Zero Hops in Boil

[Owly055]

I'm doing another of my "radical" experiments. This brew is only 2 gallons, using my home malted barley only, which is a bit toasty, and some cane sugar. I plan to do my next kilning more scientifically.

I'm using a full 2 ounces of Columbus in a two gallon brew. One half ounce goes in at flameout at the same time I put my chiller into the wort. The second half ounce goes in at approximately 160, and the third will be a 4 day dry hop. Brewer's Friend predicts an IBU of 56 and change. The idea is to have a very intensely flavored beer obviously. The hops are pellet.

The problem here is that BF uses 10% utilization for all dry hops, and a boil addition at 0 minutes yields zero IBUs. If I do the first addition as a dry hop, it yields an astronomical IBU figure. There really is no way for me to calculate what the real IBUs are. If I run the first addition as 1 minute boil, the IBUs are in the low 30's. I'm not at all sure how to calculate this accurately. I'm good with either result, but I'd like to know.

H.W.

 

[raysmithtx]

The time it takes to go from boiling down to 160 will determine the amount of extraction. How long do you estimate that to take? I made a spreadsheet that may get you in the ballpark but need to know the cooling time.

Lots of information on post boil hop extraction on this page:
https://alchemyoverlord.wordpress.c...-ibu-measurement-especially-for-late-hopping/

 

[raysmithtx]

If my calculations are correct then if you take 20 minutes to go from boiling to 160 degrees with .5 oz. of 14% Columbus then the post boil extraction adds about 8 IBU's.
Maybe some of the science guys can chime in here.

 

[Owly055]

Thanks for the responses....... Unfortunately my temp reduction time was very short.......... What I realistically need to do is look at it all as a 160F whirlpool. Tasting the wort, it has a nice bitterness....... it will be interesting to taste the brew once fermented out. The flavor is really nice.. Columbus is out of vogue, with all the newfangled hops, but used heavily it produces a very nice pale ale, especially with cone hops instead of leaf. Great article by the way.

I've long questioned the bizarrely complex hop addition schedules I often see during the boil.... 1 hr, 30 min, 20 min, 10 min, 0 min, etc...... for example, as if each addition will have a distinctly different result........ which I consider a bit absurd. My own strategy is normally to either do a bittering addition of something like Magnum or Summit at the beginning, and really do a large late addition at 5 or 10 minutes, and whirlpool and / or dry hop, or to simply make my late addition large enough to hit my IBUs as well as providing flavor and aroma.... and of course sometimes whirlpool and / or dry hop. I doubt that one can distinguish any difference between adding hops at 15 min and 5 min, and adding hops together at 8 min or something of the sort. Personal experience in well over a hundred brews tends to bear this out, but my perception may not be as acute as someone else's.

The point here being that it probably make sense for me to simply dump my flame out and whirlpool addition both in at flameout because the temp drops so quickly anyway.... or to start my whirlpool at 180 or so, and combine the additions. 6 of one, half a dozen the other....... I often think we make brewing more complicated than it needs to be..........

H.W.

 

[jimmayhugh]

I use a 15.5 gallon sanke brite keg as my fermentor, and lately I've had great success with a very small (1oz) first wort hop in a 10 gallon batch, followed by a large 8-10 oz addition at whirlpool. I then allow the wort to cool naturally overnight in the sanke, oxygenate, pitch the yeast, allow the wort to ferment at about 68 degrees at about 8-10psi, and a final dry hop about 3-4 days into the fermentation.

I've done this method 4 times now, and have gotten excellent feedback from people whose opinions I respect.