So I've brewed from DME kits for a year now and enjoy it. Don't quite have the space to go all-grain yet but I want to begin to customize my beers by adding flavors. I've got ideas to use a base beer and then add flavors to it in their raw form (woods, spices, etc). Question is: do I add at end of boil or in the secondary? I've seen it done both ways and I'm not sure which is correct. Also: I want to increase the bitterness of my lager. Can I achieve this by adding flower hops to end of boil? I picked out a high alpha-acid hop that I plan to add at a 10min boil. Is this enough time to get the bitterness I'm looking for or is pellet hops a better hop to get the bitterness? Thanks All!
“Also: I want to increase the bitterness of my lager. Can I achieve this by adding flower hops to end of boil?” Bitterness is typically achieved by the hops added at the beginning of the boil. If you want to increase bitterness in a beer, the best way is to add more hops at the beginning of boils (more alpha acids or Alpha Acid Units if you prefer that terminology). “I picked out a high alpha-acid hop that I plan to add at a 10min boil. Is this enough time to get the bitterness I'm looking for or is pellet hops a better hop to get the bitterness?” Adding hops with 10 minutes remaining in the boil you will isomerize some of the alpha acids (which adds some bitterness). So, yes you will get some more bitterness but if you used those hops at the beginning of the boil you will isomerize more alpha acids and obtain more bittering potential. Most brewers add hops at the end of the boil to add flavor/aroma to the beer. While you will obtain some bittering from additions like 15-10 minutes remaining in the boil that is not what is typically done. Cheers!
^^^^ This, or if the high AA hop that you are using isn't the highest available, then go with whatever you can find that is higher and use it early in the boil.
Different spices are added at different times and in different manners, so it depends which specific spice you wish to add as to how you'd do it. As for bitterness, as has already been stated, high AA early in the boil = more bitterness. AA is less important later in the boil (tho not completely irrelevant). For a gross generalization: Late boil = flavor/aroma, early boil = bitterness.
