dsaavedra
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
- Messages
- 635
- Reaction score
- 122
Background: So I think my last couple of brews (extract kits with specialty grains) have been suffering from extract twang. I do a partial boil (about 2.5-3 gallons) in a 5 gallon kettle on the stove top. My first two brews used LME and both had this very distinct flavor that I didn't really like. My third brew used only DME and I haven't tried it yet, going to bottle it this weekend. I'll be interested to see if it has the same flavor. My next brew is going to be an IPA with LME and I want to not only make it taste better than my first two brews, but I also want to get the most out of my hops.
The Setup: I was poking around in the search looking up late extract additions. From what I gathered, a volume of liquid can extract a finite amount of alpha acids from hops, and this is dependent on gravity of that liquid. A volume of wort will max out at 100 IBU's. But by doing a partial boil, even if I got perfect hop utilization and reached 100 IBU's in my 2.5 gallons, when I top off with 2.5 gallons of plain water, I will only have 50 IBU's in my final product. It also seems to be the consensus that doing late extract additions lowers the gravity and allows for better hop utilization, and the amount of hops should be cut back 20-25% to account for this.
The Question: So my IPA is supposed to have 80-something IBU's. I realize that this is going to be pretty difficult to achieve doing a partial boil. I was thinking though, if I boil as much wort as I can in my 5 gallon kettle (probably 3, maybe 3.5 gallons) this will cut back on the dilution effect of topping off. Adding most of the extract toward the end of the boil (or maybe even at flameout?) should increase the hop utilization as well. If I boil as much wort as possible, add most of the extract late, and don't cut back on my hop amounts, will this get me the most IBU's as possible in the final product given my limitations?
This all makes sense in my head and seems like it will get me the best brew possible with my current setup (I am planning on getting a 10.5-11 gallon kettle and doing BIAB), but I just wanted to check with the experts.
The Setup: I was poking around in the search looking up late extract additions. From what I gathered, a volume of liquid can extract a finite amount of alpha acids from hops, and this is dependent on gravity of that liquid. A volume of wort will max out at 100 IBU's. But by doing a partial boil, even if I got perfect hop utilization and reached 100 IBU's in my 2.5 gallons, when I top off with 2.5 gallons of plain water, I will only have 50 IBU's in my final product. It also seems to be the consensus that doing late extract additions lowers the gravity and allows for better hop utilization, and the amount of hops should be cut back 20-25% to account for this.
The Question: So my IPA is supposed to have 80-something IBU's. I realize that this is going to be pretty difficult to achieve doing a partial boil. I was thinking though, if I boil as much wort as I can in my 5 gallon kettle (probably 3, maybe 3.5 gallons) this will cut back on the dilution effect of topping off. Adding most of the extract toward the end of the boil (or maybe even at flameout?) should increase the hop utilization as well. If I boil as much wort as possible, add most of the extract late, and don't cut back on my hop amounts, will this get me the most IBU's as possible in the final product given my limitations?
This all makes sense in my head and seems like it will get me the best brew possible with my current setup (I am planning on getting a 10.5-11 gallon kettle and doing BIAB), but I just wanted to check with the experts.