Hop additions

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by burymeintimbergreen, Mar 23, 2015.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. burymeintimbergreen

    burymeintimbergreen Initiate (0) Feb 15, 2015 Oregon

    Planning on brewing a 5 gallon batch of IPA , have 8 oz of hops on hand (2oz each of simcoe, Columbus, centennial, and citra). I've read a bunch of posts about majority late hop additions vs. the standard full boil, 30-0min. additions.
    Not sure how I'm to proceed, some many decisions.

    I ultimately would like a big hoppy brew, but not so much so that's it's a complete palate destroyer. Balance is good, smooth bitter finish.
    A question I'm hesitant to ask, but ask I will, is there an amount of hops for a 5 gallon batch that i want to avoid? Yes, it's a matter of preference, but I'm more curious to hear what folks have experimented with.
     
    #1 burymeintimbergreen, Mar 23, 2015
  2. JohnSnowNW

    JohnSnowNW Initiate (0) Feb 6, 2013 Minnesota

    Here is a recipe that was crowd-sourced here on BA. Should give you some idea of the amounts of hops. Other than that, amounts are subjective, what is too much for some is not enough for others. That said, the biggest consideration for hop amounts, aside from IBUs, is wort loss.
     
    #2 JohnSnowNW, Mar 23, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2015
  3. CFC10

    CFC10 Initiate (0) Feb 18, 2015 Idaho

    I have made beers with only a ton of late addition hops and I didn't achieve enough bitterness even for an APA, so in my opinion a good strategy is to add a little at the beginning of the boil for most of your IBUs, and then hop burst the hell out of it late boil/FO to add a ton of hop flavor and a few IBUs, then dry hop with a couple oz for 4-5 days for aroma. I'm also a fan of doing a hop stand for flavor/aroma.
    As for how much is too much, I've done 6.5 oz in a 5 gal batch and it wasn't too much for me, so depending on your taste, I could see using all 8 oz in a 5 gallon batch. I would do something like this:

    1oz Centennial @60
    1oz Columbus @20
    1oz Centennial @FO
    1oz Columbus @FO
    1oz Citra @170 degree hop stand
    1oz Simcoe @170 degree hop stand
    1oz Citra 4-5 day dry hop
    1oz Simcoe 4-5 day dry hop

    This may seem like too much to some people, but I'm a hop head and it looks like the makings of a pretty intriguing IPA to me. Homebrewing is all about experimenting so if you wanna know how much hops is too much hops, there's really only 1 way to find out.
     
    #3 CFC10, Mar 23, 2015
  4. skinny_mcginley

    skinny_mcginley Initiate (0) Apr 22, 2014 Massachusetts

    I made a nice Double IPA yesterday where I used 10mL of hop resin at 90 minutes, then all the rest were at 5 minutes, and 0 minutes followed by adding the majoprity at whirlpool. Smells fantastic, can't wait, to try it. Also this will be dry hopped twice. So I guess I'm a late addition man myself!
     
    #4 skinny_mcginley, Mar 23, 2015
  5. PapaGoose03

    PapaGoose03 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,057) May 30, 2005 Michigan
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah

    I can't answer your primary question, but I will chime in on one suggestion since you didn't list the order of your hop additions: Columbus is normally considered to be a bittering hop, so to get the most out of it, you'll want it to be your first addition to have the longest time in the boil. I think the others are generally considered to be taste and aroma hops, so choose them for the later additions and dry-hopping.
     
    #5 PapaGoose03, Mar 23, 2015
    burymeintimbergreen likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.