Really Basic Questions.

[Danis]

[insert obligatory sorry, i couldn't find anything asking about this note here]

This is my second time brewing, last time I just used a Coopers Draught, but this time I'm looking to step things up (a little).

Now I bought some Hallertau finishing hops, as well as the Morgan's Austrlian Old. And I'm a bit confused as to when I should add the hops. I've read that I need to boil them with the extract, rather than just with water, for there to be an effect. However, I also read that its not a good idea to boil the extract, because this will destroy the hops already in there. So how should I go about this?

I'm sure this has been asked many atime, but I just wanted to get some explicit instructions. Cheers in advance.

 

[jonnydee]

[insert obligatory sorry, i couldn't find anything asking about this note here]

This is my second time brewing, last time I just used a Coopers Draught, but this time I'm looking to step things up (a little).

Now I bought some Hallertau finishing hops, as well as the Morgan's Austrlian Old. And I'm a bit confused as to when I should add the hops. I've read that I need to boil them with the extract, rather than just with water, for there to be an effect. However, I also read that its not a good idea to boil the extract, because this will destroy the hops already in there. So how should I go about this?

I'm sure this has been asked many atime, but I just wanted to get some explicit instructions. Cheers in advance.

I'm new to this too, when I used hops with an extract for the first time I steeped a hop bag in hot water, (just like making tea), then chucked the whole lot into the fermentor with the extract - no boiling. This adds bitterness. Another option that will add hoppy aroma, but no extra bitterness is to dry hop. To do this, I just chuck some hops in after fermentation has finished/quieted down, so after about a week, (i've yet to try transfering to a secondary fermentor, but I guess you could add them then).

Hope this helps.

 

[pint of lager]

Welcome to the forum Danis.

The type of hops, quantity and how they are added to a brew make a big difference to your beer. Hallertau are a very nice hop and are highly recommended.

As this is your first brew, just keep the hops addition simple. Grab a clean coffee cup, fill it with boiling water, pop the hops bag in for 10 minutes then drop the hoppy water into your fermenter when making up the brew. Use one of the brew enhancer kilo bags from your brewshop rather than a kilo of plain sugar as recommended on the back of many kits.

As your skills increase, rather than using the little hops bags, buy a 100 gms of hops, a bag of dextrose and a bag of dried light malt extract (DME.)

Do not boil your kit, as you have already read, it may harm the hop extract that provides the bittering.

For your kilo of additive to your later brews, use 500gms DME and 500gms dextrose.
Add 250gms DME to a few litres of warm water, stir till dissolved and gently bring to the boil.
Add 15 gms of hops. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add another 15 gms of hops. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add another 10 gms of hops. Simmer for a minute then turn off the stove.
Strain the resulting solution into your fermenter and add the kit, 500 gms dextrose and the last 250gms of DME and make up to 23 litres.
These instructions will improve a kit enormously as many are lacking hop flavour and aroma. Later you can also experiment with steeping some specialty grain, which will also improve kits enormously.

For now, concentrate on your sanitation, keep your fermentation at around 18-22 deg and be patient.

Have a read of the topic Beginner's FAQ

 

[Danis]

Thanks for the help guys, thats just what I was after.

This is going to be fun.

 

[dirty mac]

Thats a good idea. What are the best bittering hops to use? I've only ever used the brew blends then dry hopped as I've read that adding finishing hops to initial PF will cause yeast to drown out most flavour. h34r:

 

[dirty mac]

Check this out. Great site for most hopping info :beer:
http://www.realbeer.com/hops/FAQ.html

 

[dirty mac]

[/quote]

I'm new to this too, when I used hops with an extract for the first time I steeped a hop bag in hot water, (just like making tea), then chucked the whole lot into the fermentor with the extract - no boiling. This adds bitterness. Another option that will add hoppy aroma, but no extra bitterness is to dry hop. To do this, I just chuck some hops in after fermentation has finished/quieted down, so after about a week, (i've yet to try transfering to a secondary fermentor, but I guess you could add them then).

Hope this helps.
[/quote]

From my reading any hops that are not boiled are classed as dry hopping and do not actually add much bitterness-just aroma. I think any hop additions that are added to a cooled wort are in fact dry hopped. Very involved subject and I still get confused :blink:

 

[RobboMC]

Sometimes when I'm lazy I just add some hops to the fermenter before I start adding the ingredients. Then the order of additions becomes important:

Dry Hops
Light Dry Malt
Boiling Water
Brewing sugars if any

At this point the hops are steeping in quite hot water and some dissolved malt. Wait about 5 minutes.

Liquid Extracts
Another litre boiling water
Kit

So now I have my hops flaoting around in the malty mixture and around 60 or 70 deg C - wonderful. Don't rush, let it sit and don't let it get contaminated.

A litre or two of ice, and pre-chilled water
Top up and pitch yeast.

I haven't heard a name to describe this yet,
I call it IKI ( Instant Kit Improvement )
I suppose it's steeping, but with the malts not steeping in straight water.
It's take zero skill ( except choosing the hop type and amount )
and greatly improves you beer.

Make sure you have a good sediment reducer in place for this method.

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

I'm new to this too, when I used hops with an extract for the first time I steeped a hop bag in hot water, (just like making tea), then chucked the whole lot into the fermentor with the extract - no boiling. This adds bitterness.

A hop tea adds no discernable bitterness, but will certainly make your beer taste better, so do it...do it now

PZ.

 

[Andyd]

There was an episode of Basic Brewing Radio (www.basicbrewingradio.com/radio) where they discussed this and then ran an experiement to see the difference between boiling the hops in the extract, and boiling the hops in the water alone and then ading to the wort. As a new brewer, it would be well worth your time going back and listening through the archive.

Remember that a short boil time is used to obtain hop aroma, rather than bittering. For the hops to add bitterness you will need to isomerize them, and that requires a longer boil. The boys on BBR boiled their water for something like 45 minutes with the bittering hops, and then added the DME for the last 10 to 10 minutes of the boil.

AndyD

 

[jonnydee]

Good to know, I was under the impression that just the hot water steeping was enough to add bitterness, but sounds like a good boil is the go. Cheers for the tip!

 

[Mr Bond]

Sometimes when I'm lazy I just add some hops to the fermenter before I start adding the ingredients. Then the order of additions becomes important:

Dry Hops
Light Dry Malt
Boiling Water
Brewing sugars if any

At this point the hops are steeping in quite hot water and some dissolved malt. Wait about 5 minutes.

Liquid Extracts
Another litre boiling water
Kit

So now I have my hops flaoting around in the malty mixture and around 60 or 70 deg C - wonderful. Don't rush, let it sit and don't let it get contaminated.

A litre or two of ice, and pre-chilled water
Top up and pitch yeast.

I haven't heard a name to describe this yet,
I call it IKI ( Instant Kit Improvement )
I suppose it's steeping, but with the malts not steeping in straight water.
It's take zero skill ( except choosing the hop type and amount )
and greatly improves you beer.

Make sure you have a good sediment reducer in place for this method.

Its called kit and Kilo

 

[tangent]

don't be obsessed with it, it's a passing phase like hating your parents h34r:
better beer is around the corner :beer:

 

[kitkat]

There was an episode of Basic Brewing Radio (www.basicbrewingradio.com/radio) where they discussed this and then ran an experiement to see the difference between boiling the hops in the extract, and boiling the hops in the water alone and then ading to the wort. As a new brewer, it would be well worth your time going back and listening through the archive.

Remember that a short boil time is used to obtain hop aroma, rather than bittering. For the hops to add bitterness you will need to isomerize them, and that requires a longer boil. The boys on BBR boiled their water for something like 45 minutes with the bittering hops, and then added the DME for the last 10 to 10 minutes of the boil.

AndyD

The same crew also did a video (http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbv06-20-06.mov) where they tried two identical brews, but one with xx grams of hops at 60 minutes, the other with xx*2 at 15 minutes (I think?) - the reasoning being that the longer you boil the more bitterness you get but if you double the amount for a shorter time you should get the same amount of IBU (don't quote me on the calculations, check the video out ).

 

[Darren]

Good to know, I was under the impression that just the hot water steeping was enough to add bitterness, but sounds like a good boil is the go. Cheers for the tip!

I found that boiling hops in water extracts grassy flavours as well as bitterness. Better to steep in wort than water.

cheers

Darren

 

[Andyd]

That was a concern John Palmer expresed about the technique too... but none were experienced in the tasting video...