I'm looking into doing a PseudoSue clone and have seen many clone recipes that do not start to add any hops until the last 15min of the boil (at the earliest). I'm wondering how you ensure you still get the necessary bitterness when only adding hops towards the end of the boil and at flameout. Is this a case where an extract brewer would consider using a hopped extract? Also, any tricks you guys use to provide a rough estimate of the amount of IBUs gained from a hopstand in BeerSmith? I've heard of some brewers putting their "hopstand hops"' into BeerSmith as 10min boil hops.
Here's a post from a few days ago that will help. http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/all-citra-ipa.171635/#post-2363110
Use tons of late hops to get to your desired IBUs. Research "hop bursting". You need a lot of late hops to get to the same IBUs but since they are added late in the process you will also get the desirable flavors out of them for IPAs.
I wouldn't use hopped extract. Use a recipe calculator to figure out how many IBUs you'd get by adding hops with a certain alpha acid level at a certain time.
I've brewed a number of IPAs without the traditional 60 min bittering charge. Utilization drops, so you need to add more hops to get the bitterness. But those extra hops near the end carry the bonus of lots more flavor and aroma. Most brewing software will do the calculation for you. I have formulae somewhere in my notes from my judging class, but I use Beersmith and/or Recipator now. Using a hopped extract defeats the purpose of the technique.
That was what I was thinking with the hopped extract. To be honest, I can't really think of a situation where it would be useful. You have much more control over your beer with just base malts and your own hops. But I guess it can simplify the process for those who are just getting into brewing or want to make the brew process go quicker. As far as using BeerSmith to calculate IBUs.....if I was going to do a massive 6oz hopstand, I don't really know a good way to calculate the IBU contribution in BeerSmith since the hopstand technically starts at flameout. Any tricks?
As a rough rule of thumb, a 15min boil will give about half the utilization (IBU/oz) of a 60min boil and a 20min hop stand just below boiling should get about 20-25% of a full boil...YMMV. Many pro brewers claim higher IBU than that from their whirlpool but it takes them longer to cool their high volumes of wort. edit: I usually throw a small amount of first wort hops into my 'hop burst' beers because it seems to reduce the risk of a boilover.
