Amount of hops

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by Swim424, Mar 14, 2012.

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  1. Swim424

    Swim424 Initiate (0) Apr 29, 2011 Florida

    I am about to start a pale ale. Never done one before and I am wondering approximately the amount of hops to use. Obviously this is fairly subjective so I am just looking for a range. We are looking at using cascade hops along with another type of hop, haven't decided yet. I will take suggestions for that if you have them.
     
  2. sergeantstogie

    sergeantstogie Initiate (0) Nov 16, 2010 Washington

  3. mnstorm99

    mnstorm99 Initiate (0) May 11, 2007 Minnesota

    Cascade hop play very well with just about anything. Any idea's on what you might be looking for?

    Extract? I am assuming.

    Here is something simple:
    6# light dry malt extract
    8 oz. crystal 60°L

    10.5aau Nugget (I had 14%aa, .75 ounces) @ 60 minutes
    1 ounce Willamette @15 minutes
    1 ounce Cascade @ 5 minutes
    I also dry hopped with 1 ounce of cascade

    Safale US-05

    Edit: you may want to change the hop additions a bit if your doing a partial boil.
     
  4. Swim424

    Swim424 Initiate (0) Apr 29, 2011 Florida

    were gonna do half grain and have extract. Light malt extract. and a honey grain, and some other grain, dont remember off the top of my head. got it written down. We just weren't sure how much hops for a pale ale.

    We talked about using the williamette with the cascade though. an ounce of each is enough?
    how bitter was it?
     
  5. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,023) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    without knowing the AA% of your hops (and hopefully OG of your beer) any answer is really just a useless wild ass guess. it is next to impossible to determine the proper amount of hops to use as a weight without knowing the AA%. select your hops, then we can provide a rough idea of how much of each by weight is needed to get you to a target IBU for a Pale Ale.

    for example, one ounce of 5% Cascade is going to provide roughly the same bitterness as 1/2 ounce of 10% Centennial, two varieties that work well together. roughly. we have not even added the confusion of your wort boil size- which will drastically change how much bitterness you can expect.

    sorry to bring you down, but this is the way it is.
    Cheers.
     
  6. Swim424

    Swim424 Initiate (0) Apr 29, 2011 Florida

    I understand. I am still fairly new to brewing. So I guess my next question would be how to calculate the desired IBU? Because I would like to figure out how much I will use before I buy the hops. I only want to buy the amount I need. Maybe a bit more to be safe.
     
  7. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,023) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society

    the calulation of IBUs ismuch more complex than anything most of us could do in our heads. or even on paper. so we use calculators, and don't worry too much about the actual formula.
    decide what variety of hops you want to use, then you can estimate with typical AA%. this will get you close. when you buy your hops you use the actual AA% provided and formulate your recipe with boil times etc to get it close to your target. you can't finalize your recipe until you have the hops in hand.
    an online calulator is simple to use and will get you close enough. the calulator provides an estimate. try this
    http://www.rooftopbrew.net/ibu.php

    i like http://beercalculus.hopville.com/recipe the site is notoriously slow and quirky. but it allows you to adjust your boil volume. a partial wort boil is going to reduce your IBUs quite alot, so make sure you have accounted for this.

    you might find that boiling for 75 minutes instead of 60 will increase you utilization just enough to get the IBUs closer to your target.

    let us know if you need any help.
    Cheers.
     
  8. ricchezza

    ricchezza Zealot (646) Nov 2, 2005 Massachusetts

    I second this. I was going to recommend Beer Calculus. A great free site that allows you to dial in your recipe based on your methods to exactly where you'd like them.
     
  9. Swim424

    Swim424 Initiate (0) Apr 29, 2011 Florida

    Thanks. Ill give them a try.
     
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