First Wort Hopping Questions

[oldbugman]

I have my own bastardised version of FWH, whereby I throw my 60 min addition in the kettle and drain first and second runnings onto it and then bring up to rolling boil,and boil for 60 min.
Next addition is at 10 and flame out.
Same hop,same alpha added at commencement of boil for 60min with similar additions, and the bitterness level was the same (to my tastebuds) and the aroma flava profile were the same.
No lack of bitterness from the FWH'd version and no extra aroma detectable.
I still add my hops to the kettle and and sparge onto,but only as a convenience,can't forget to add em reason.

personally the whole FWH thing seems a bit of a crock to me, but that just my 2c worth.

I thought this was FWH, anyone care to comment if there is a difference?

 

[Mr Bond]

I thought this was FWH, anyone care to comment if there is a difference?

Its my version, Others are taking the flava addition and sparging into it and then adding the normal 60 min bittering addition at begining of boil and calling it FWH,and claiming the FWH addition is not adding as much bitterness.My point is that MY FWH has the same bitterness as a 60 min addition that there calculations are saying wil lbe 20% less like a flava addition.

it don't add up!

Thats why I think its a crock.

 

[Stuster]

Interesting, Mr B. What hops have you done this with? What sort of IBUs are the beers?

 

[Tony]

OK

HEre is my 2 cents worth

I dont replace any flavour or aroma additions with FWH'ing.

I like to add 10 IBU of hops in a FWH addition. boil for 60 min and add the rest of my bittering hops at 45 min.

I dont generally add to much in the way of flavour hops, i like to add more at flame out for aroma as the FWH will impart some flavour but its smoother and less grassy. It blends in better if you know what i mean.

here is a typical recipe i would use with this method and it produces a great beer with fantastic ballance between malt, flavour and aroma

cheers

Summer Keg Ale

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 54.00 Wort Size (L): 54.00
Total Grain (kg): 11.20
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 11.92
Anticipated EBC: 8.1
Anticipated IBU: 25.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 11.20 kg. TF Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt UK 1.037 5

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 9.8 First WH
36.00 g. Pride of Ringwood Whole 9.60 15.2 45 min.
60.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 0.0 0 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.10 Oz Irish Moss Fining 5 Min.(boil)


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

 

[Mr Bond]

Interesting, Mr B. What hops have you done this with? What sort of IBUs are the beers?

Beer(A): X gramsFuggle, 35 IBU(FWH) 20 min to raise to boil,boil for 60min,add 1gram/L @ 10 min and Flame out.

Beer (b ):20 min to achieve boil add Same X grams Fuggle(same batch) boil 60 min,add 1gram/L @ 10 min and flame out.

Both were same grist and yeast.

No obvious standout difference in bitterness or Flava aroma.

Thes e beers were never compared side by side which is the only weak point in my experiment.They were brewed 4 weeks apart but the memory of the tastes were very fresh to me.
I was curious to see if there was any marked difference in using FWH after it was explained to me.There was no wow thats incredible or better moments at all.
I have come full circle now and subscribe to the One addition for bittering and then add flava and aroma late in the boil and find it preferable.30 min/45 min bittering additions and incremental additions over the last 20 min just turned out to be time wasting overcomplifications of a simple process(making beer) that had no Quantum leap factors that I could see.fun to try but ultimately superfluous(my HO)

Dave

 

[tangent]

i went from FWH etc. to 30min boil with no hops then bittering additions at 60 etc.
seems a better practice to me.

 

[Wortgames]

All of my FWH brews were FWH only - I think that's the entire point. All of the brew's hops go in at that stage, no later additions at all. Obviously you can do what you like, but I just used Promash's standard figures and I was really happy with the results. I just put in enough hops to get the bitterness I wanted, and let the flavour and aroma take care of themselves.

 

[Tony]

I think the origional purpose of FWH'ing was to add a small amount of bittering hops to the kettle before it boiled to break surface tension and control boilovers.

I read that in a couple of places, cant remember where now.

cheers

 

[T.D.]

Nothing to do with getting huge hop aroma (though I am a hop head)... I just find you can use less hops later in the boil for the same result.

Ross, surely you are not advocating the use of LESS hops??? :huh: :lol: