# Hot Cubing Hoppy Beers



## Neil Buttriss (12/11/19)

Hi, Im thinking that due to water restrictions in my area I should do my bit and hot cube through the summer. Just wondering I read mixed results/ideas from hot cubing hopppy IPA's or Pale Ales whats everyones experience here.
I understand the 20 minute thing but as said the mixed results have me thinking. I don't use a lot of hops, maybe 100g would be a lot for me with about 50g of that from the 20 minute area, and 35g as a dry hop which I know wouldn't affect things.


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## HamoAus (12/11/19)

I do hot cubes almost for all my beers. I brew some great hoppy pale ales and IPA.

No hops in the boil. About 70grams in the whirlpool. 30g dry hops.

My favourite beers are made this way.

Good luck.

Cheers


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## Reg Holt (12/11/19)

A lot of trial and error by the look of things.
https://aussiehomebrewer.com/threads/late-hopping-and-no-chilling-guide.55801/


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## fdsaasdf (12/11/19)

It works. Just experiment with it, start out being conservative (you can always add a hop tea; hard to take bitterness away). I've taken multiple places at state champs with cubed hoppy beers.

Measuring hop additions by weight only (not AA) is not recommended unless you always use identical hops...


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## Neil Buttriss (12/11/19)

Thanks guys, bit of food for thought here. appreciate it


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## akx (13/11/19)

What temp do people use when doing both whirlpool additions and cubing? I've either chilled to 75, whirlpool, and chilled to pitching temp, or cubed at 90. Can you cube at 75?


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## JDW81 (13/11/19)

Totally possible to get big hoppy flavour from no chill. There are 2 main ways I've done it in the past (both with great success).

The first, and most labour intensive is cube your wort with your 60 minute addition and don't adjust your calculations (you won't extract much more bitterness from your 60 minute addition in the cube - you can't adjust it to a 50 or 45 minute addition if you're worried, but I don't bother). Once the wort has cooled, you do a mini boil with about 5 litres of cubed wort, and add your late hops as per the recipe (10mins/flameout/etc) then chill in an ice bath in the sink. Add the cooled boiled wort to the cubed wort and ferment as usual. You can use a hop bag, or strain out the hops but I don't bother (doesn't make a difference in my experience). This is known as the Argon method (after a well regarded member).

The other option (and my preferred method these days) is to do a small bittering addition with approximately 20-30% of your IBUs, then do a massive cube hop to make up the rest of the IBUs. You'll get both bitterness and flavour, which add a great hoppy character to your beers. For example, my cube hopped APA has about 13 IBUs from centennial in the kettle, then 23 from a large cascade cube hop (ends up being around 100g of cascade). Sounds like a lot, and you do use more hops, but it works a treat. Again, i just chuck the whole lot into the fermenter and ferment as usual. 

The larges cube hop i've done is around 120g in a 40L batch (split between 2 20L cubes) in an black IPA.

It doesn't take too much trial and error to nail down both methods. 

I've only ever no chilled my beer, and people who are avid chillers can't tell the difference.

JD


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## Schikitar (14/11/19)

I've found the argon method to be mostly unnecessary, not to say it doesn't work, it's just laborious for no real advantage.

When cubing I just do about a third of the IBUs up front, maybe some 5/0 additions for another third of your IBU additions and then a big cube hop (and transfer) at about 80-85 degrees which serves as the the whirlpool hops and typically covers that last third whilst bolstering the flavour/aroma. For me that's usually in the 100-150g territory for IPA's going into the cube. I've had some great results cubing but unless I'm short on time I usually chill my beers these days, just to be done with it and so I can do the whirlpool additions a bit lower around 65 degrees..


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## wozzie (14/11/19)

JDW81 said:


> Totally possible to get big hoppy flavour from no chill. There are 2 main ways I've done it in the past (both with great success).
> 
> The first, and most labour intensive is cube your wort with your 60 minute addition and don't adjust your calculations (you won't extract much more bitterness from your 60 minute addition in the cube - you can't adjust it to a 50 or 45 minute addition if you're worried, but I don't bother). Once the wort has cooled, you do a mini boil with about 5 litres of cubed wort, and add your late hops as per the recipe (10mins/flameout/etc) then chill in an ice bath in the sink. Add the cooled boiled wort to the cubed wort and ferment as usual. You can use a hop bag, or strain out the hops but I don't bother (doesn't make a difference in my experience). This is known as the Argon method (after a well regarded member).
> 
> ...



Hey mate, I'm just starting to look into doing no chill coming into summer. With your preferred method above, do you still dry hop on top of the cube addition?

Edit - Schikitar, likewise for you...


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## sponge (14/11/19)

Yes, still dry hop. 

Treat cube hops as a flameout/WP addition in terms of flavour, with the bitterness of a 10-20min boil (need to experiment for your own system/methods).

Dry hopping is still a separate process.


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## wozzie (14/11/19)

sponge said:


> Yes, still dry hop.
> 
> Treat cube hops as a flameout/WP addition in terms of flavour, with the bitterness of a 10-20min boil (need to experiment for your own system/methods).
> 
> Dry hopping is still a separate process.



Cheers mate!


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## Schikitar (14/11/19)

wozzie said:


> Hey mate, I'm just starting to look into doing no chill coming into summer. With your preferred method above, do you still dry hop on top of the cube addition?
> 
> Edit - Schikitar, likewise for you..



Yep, still dry hop, I see the cube hop as a whirlpool addition.. you will lose aromatics to the off-gassing during fermentation so the dry hop just adds that back in..


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## JDW81 (14/11/19)

Yeah, still dry hop in the usual method depending on style. 

JD.


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