Hops In The Mash

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Bilph

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I'm a bit of a partial mash newbie - about half a dozen or so - and I'm looking to try a few new simple techniques.
I've heard that hops can be added to the mash. I understand it helps reduce the ph and imparts a different hop flavour and bitterness.
Has anyone got any experience with this?
What amounts should be added to the mash?

Any info greatly appreciated.
 
Tony M said:
I did one last year and was greatly impressed with the hop flavour. It was quite subtle yet obvious.
The attached article by mark Sedam will tell you how

http://www.paddockwood.com/article_info.php?articles_id=3
[post="62538"][/post]​


That is an excellent article.

If you want a noticeable affect add very fragrant hops to the mash.

My last mash hopped beer was with Amarillo

30 gms in the mash which in my system added about 3 ibu to the bitterness calcs.

I still added all my normal additions but could certainly notice a marked improvement.

I would say that the choice of hops would be critical.

Steve
 
Does this add mostly bitterness or flavour or both?

Maybe adding 30 grams or so of halleratu to my german pilsner mash might increase the flavour profile?


EDIT: The article says: Current observations indicate that mash hopping provides almost no bitterness to the finished beer. so this asnwers my first QU.



THOUGHT: As mash hopping gives great aroma, would you maybe skip the aroma hops (end of boil, dry hopping etc) and just mash hop instead? Thought this could be a good idea when you only had pellets are continued to get that grassy flavour that sometimes you get (such as dry hopping saaz)??

Just a thought.... Will try mash hopping with 20 grams of saaz for my next all saaz brew and see how it goes. I don't add hops after the 5 min mark when using saaz.
 
Great feedback. Thanks.
I'd actually heard that it added bitterness as well, but I'm much happier to take the word of those who have direct experience.
I have an all Amarillo APA planned in the near future. Sounds like a good one to try out mash hopping.
Ta.
 
guys,

i made a sparkling ale style all grain. I threw a handful of hop flower into the mash. This gave a full aroma and a gentle bitterness
 
"helps reduce the ph" Does anyone have reports that support this theory that I personally find highly unlikely?

tdh
 
Hmm. Think I'll give it a burl.

Brewed up today, and squeezing them hop bags at the end of the boil is a tricky little exercise. I'm going to get a pair of tight leather gloves to wear under the rubber gloves next time.
 
dickTed said:
Hmm.

I'm going to get a pair of tight leather gloves to wear under the rubber gloves next time.
[post="62589"][/post]​

:blink: :blink:
 
I can't see how the pH could change, it is still in a buffered system.

I'm not sure why the alpha acids are not transferred into the boil,
if what people saying about them not adding to bitterness is correct.
Why are the hop oils transferred over and not the acids?
 
I mash hopped my mash paddle ale with EKG plugs which I had ground up.
I was severely underwhelmed with the results. Following some advice i'd read, i added about 30% extra hops (or something similar). I didn't add any finishing / flavour hops, only the 60min for bitterness.

There is a mild hop flavour, but no aroma at all, so as Chiller said, it probably works better with some hop types.
 
bradmcm said:
I can't see how the pH could change, it is still in a buffered system.

I'm not sure why the alpha acids are not transferred into the boil,
if what people saying about them not adding to bitterness is correct.
Why are the hop oils transferred over and not the acids?
[post="62593"][/post]​


Since it's past midnight, it's rampant speculation time.

I think the theory came about because someone saw the word 'acid' appended on 'alpha acid' and assumed it would lower pH. But I reckon you're right, the buffering potential of the mash would hardly allow such a weak acid to change the pH. Also, if mash hopping does not increase bitterness by any great degree, then these alpha acids cannot be isomerising and making it into solution to even act to lower pH. Maybe someone with a pH meter should do an experiment: 3 identical mashes, 1 with no hops, 1 with low AA hops, 1 with high AA hops, measuring the pH of all three at varying times throughout the mash.

As for the oils, I can see why it would be difficult to understand why the hydrocarbon component oils would transfer over when the alpha acids don't, since they have a very non-polar structure. Perhaps less of these are required to give a noticeable effect on the flavour? However, I can see that the oxygen-bearing components of the essential oils, such as linalool and geraniol, could solubilise more easily, given they are smaller molecules and contain a hydroxyl group. This could also support why some hops are better suited to mash hopping, as certain varieties of hops have higher concentrations of these oils than others.
 
Here's another thread on mash hopping, that has some good links to articles.
Mash Hopping
I found the aroma faded fairly quickly, so that by the time the beer was ready to drink the aroma had mostly gone but flavour was still evident. This was from doing three beers mashed hopped with low alpha hops (Saaz and EKG) and with only bittering additions in the boil.
As per Chiller's advice I'd still add some aroma hopping (if thats what you are after). Amarillo what be a good hop to use.
 
There is a professional brewer among the brewrats, who received two examples of mash hopped beers and analised them in the breweries lab (no hops in the boil)

A sample that would have had theoretically 200IBU had and actual 35IBU, why this would be, don't the alpha acids need to be isomerised in the boil? The much lower heat of the mash tun would isomerise a lot less.

Me, I will stick to adding a plug to the cold conditioning beer to get aroma

Jovial Monk
 
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