Hopburst schedule recommendations

It has been done.

 

I did this last summer for a Brett B ISA, all hops after KO, none in the boil, got around 30 IBUs out of it.

 

I have been doing all in the whirlpool for a Cream Ale. That was 8 oz. of lower AA hops.

A brewery in MI does whirlpool and dry hops for their IPA.

 

Here is what Jamil explained about it:

“Long ago I ran across a few commercial beers that were massively late hopped and had little or no bittering charge. The aroma wasn’t anything more than you would expect from dropping in massive amounts of hops near the end of the boil, but the bittering had a “softer” character. It seemed to me at the time that boiling hops for a longer time not only resulted in more isomerized hop acids, but a harsher bittering the longer you boiled them. By switching to a shorter boil and a greater quantity of hops, you got a softer bittering and more hop character because you tossed in lots of late hops.

 

This is why he should FWH, so the bitterness is "smooth"

 

I am a fan of fwh and hopbursting. I don't like palate wrecking ipa's though, I enjoy the aroma and flavor bombs instead. I think the two compliment each other very well.

 

That's like adding heavy cream to a non-dairy chowder to enhance the mouthfeel. It misses the point.

 

Very true. My FWH addition was something like 0.25 oz. I am very certain I couldn't tell the difference had this been omitted. Few could, no doubt.

I'll +21 this sentiment. One of my best smash beers had only FWH and 5, 0, with 2 oz each at 5 and 0, with hopstand (bravo/munich smash). I didn't dry hop that one but when I make it again I plan to dry hop it.

 

[SMH]
inchrisin, It would appear you've been outvoted. You asked for recommendations on a hop-bursting schedule. The consensus opinion appears to be "don't do it!". And, sadly, you succumbed to their collective efforts.

I would recommend that you do it on a future batch. But do it in silence and smugly enjoy the results. I took much the same approach during the hop shortage a few years ago when I raised the subject of using spent dry hops as a source of bittering for the next batch (the alpha acids are largely intact). Worked great! But I learned not to talk about it here. (folks stopped talking about it after one of the homebrewing mags validated the technique citing much the same results that I had observed)

 

"consensus opinion appears to be "don't do it!"


More precisely,..."it won't matter much and is a waste of hops"

 

It does matter and it's, most assuredly, not a waste of hops (IMO). The idea is to blast you in the face with hop flavor and aroma without splitting your tongue with bitterness. To that end, it's the best technique I've found.

 

Cut your bittering hops in half then...why is it an all or nothing proposition?

 

Because it's hard to get 12 oz worth of hop flavor and aroma without over-bittering the beer if you insist on a 60 min bittering charge. Indeed, I've had to shift some of my planned 20 min hops to 10 to keep the IBU in the ballpark I was shooting for. Obviously, this depends on the AA. I just don't see why it's necessarily 'better' to add hops at 60 mins if I can get the IBUs I want from late hops with the added bonus of more hop flavor. Again, that's the whole point of the technique.

And it's "all or nothing" because that's he definition of the technique.

 

I always use a SMALL amount of bittering hops when hop-bursting. Always depends on the batch/recipe.

For one thing, it can help keep foaming/boil overs down if you have those issues; and when I don;t add a bit of bittering hops, it just doens''t do it for me. Just use a low AA% bittering hop and use very little.

Another thing I do with almost every beer I brew that is on the hoppy side is to hop back with a mix bag of hops; it really turbo charges the complexity of the hop flavors and aroma and compliments the hop bursting technique quite nicely in my opinion.

You can add as many different types of hops you care to add (And can afford to!) that are complimentary to eachother; I've done up to 15 different hop types in one hop back/batch before and it was magnificent how complex and flavorful it made the beer compared to when I only used a few in a similar batch/recipe.

The only reason I did that many different type sof hops was that I had a bunch of small baggies of various types of leftover hops from a very intensive and motivated brew month; figured fuck it throw em all in the hop back on my last batch and find out what happens. Good times were had by all.

 

Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker says he always uses a little amount of hops early to help control the boil. Listen to him on the BN if you wish. But what does he know about hops and beer?

 

I don't FWH all my beers, for what thats worth.

Lately, I've been wanting that strong scathing bitterness.

So I bought some Co2 extract and I'll play like the big kids and go that route.

 

Except the definition isn't no bittering hops, its little to no bittering hops. I thought we hit this already.

 

I forgot to add that I would mix up the whirpool hops a bit, add another strain or three of different hops for more complexity in your flavor and aroma.

I don't do it with every beer, but the ones I do tend to get the best feedback taste wise and seasoned brewers asking "what hops did you use" due to the complex flavors and aromas one can get from adding many different types of hops late in the game, and in the hop back.

I think your schedule looks good, I would just add a few more types of hops to the whirpool addition (Keeping the amount close to what you have, maybe adding 1 more ounce total). I would also add a VERY SMALL amount of LOW AA bittering hops and tone down the 20 min addition by an ounce, but I seem to be in the minority here regarding the FWH/hop bursting combination.

 

Even Jamil's article where he quotes Peter Zien from Alesmith states that they still use something on the order of 3-6 IBU (Don't remember exact amount) worth of bitterness from early additions.