New Girl Brewing-need help when to add hops?

[hp4brewing]

Hi,
I am new to brewing and have a couple questions.
1) At what point do I add hops? I was told by a guy I know that brews out of his basement. He told me that he adds hops after about 25m into the brewing process. I heard you are supposed to wait until 45m from other people. Who is correct?

2) Is it worth buying a E book on brewing or should I just buy a book? My freind reccomended a E book "broke mans guide to brewing beer" on Amazon. He said it included a 100 yr old German beer recipe and ways to brew with what you have in your kitchen. I am not sure if it would be worth buying a actual print book or that?

 

[mrtwister]

First off welcome to my favorite obsession. Your friends are both right and wrong. Hops are added at different times depending on the flavor you wish to accomplish. There is no universal set time, each recipe is different. As far as a good book I would get "how to brew" by john j palmer , its a good place to start. Good luck.

 

[reverendj1]

1) This depends on your recipe. Most recipes call for a 60 minute boil, and the time listed for a hop addition means how long it was in the boil. i.e. if a hop addition says 60 minutes, you add it at the start of your boil. If it says 0 minutes, you add it at the end of your boil. This chart is not exactly scientific and most likely isn't 100% correct, but it will give you an idea of why and when to add hops.

Just about all beers will have a 60 minute bittering addition, and will vary on flavor and aroma additions (often there are multiple hop additions at different times).

2) I have not heard of that book, so I can't really say anything about it. Although, I can say learning and reading is very important and will help you be a better brewer and stick with it (since you will probably make better beer to start out with). How to Brew by John Palmer and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian are well known for basically being the brewer's bibles. They are two excellent books for learning how get going, and are available as ebooks or physical copies. John Palmer has also released How to Brew online, which you can read for free. Note that it is the first edition, and it has been revised since, as there is some misinformation in the first edition.

Good luck and welcome!

 

[Pappers_]

Hi and welcome.

For your second question, that does not sound like a good beginner's book. The best resource for you to look at is John Palmer's How to Brew, which is available for free online at www.howtobrew.com You can also buy it in book form. The first section walks you through exactly how to make your first beer - very helpful.

Another good resource is www.basicbrewing.com - they produce a series of dvds that you can purchase, including one on beginning extract brewing.

For your first question, the recipe or kit you are using should tell you when to add hops, how much and of what variety. Recipes vary widely on when to add the hops - there is no one answer.

Finally, you should take some time to read through the Beginners subforum here at HBT, especially this sticky thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/beginner-extract-brewing-howto-99139/

Good luck!

 

[Kate00]

I second how to brew by Palmer. His brewing classic styles is also very good to have.

For understanding the process, there are some decent videos posted on YouTube. Watch a few of those.

One other good source is BYO's 250 clone recipes magazine. It's about ten bucks and available online. It tells you the ingredients in beers that you have had, giving you an idea of what the ingredients do. Example: Sierra Nevada pale uses a lot of cascade for aroma, so you have an idea if what cascade taste like.

This website is a good source for info and help too

Have fun!

 

[Homercidal]

I'd highly recommend buying a book, and the book I'd recommend would be either:

How To Brew - John Palmer
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing - Charlie Papazian
Homebrewing for Dummies - Author unknown

Those are for people starting out.

As far as boiling, you want to add the hops as soon as you get a "hot break" in the boil, which should happen shortly after the boil gets going. It will look like stuff swirling around. Some people say it looks like egg drop soup.

That's when the proteins has coagluated. You recipe will have "hop additions" that tell you when to add your hops. A 60 minute hop addition is the bittering hops and they go in first and need to be boiling for 60 minutes. The time is counted from when the boil ENDS, so the 20 minute hop addition will be put in at the 40 minute mark, when there are 20 minutes left in the boil. A 0 minute hop addition is also called a flame out addition because you put those hops in when you turn off the burner and stop the boil.

Again, I highly recommend getting a book and reading through it. You can get MANY tips and tricks to make a brew cheaper, but the biggest ways are to brew All Grain (not from extracts) and to buy in bulk. You can also use techniques to save your yeast from batch to batch so you don't buy yeast as often. And you can search on Craigslist for used equipment.

So, pretty much what's been said so far in this thread!

 

[geek_chaser]

Hey. I'm also a new girl. I have a couple of brews under my belt by the help of my local home brew shop. they had recipes for me to follow. They are partial mash (which I thoroughly enjoy since I can't do all grain and don't want to do all extract.). For now due to the room I have I am brewing on an electric stove. There is so much I have to do to better my brewing, but I think right now it works for me. Find what works for you. Find a LHBS. Get a john palmer book, and any other home brew book you can find that you think will help you. Good luck and have fun with it!