Why only late hop additions

[NewkyBrown]

I'm a fan of IPAs and love the aroma and flavour late hop additions/whirlpool and dry hops add. I have noticed many recipe critiques suggesting to remove all 30/15 minute additions in favor of the late hopping.

I understand (I think) that this creates a much more intense aroma without the additional bitterness but wondered what the purpose of 30/15 min was ever for.

Is this change only recommended on hoppy IPAs or does it apply to pale ales/red ales,etc? Is there nothing to gain by adding the early hop additions? I still see some very popular IPA recipes on this forum with a more conventional 60/30/15/5 additions.

 

[bbrim]

30 minute additions are not efficient for maximizing bitterness and only add minimal flavor. It is just a waste of hops in general. Additions starting at 20 minutes will have an increasing amount of flavor then aroma as you get closer to the end of the boil/whirlpool.
Knowing this most brewers have dropped 30 minute additions altogether. Why use an ounce of hops to get bitterness and minimal flavor when you can use that same ounce 2/3 at 60 minutes and 1/3 at flameout to get the same bitterness and more flavor/aroma.
It is not wrong to make 30 minute additions, just not an efficient use of hops.

 

[Hujo]

I think the brewers at Lagunitas and Firestone Walker would disagree, since they do a 30 min addition on most of their hoppy beers.

A lot of people claim a lot of stuff, but you really have to try for yourself to see what works for you.

FWIW, I often skip my 60 minute addition in favor of a 30- or 20 minute one, to supposedly gain more flavour, but since I haven't done any serious testing or side-by-sides, I can't say for sure what it does.

What I can say is that just because you are boiling off some volatile compounds, your hops don't turn tasteless after 20 or 30 minutes. IMO, they don't taste less, they taste DIFFERENT.

 

[NewkyBrown]

Thanks for the replies. I guess if a recipe works with a 30 min addition then keep it but if I was creating a new recipe then maybe try just late hopping.

 

[Singletrack]

Thanks for the replies. I guess if a recipe works with a 30 min addition then keep it but if I was creating a new recipe then maybe try just late hopping.

Whoa there. Don't close this out. You asked a great question, and I am interested to hear more replies.

I only have several meaningless anecdotal experiences, but these have led me to adjust recipes to a 60 minute addition, followed by a 5 minute addition, followed by a hop stand at 170 F. (And dry hopping of course.)

I'm skeptical of the 20 to 30 minute additions, same as bbrim, but I could be completely wrong, so Hujo's post was interesting to me. Hope to hear more weigh in.

 

[Beezer94]

There was an interesting article I read... I think in Beer Advocate magazine where a brewer talks about Super Galena. He/She said when they used that hop as the only addition at 30 minutes, they get tons of strawberry flavors; any longer or shorter and the character wasn't there.

There are still tons of highly rated beers that have middle additions. Every minute a hop is in the boil or hot wort there is going to be changes, whether from compounds breaking down or being carried off in the steam. So a 15 minute addition would be slightly different than the same hop as a 14 minute addition or a 13 minute addition, etc.

I think bitterness is probably the number one reason for the switch to hop extract at the beginning and only very late hop additions. I just served a little 4.7% pale ale over the 4th weekend that had 15 IBU's from hop extract at 60min then 2oz Citra & 2oz Amarillo at flameout (+1oz each dryhop). The beer went over very well with hoppy beer drinkers and non-beer drinkers (translation- both types of people went back for refills when they had 'safe' options). It had a 1:1 IBU:SG with 250pp sulfate, but still got a few "it's not even bitter, is that because you didn't use a lot of hops?"

 

[sheikyerbouti]

I like a middle addition(30 min or so) and find when I leave it out, the beer seems a little one dimensional. To each his own.

 

[joshesmusica]

i think the only way to really compare a recipe with all sorts of additions and one with very simple additions is to brew the same wort with two different boils reaching the exact same numbers all around. unfortunately i can only recommend this and don't have the equipment to do it myself. to be honest, anything else is simply anecdotal. we can imagine a difference, or we can do a side by side test to actually see if a difference is present. i think this is one of those types of ideas that spur people to start doing beer experiments with side by side testing. it's the only way to know. one cannot simply test something with the tastings being weeks apart and expect to actually prove anything. so my suggestion is that if you have the capacity to test this one for yourself. it's the only way to know what your palette likes.
and this coming from a guy who just spent a lot of money on his last two beers in order to get all of my ibus from nothing earlier than 10 mins. 1 was a pale ale with 41 ibus, and the one about to be tossed in the fermenter is an ipa with 64 ibus. both of those with only 10, 5, and flameout additions.

 

[m00ps]

This is simialr to another thread that was started yesterday about only using late hop additions. I personally think this is the way to go and wouldn't go back to traditional hop schedules after the results ive gotten. I usually do a small (1oz or less) addition at 60min, 1-2oz at 10min, then 8-12oz total after the flame goes out for a hopstand. I save a few oz for dry hopping but concentrate on the hopstand. It creates a hop character thats unlike anything else ive tasted in beers. So juicy and pungent, but you can gulp it down like vitamin water

 

[Singletrack]

So juicy and pungent, but you can gulp it down like vitamin water

Poetry!

Could you post a link to the other thread?

 

[joshesmusica]

Poetry!

Could you post a link to the other thread?

i'm the one who started the other thread. my intention was to find out if anybody was doing ONLY all late hop additions to get all of their IBUs. but it seems that there are still many who are saving a bit of money by giving some kind of bittering charge. doing large batches could get quite costly with only late hop additions, but the biggest i do are 6 gallon batches, and those are usually partial mash.

here's the other thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=536724

 

[Hanglow]

Some commercial brewers do only whirlpool additions as they get so much bitterness from just that - they have to take a lot longer to cool down their wort though

 

[JKaranka]

I like 20m additions. You get hop 'depth' without overbearing aroma.