Newer brewer here looking for some guidance.

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ragman

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 22, 2020
Messages
318
Reaction score
138
Location
Hamlin
Hello all. I am about to embark on my first solo brew - I have brewed with friends before who have show me how to make a decent IPA.
We do All Grain Brewing using a keggle for the boil kettle, a drink cooler for an HLT and a coleman cooler for a mash tun.

I am going to try to make an 11gal batch of a somewhat hazy IPA, and I bought some equipment to try whirlpool hopping.

My plan is, once the water has reached the boil, after about 10 min in I will add some boil hops.
After the wort has boiled for an hr, I will cut the heat and turn on the whirlpool.
When the temp drops to 190 (this is without the cooling coil) I plan to add my whirlpool hops
10 min after that I will add the cooling coil and drop the temp to 70 and take my hydrometer readings.

I plan to dry hop after 2-3 days and again at 5-6 days.

My questions are - am I adding my whirlpool hops too early?
Should I add the cooling coil first and then try to add my whirlpool hops after I drop the temp lower?

I am looking for a very flavorful beer that isnt very bitter.

Thanks for any advice you guys can give
 
Add your coil 10 min before flame out on your boil. that will sanitize the coil, reducing infection possibilities.
Your post boil whirlpool is fine, you might want to consider dry hopping a few days into fermentation. .
 
Thank you. I do plan to dry hop as stated above 2-3 days into fermentation and again 5-6days in.

Do you think its ok that I let the wort cool on its own down to 190 from 210 before adding whirlpool hops and then waiting another 10 min before turning the water on the cooling coil for the more rapid cooldown?
My friends had us submerging the cooling coil immediately after we cut the heat and try to get it down to 70 degress as fast as possible. my way would slow that rapid cool down quite a bit by waiting probably 15-20 min before starting the cooldown process with the coil.

hope that isnt too confusing.
 
Considering its IPA its probably fine to do it that way. you could always cool down to 190 and then shut your cooling down add hoops and turn on your cooling water again after 10 min or so.
 
Do you think its ok that I let the wort cool on its own down to 190 from 210 before adding whirlpool hops and then waiting another 10 min before turning the water on the cooling coil for the more rapid cooldown?

You'll be fine. In my early days of brewing I had to stick my beer in snow drifts to get it to pitching temps. Sometimes sitting over night. Everything was fine.

That said, bolling too 190 naturally will take quite awhile, use the chiller.

Personally, I wouldn't dryhop more than once and I'd wait until 3 days prior to bottling. Dry hops are an aromatic addition. If active fermentation is still in swing, you're pushing all that hoppy goodness out with the C02. Plus oxygen is your enemy. Why open the fermenter more than necessary? Just my 2 cents. Good luck!
 
You'll be fine. In my early days of brewing I had to stick my beer in snow drifts to get it to pitching temps. Sometimes sitting over night. Everything was fine.

That said, bolling too 190 naturally will take quite awhile, use the chiller.

Personally, I wouldn't dryhop more than once and I'd wait until 3 days prior to bottling. Dry hops are an aromatic addition. If active fermentation is still in swing, you're pushing all that hoppy goodness out with the C02. Plus oxygen is your enemy. Why open the fermenter more than necessary? Just my 2 cents. Good luck!

So dry hopping just once 3 days prior to bottling will be enough? Im still learning but if I Hop with 1 type 10 min into boil for bitterness, a different hop for whirlpool and a 3rd type 3 days before bottling - which do you think would be most prevalent in my brew?
 
I suggest reading up on hop additions. I'll give a basic run down.

The longer your hops boil, the more bitter your beer will be. Thus increasing IBU. Unfortunately, the longer you boil hops, the more oils get carried away in your steam. This decreases aroma and flavors (the mango, citrus, etc). This is why we typically use a tiered addition schedule. To add both bitterness and flavor. Hops that boil 60 min leave essentially no aroma/flavor, while dryhops add essentially no bitterness.

I'm not suggesting you drop a boil addition, its an IPA, it needs bitterness. If you're using a tried and true recipe, don't change amounts of hops just add all the dry hops together a few days prior to bottling. If you are unsure, post the recipe and that might help.
 
I'm not suggesting you drop a boil addition, its an IPA, it needs bitterness. If you're using a tried and true recipe, don't change amounts of hops just add all the dry hops together a few days prior to bottling. If you are unsure, post the recipe and that might help.

Will the hops properly infuse into the wort if I wait that long to add? I mean we usually bottle after about 14 days, so that would be 11 days of fermentation... I just thought the yeast wouldnt be very active at that point thus not breaking down the hop pellets very well.

again - I am a newbie and still learning so some of the things I say might be wrong
 
Hey, we were all new once. This is why we ask questions, so we can learn. Ask anything, you'll get no judgement from me.

Think of hop additions like steeping tea. The yeast has nothing to do with it. Just sitting in liquid and infusing into the beer. 3 days is often all mine need. Sometimes I go a week before kegging. Its important not to steep too long though, otherwise you can impart a "grassy" flavor.

Usually I let the beer ferment until I have stable gravity, then add all my dryhops at once for an additional 3 to 7 days. Hope that helps.
 
To me, 190F is a bit high for whirlpooling. I like to whirlpool in the 160-180F range, depending on the beer being brewed. But to each their own. At 190F, you're going to isomerize more acids and get some bitterness, as well as burn off some of the hop oils . At 170F, you'll have to whirlpool them longer to get the extraction from them, but you'll retain more of the oils while not getting as much bitterness from them.

Whatever temp you want to whirlpool at, lets stick with 190F for conversation sake, get the wort to that temp and hold it there. I usually hold for 20 min or so. You can let the wort free fall to 190F if you'd like. However, if you already have the chiller in the wort, you could hook up the cold water source and turn it on to get it to the 190F faster. Then once you're at your whirlpool temp, kill the cold water source and let it sit at whirlpool temp for the desired time. Once you're whirlpool time is over, turn on the cold water and start chilling again.

In regards to your dry hops, I've moved to all dry hops after fermentation as well. You don't need much time with the dry hops at all. My last one, I added them 2 days before starting the final cold crash. So they were in the for 2 days and then I dropped them out before kegging. I don't remember the numbers but I thought you get almost all extraction from dry hops after a day or 2.
 
Hey, we were all new once. This is why we ask questions, so we can learn. Ask anything, you'll get no judgement from me.

Think of hop additions like steeping tea. The yeast has nothing to do with it. Just sitting in liquid and infusing into the beer. 3 days is often all mine need. Sometimes I go a week before kegging. Its important not to steep too long though, otherwise you can impart a "grassy" flavor.

Usually I let the beer ferment until I have stable gravity, then add all my dryhops at once for an additional 3 to 7 days. Hope that helps.

Thank you so much for being patient with me - you said until you have stable gravity but doesnt that require you to remove the bung and possibly introduce oxygen?
 
Thank you so much for being patient with me - you said until you have stable gravity but doesnt that require you to remove the bung and possibly introduce oxygen?

Yeah, oxygen is always a risk. You want to minimize it where you can. I wouldnt' go crazy with removing the bung a bunch of times but once or twice to pull samples won't destroy it.
 
Whatever temp you want to whirlpool at, lets stick with 190F for conversation sake, get the wort to that temp and hold it there. I usually hold for 20 min or so.

How much does your temp drop during those 20 min? I read that 160 and below is where bacteria can set in, whic is why I chose 190. I dont want really bitter beer. With your recomendation I might try 170 for 20 so long at the temp doesnt drop past 160 during that time. I know whirlpooling can drop the temp, I just dont know how fast
 
sorry for all the questions, just dont want to ruin my beer by straying a little from the way my friends and I have done it in the past. We have made good - drinkable beer - but from what Ive been researching - we can do better. I want more hop flavor and sweetness in my beer.
 
1596654781155.png
 
How much does your temp drop during those 20 min? I read that 160 and below is where bacteria can set in, whic is why I chose 190. I dont want really bitter beer. With your recomendation I might try 170 for 20 so long at the temp doesnt drop past 160 during that time. I know whirlpooling can drop the temp, I just dont know how fast

So, in my current system, it's electric so it holds it at that temp. However, when I was using propane, I did not track how much my temp dropped during that time. Honestly, I don't think it was much. Maybe 5-10 degrees.... Not 100% sure on that though. I definitely kept the kettle lid on as much as I could while I was whirlpooling. There was always a little gap where the chiller was sticking out but I had a majority of the kettle covered to keep anything unwanted out.
 
I don't know why but nobody seems to be addressing that the OP is making a hazy IPA, aka NEIPA.

I've personally never made one because of the insane amount of hops people use plus oxidation risk, however....

From what I gather a lot of people are doing very little to no boil hops and dousing the beer at whirlpool (usually around 170-160F).

They also often do a two stage dry hop. One during or just after high krausen (look up biotransfirmation) and another 3-5 days before packaging. Usually with around a pound of hops in the dry hop...

From what I understand that'll get you a juicy not so bitter hazy IPA.

Good luck!
 
I don't know why but nobody seems to be addressing that the OP is making a hazy IPA, aka NEIPA.

I've personally never made one because of the insane amount of hops people use plus oxidation risk, however....

From what I gather a lot of people are doing very little to no boil hops and dousing the beer at whirlpool (usually around 170-160F).

They also often do a two stage dry hop. One during or just after high krausen (look up biotransfirmation) and another 3-5 days before packaging. Usually with around a pound of hops in the dry hop...

From what I understand that'll get you a juicy not so bitter hazy IPA.

Good luck!

He said "somewhat hazy", so I did not interpret that as a NEIPA. However, after seeing the recipe, yes, I believe you're right about the OP's intentions.

A lot of people have moved away from the bio transformation hopping. You really only get that benefit from certain yeast/hop combos. Not every yeast/hop combo does it. Additionally, it can lead to some hop burn on the final product.

On my latest one, I took the advice of others and eliminated the bio transformation hop. I did 2 dry hops still - first one was 4 days from final cold crash and the second was 2 days from final cold crash. Cold crashed for 2 days and kegged.

Latest one pictured below.
IMG_1384(2).jpg
 

That's a lot of honey malt. Have you made this recipe before?

I don't like my IPA's (NEIPAs) that dark so I would lighten that up and reduce that honey malt to maybe 5% IF it were my beer, which it is not. If you like darker, sweeter IPA's, you can leave it. Up to you.

For your boil addition, that's a lot of galaxy in the boil in which you're not going to get much aroma/flavor from that. Again, IF it were my beer WHICH IT IS NOT, and IF you're going for a NEIPA, I would move that addition up to the very start of the boil and drop the addition so that it is giving you 10 or less IBUs. You could still use galaxy for that if you'd like but again, because you aren't really getting much flavor/aroma from that addition, I would change that to be magnum or warrior or nugget. Something that gives you a nice clean bitterness.

So, if you are in fact going for a NEIPA, I would increase your whirlpool to at least 6oz of hops total, if not more. My last one, pictured above, I did 21oz of whirlpool hops in 18.5 gallons post boil. If you are NOT going for a NEIPA and you're just going for an IPA, your whirlpool is probably fine.

Same thing with your dry hop - if you're aiming for an IPA, should be enough but if you're aiming for a NEIPA, I would increase those to at least 1oz per gallon in the fermenter.

I am curious after the last comment, are you aiming for an IPA or a NEIPA?

I would highly suggest checking out this thread if you're looking to do a NEIPA. It's extremely helpful and a lot of knowledgeable people participate there.
 
I do believe I am going for a NEIPA. Ive always thought that IPA was a more bitter darker beer - whereas NEIPA was lighter, sweeter and hazier.
am I wrong?
 
I do believe I am going for a NEIPA. Ive always thought that IPA was a more bitter darker beer - whereas NEIPA was lighter, sweeter and hazier.
am I wrong?

You're on the right track. I've had some beers that were advertised and NEIPAs but did not fit that bill!

That being said, I think the recommendations above will get you going in the right direction.
 
The thing you have to remember is that you're making beer. Even if it doesn't turn out exactly as you'd hoped, it'll probably be drinkable. It takes quite a bit to completely ruin a batch. I've done it once in 10 years, and I was almost trying to ruin it

You're on the right track. Keep practicing. keep asking for input, but remember to take all advice with a grain of salt.
 
Thanks for all the input. I think I am going to try for a 6 gal batch instead. Taking the advice of you guys, Im going to lessen the amount of Honey Malt, change the bittering hops to warrior, nugget or simcoe and add less at boil. I will whirlpool at 170 and will dry hop at 7 days and again at 11 days. I bottle, I dont keg (yet) so I plan to bottle at 14 days. I hope this all sounds good. I am excited to start my own first batch
 
Good luck. And dont' worry about posting questions here on the forum. People are more than happy to help you out if you run into snags. Let us know how the batch goes!
 
I’ve recently brewed a neipa and only added hops in the whirlpool stage, 5oz of citra @ 166 degrees for 20 min. I’ve been fermenting in a stainless steel fermenter for 3 days. I wanted to dry hop now since it’s at a high krausen stage and I want to avoid any type of oxidation. I do Intend of removing the hop sack in about 3-5 days to avoid hop burn in the final product. I was thinking of adding a layer of CO2 once I remove the lid to remove any oxygen. Is this a good method?? I have never dry hopped before..
 
Back
Top