Hoppy beers

[wbosher]

Check out this article

http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/01/21/late-hop-additions-and-hop-oils-in-beer-brewing/


Bascially if you want to preseve hop oils and thus flavour and aroma you should chill your wort to below 64 deg before throwing your late additions in.

Very interesting. I've been using the Dr Smurto's method of waiting about 20 minutes before chilling, after adding flameout hops, although lately it's been more like 2 or 3 while getting the chiller set up. Might need to try chilling down a bit first.

 

[ajmuzza]

Check out this article

http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/01/21/late-hop-additions-and-hop-oils-in-beer-brewing/


Bascially if you want to preseve hop oils and thus flavour and aroma you should chill your wort to below 64 deg before throwing your late additions in.

Good article. However, would have thought that I'd still be getting something from the dry hop.

 

[Dave70]

How do you whirlpool with an immersion chiller?



Any words of advice from those with immersion chillers?

A - I bought a wooden spoon with the biggest head I could find and shoved the handle into my cordless drill.
Stick it down the middle of the coil and kind of half trigger on high gets a nice whirlpool going without stirring it into a oxidized wort smoothy. Whirlfloc at 5 min seems to help the cold break clump also.

B - Either void the chiller completely of water or have it connected both sided before you dunk it into the wort or else she'll spit boiling water at you. That was an object lesson I'll not soon forget..

 

[Spiesy]

My experience with the Immersion Chiller and getting better hop aroma is that I moved the whirlpool hop to a steeping hop. I tried this for a while without dry hopping and I got a great level of aroma with High Alpha Acid Hops, 9%AA or higher ( you can use lower but you need alot more, alot more)

What does AA% have to do with aroma?

Surely with a low AA% hop, you could add more, for less bitterness and more aroma?

 

[piraterum]

Good article. However, would have thought that I'd still be getting something from the dry hop.

Yeah I was thinking that too.

But beer chemistry is seriously complicated. There are so many factors at play throughout the whole process. With late hopping it occurs anywhere from flameout until when pitching temp is reached. So for part of that time the hops are being steeped at a relatively high temp compared to dry hopping. Also variables such as pH, gravity and the presence of alcohol and carbon dioxide may influence the way the hop oils react in the wort.


This article is worth a read too with some points raised by professional brewers

http://www.mrmalty.com/late_hopping.php

 

[Pagey]

Check out this article

http://beersmith.com/blog/2013/01/21/late-hop-additions-and-hop-oils-in-beer-brewing/


Bascially if you want to preseve hop oils and thus flavour and aroma you should chill your wort to below 64 deg before throwing your late additions in.

Yep and that is exactly what I do.
I throw in the flameout additions once I am well into cooling. Usually 50c ish.
Anywhere between 20g - 60g for a 21L batch depending on how much I want in the end. 20g = mild aroma 60g = quite large aroma...
I do cool pretty quickly though, drop a copper coil into the boil with 15mins to go then at flame out I start pumping ice water through it.! So it really doesn't take me long to drop 50c down to 17c which is about where I pitch my ales..
I have dry hopped once. I wasn't really a fan of the grassyness but in saying that it did fade with time. I just don't like waiting.

 

[Dewey]

Have you thought about FWH (first wort hopping)?

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-first-wort-hop-beer-brewing-techniques/

Cheers,

Dewey

 

[Dan Pratt]

What does AA% have to do with aroma?

Surely with a low AA% hop, you could add more, for less bitterness and more aroma?

Hi Spiesy,

My understanding is that higher AA%'s of hops used will create better aroma character due to the increased levels of available oils to impart into the wort creating that hoppy aroma.

The lower Alhpa hops do not contain the same levels of oils which is why the % is lower and why using them for late/WP/steep or DHopping will not achieve the desired hoppy character.

You can add as much low AA hops as you like to the steeping or dry hop, this will not equate to any bitterness at all.

 

[ajmuzza]

Have you thought about FWH (first wort hopping)?

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-first-wort-hop-beer-brewing-techniques/

Cheers,

Dewey

Plan is to do a APA to about 50IBU with half the IBU from a FWH and the rest from a cube hop. Maybe a single hop number given Yob's special prices. Also contemplating chucking the cube in some ice to try and get it to under 64 ASAP.

 

[micblair]

Usually higher alpha equates to higher oil content.

I'm not sold on the idea of pre-chilling the wort and then hopping in the 60's. Think about how most brewery's pump straight into a heat exchange at the end of the boil, this process is something only homebrewer's would come up with. It is an inelegant solution, and introduces another avenue for infection.

Put a lid on your kettle to condense the essential oils once you've dumped the hops into the whirlpool, or invest in a hop-back. Most of the compounds which contribute to beers aroma are simple hydrocarbon derived terpenes, which are relatively inert to pH 4 and a bit of heat.

Provided your boil was long enough and vigorous enough, condensing other volatiles such as DMS shouldn't be a concern.

 

[mxd]

Plan is to do a APA to about 50IBU with half the IBU from a FWH and the rest from a cube hop. Maybe a single hop number given Yob's special prices. Also contemplating chucking the cube in some ice to try and get it to under 64 ASAP.

I have done FWH and mash hopping and haven't "felt" like I got a lot/different aroma from that.

I do a 0 min no chill, which is basically a 10 min hop addition to get to the IBU then add em at flameout, I also do about 3g / litre dry hop.

There was a AIPA that hoser did (centenial AIPA, no chill) that was amazing with the aroma, I've never been able to get my aroma that good.

 

[Pagey]

I'm not sold on the idea of pre-chilling the wort and then hopping in the 60's. Think about how most brewery's pump straight into a heat exchange at the end of the boil, this process is something only homebrewer's would come up with. It is an inelegant solution, and introduces another avenue for infection.

Agree entirely. I am absolutely a gheto brewer but damn it produces some nice results. I think that 50c mark is just enough to pull the oils off the hops and a rapid chill means very little is lost.

Totally agree with the infection part though. So far I've been lucky. Could also have something to do with my insistence on good healthy yeast that is active and ready to go being pitched at the perfect temps. Very particular with my yeast so that probably helps a lot.

 

[piraterum]

Agree entirely. I am absolutely a gheto brewer but damn it produces some nice results. I think that 50c mark is just enough to pull the oils off the hops and a rapid chill means very little is lost.

Totally agree with the infection part though. So far I've been lucky. Could also have something to do with my insistence on good healthy yeast that is active and ready to go being pitched at the perfect temps. Very particular with my yeast so that probably helps a lot.

The risk of infection by the addition of hops below 64 deg is a moot point.

The likelihood of this is being a problem is incredibly small, particularly given the natural antibiotic properties of hops. In a small time frame you're also going to add billions of yeast cells which will easily out compete any introduced bacteria.

 

[toncils]

Let this rest for 15-20mins, then crank up the immersion chiller again and it will cool to below 30c in no time, I usually have to use about 200lts to get it below 25c but thats another story. :huh:

Whoaly shiz...you don't put all that water down the drain?

 

[Dan Pratt]

Whoaly shiz...you don't put all that water down the drain?

It would be a guess to say 200lt, it may only be half of that quantity but if you feel any better about it that water goes onto the lawn

 

[popmedium]

Do you rack off your yeast before dry hopping? I'm noticed a tonne of aroma gets lost if you dry hop without racking the beer in to secondary first.


Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Home Brewer

 

[Yob]

Nope... can do but I feel thats just another process which is over rated. (Without good reason to do so but I dont believe dry hopping is one of those)

I have done, but only on beers that required it, like my AAAIPA where the trub/drbris level was starting to get over the tap level and I was worried about it blocking...

you shouldnt be losing that much aroma if you are DH near the end of the ferment, its not the yeast itself that scrubs it but the fermentation action.

 

[micblair]

Hops do have an anti-microbial effect, but not against beer spoilage bugs.


Sent from my iPhone using Aussie Home Brewer

 

[toncils]

I always wondered if you'd lose a whole lot of aroma when your hops sink into the trube?

Nyeh, all water stays on the earth. But 200lt per brew is a lot of cash on your bills. Could be worth finding a watertank to store/reuse?

 

[DJR]

Maybe get rid of the hop bag and just throw the pellets into the fermenter. Wouldn't do that with 3g/L though. And how long are the hops staying in? Also if your pH is wrong or there is not enough calcium I believe this can lead to poor hop extraction

also what yeast are you generally using and at what temp?

shouldn't be having a problem getting flavoursome/aroma filled beers with that kind of hopping schedule

Not sold on the > 64C thing.... although I do have a hoprocket and a borrowed plate chiller that really does create buckets of hop aroma from extracting the hop oils with hot wort and then rapid chilling