Simple Hop Schedule

[zapbampow]

On a semi-recent episode of Basic Brewing they talked about hop schedules. The guest (Chris Colby?) mentioned that some people simplify down to just adding 60 minutes of bittering hops and then adding aroma hops at 5 minutes or even just in the whirlpool.

I was intrigued so I've tried it on my last 2 batches of pale ale and IPA. Low and behold if it isn't some of the best beer I've made since I started back at brewing a year ago. Previously I was adding hops at 60 min, 15 min, and 5 min, with the occasional dry hop.

Being slightly cautious, I split my aroma hops in half. In both batches I added half at 5 minutes and once I turned the heat off. I'm doing 1.75 gallon batches. So I cool down quickly.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my results.

Question 1: Is anyone else doing this and what are your results and thoughts?

Question 2: What are the benefits of going back to the 60/15/5 min schedule?

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Answer 1: Absolutely! I especially like a 60min/5min/hopstand for SMaSH beers, so the flavor and aromas of the hops really shine through. For me, two considerations when deciding amounts of each charge: first, the perceived bitterness from the late additions can change pretty rapidly. Right out of the fermenter the bitterness seems higher, but as the late addition contributions drop off, that changes. Even 2 weeks of bottle conditioning can really mess with it. So, I make sure there are enough IBUs in the 60 minute addition to keep the beer sufficiently bitter. Second, the flavors and aromas themselves can drop off rapidly, so fresher is better. My last Citra SMaSH was tropical/mango/pineapple right out of the fermenter, and was citrus after 2 weeks of bottle conditioning. So now I keg and force carb most beers with this kind of hopping schedule.

Answer 2: not really any benefits, just different. Might get a more consistent perception of bitterness.

 

[ZmannR2]

Yes if you're going to do away with the 15 min addition, I would move it over to the flame out addition, then perform a good 10-15 min hop stand to extract the oils from the hops and give you massive hop flavor

I've never quite understood how a 15 min addition is for flavor and a 5 min one is for aroma. If you do a hop stand, the 5 min addition will SURELY add flavor. So just somethng to think about.

For Aroma, obviously just dry hop

 

[day_trippr]

[...]I've never quite understood how a 15 min addition is for flavor and a 5 min one is for aroma.[...]

That's from the "Old Brewers School", when kettle additions ended before the end of the boil.
No FO, no WP.
It's based on what gets lost with too much time in the kettle.

So, classically, bittering at the beginning of the boil, flavor around 20-15 minutes remaining, and aroma in the last 7-5 minutes. Dry hop optional.

That's where this came from:



FO and WP additions totally mess up the old paradigms

Cheers!