expect 9 gallons between keg and can at the end) uses 10oz of hops during the boil. I'll probably add another 3-4oz (maybe more) after dropping the yeast out and before cold crashing to carbonate.

I'm also starting to dry hope my pale ales (first is the best bitter I brewed on June 2nd) in conical after dumping the yeast out. I did that last night. In a few days I'll pull a sample to see if it's on target for what I want, or not.

IMO/IME, you should use brewing software to figure out the hop additions to get what you want for levels. I typically target the middle of a style's IBU range.

 

[Rob2010SS]

First off I been brewing for three years and have not gotton to brewing IPA's yet. Mainly because I just did not car for the extreme hop bitterness. My son got me into a few IPA that are really good. So, I decided to look at brewing a IPA that I would like. I spoke with other homebrewers and a new microbrew pub in my city. I want to add an awsome brewmaster that has a couple IPA's that I like. After sitting down with him at his facility on a weekday when he was not busy we discussed all types recipes both mine and his. I asked why his IPA is not of the real harse bitter tasting. I call it the rubber band taste! Hope I did not offend anyone but that is not my taste and how I descibe it. He told me his secret is to use a strong alfha for 60 minutes, suggested .5 oz on 5 gal and utilize the remaining additions at flameout and/or whirlpool. Also stated that one needs to explore the kind of hop and amounts of additions to your liking. He also stated that the majority of his hop addition is dry hopping also. With all this said it is a very complex subject that has so many variables for the end results.

I just am looking for your thoughts on hop additions and what IBUs I should be looking at for each application to make a east coast style IPA. Thanks for your thoughts and happy brewing.

Sounds like you need to check out the NE style IPA thread in this forum, located here.

What you're describing is the big difference between West Coast IPA's and East Coast IPA's. East coast IPA's reserve a majority of the additions for after the boil is complete to avoid bitterness. The thread I linked above is HUGE, but has a lot of good info in it.

I typically follow the method that WeldWerks brewing discussed in a magazine, BYO I think. They do a First Wort Hop addition equivalent to about 8-10 IBUs. After that, they don't do any hops in the boil. They do all the hopping in the whirlpool and dry hop. I've had pretty good success with that method.

In regards to IBU's, it's really going to come down to personal preference. I would check out that link above and do some reading. Based on what you said though, I would design a recipe where you do a FWH or a 60 min addition, and then no more hops until boil is over. My last few IPA's, I've done 1.2oz/gallon hop rate in the whirlpool and 2oz/gallon in the dry hop and I've had pretty good success with that. You may not need to go that heavy though, depending on your goals.

 

[HopsAreGood]

Sounds like you need to check out the NE style IPA thread in this forum, located here.

What you're describing is the big difference between West Coast IPA's and East Coast IPA's. East coast IPA's reserve a majority of the additions for after the boil is complete to avoid bitterness. The thread I linked above is HUGE, but has a lot of good info in it.

I typically follow the method that WeldWerks brewing discussed in a magazine, BYO I think. They do a First Wort Hop addition equivalent to about 8-10 IBUs. After that, they don't do any hops in the boil. They do all the hopping in the whirlpool and dry hop. I've had pretty good success with that method.

In regards to IBU's, it's really going to come down to personal preference. I would check out that link above and do some reading. Based on what you said though, I would design a recipe where you do a FWH or a 60 min addition, and then no more hops until boil is over. My last few IPA's, I've done 1.2oz/gallon hop rate in the whirlpool and 2oz/gallon in the dry hop and I've had pretty good success with that. You may not need to go that heavy though, depending on your goals.

This.

 

[Jim R]

Agree with the above. It is worthwhile to read and study books like John Palmer's How to Brew book to learn the basic general concepts of brewing including the different ways to use hops. For example, hops for bitterness are added during the boil and hops for primarily aroma are added after the boil. Here is an excerpt although his most recent book has more detail including how to calculate alpha acid additions, IBU's etc.. I learned more in 1-2 days reading his book than I slowly figured out on internet forums.

http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/hops/how-are-they-used

 

[MIWI]

Looks like I will need to do a bit more research before brewday. My recipe for hops is very close to yours Rob. I was leaning in the East Coast direction also. Will have to look into Palmers book.

 

[eric19312]

I've dropped bitterness in my IPAs over the years but still tend to like at least 30 IBU in the bittering addition. Anything less seems to come across as kinda flabby/sweet to me. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to beverages. Coffee - black. Water over soda. Dry red wine if wine is called for. No sweet mixers with alcohol unless heavily countered with bitters.

 

[IslandLizard]

For my NEIPAs (5.5 gallon batches) I use 7 or 8 grams of Warrior at 60' giving ~15 IBU.
[Added] No other hops during the boil or flameout.

Then 4-6 oz of a mix of "IPA hops" in a reduced temp whirlpool (or hopstand):

• Half at 170F for 10'
• The other half at 150F for 30'

Then chilling down to ferm temps.

According to BeerSmith 3, I only gain 9.9 IBU from 90 grams (~3 oz) of a hop mix (15.5 %AA average) at 170F for 10'.
Then 8.4 IBU from the exact same amount of hop mix at 150F for 30'.

Total IBU: 15.3 (60' boil) + 9.9 (10' @ 170°) + 8.4 (30' @ 150°) = 33.6 IBU

That resulting beer tastes a bit more bitter than 34 IBU, maybe 40 (45?), especially noticeable toward the end of the keg when the original thick milkshake has been reduced to a much thinner haze. So...

Note: The (kettle) hops are pellets and bagged (I use a plate chiller) and massaged/drained around every 5 minutes to refresh the wort inside the bags for better extraction.

Thoughts on possible changes:
I sometimes feel I can omit the Warrior altogether. Or perhaps substitute the Warrior with a small charge of a similar mix of IPA hops at 5' (before flameout) or increase the 170' hops charge for extra bitterness and flavor. Many possibilities.

Of course there's a generous dry hop too (4-8 oz).

 

[Beenym88]

It’s all about the IBUs I really prefer the New England style but unless making a beer for someone else I always keep my IBUs around 40 or below and almost all of my hope are late/whirlpool for their flavor.