60min Vs 90min Boil

[mckenry]

Thats possible - I'm not personally going to the effort because I believe that FWH is mostly hooey. But I'm willing to help out if someone does the work.

Split 90min boil, equal volumes at start and end of boil. one with x grams of FWH and the other with X grams of addition added at 90mins (times from the wort coming to an active boil)

A sample from each given to me and I will suck up to the lab guys and see what the difference is in measured IBUs. I'm not doing it unless the experimental technique is reasonable though - the lab guys do a bit of work to measure IBUs and I'm not wasting a favour on a bad experiment

TB

FWH are only supposed to be 1/3 of your flameout addition right? I dont think you're supposed to compare the FWH with Bittering (90 or 60min)

First Wort Hop Link

mckenry

sorry to bump this back, but I am still interested.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

sorry to bump this back, but I am still interested.

Depends what you are using them for

Some people use first wort hopping as a complementary version of aroma hopping. The theory being that time spent in hot but not actively boiling wort, will oxidise some (comparatively more) of the hop aroma compounds (the terpene compounds if I recall correctly) without volatilising and losing them, and the oxidised versions of those compounds are both more aromatic, possess different aroma qualities and are less volatile than the non oxidised version.

So you use some of your aroma hops as FWH and some as traditional aroma hops and therefore get a wider spectrum of aroma profile, and some people believe, a longer lasting deeper aroma.

This part may not be hooey - but probably is

The other reason people use first wort hopping is because they believe that it gives a "smoother" bitterness than do hops added after the wort has come to the boil. I'm not sure why but I think it is something to do with the co-humulone fraction of the alpha acids being preferentially absorbed by the break material as it forms. So you get less bitterness from the hop addition because some of the iso-alpha acids have been absorbed by the break material (assuming you add your "normal" hops after the break is mostly done) and a smoother bitterness from whats left because "more" co-humulone was absorbed than the other alpha acids and so the percentage of co-humulone is effectively reduced.

Or it could be oxidised Beta Acids being absorbed by the break - they are both as or more bitter than iso-alpha acids and "harsher" on the palate. Same effect as if it were co-humulone. But I dont know to what extent beta acids are absorbed as break forms and I know that iso-alpha acids are. Or maybe there is another explanation?? I don't know of one - although thats certainly not any guarantee that there aren't a dozen perfectly good ones

I think the smoother bitterness thing is most probably hooey and that the bitterness is perceived as smoother simply because it is lower....

But a lot of people swear by FWH and maybe they're right??

TB