Hops

Why Use Hops?

Hops are used for 4 main reasons in brewing.

Bittering: The bitterness of the hops balances with the sweetness of the malt. Bitterness is achieved by boiling the hops in the wort at least 30 minutes but preferably 45-60 minutes.

Flavoring: Inducing the flavor of the hops into the beer is achieved by boiling the hops in the wort for 10-15 minutes.

Aroma: The aroma of the hops is absorbed into the beer by boiling the hops with the wort for 5 minutes or less, or by 'dry hopping', which is the practice of adding the hops to the secondary fermenter for 4-7 days.

Preserving: Hops are a natural preservative needed to insure a beer's aging ability.

As you may have deduced, you CAN NOT achieve all 3 sensory characteristics by one addition of hops to the wort. However, with the addition of hops at the proper times in the boiling process, one can achieve all 3 sensory characteristics even from the same hop variety. Lower alpha rated hops do not function well as bittering agents, while higher alpha rated hops may not make good finishing or aromatic hops.

IBU's

International Bittering Units (IBU's)

IBU's is a measurement of the total amount of bitterness in a given volume of beer. The calculation is more precise than most other measurements of bitterness - Home Bittering Units (HBU'S) and Alpha Acid Units (AAU's) among others. With IBU's each hop additions will contribute some toward bitterness: bittering hops (boils 30 minutes or longer) 90% of total bitterness; flavoring hops (boils of 10-15 minutes) 10%; finishing hops (boils of 5 minutes or less) and dry hopping contribute less than 1% of total bitterness. The higher the number the more the bitter.

The calculation for IBU's:

Flower Pellet Plug

Hops can add bitterness, flavor and aroma to beer depending on when they are added during the boil. Almost all beers have hops added for bitterness.

When choosing a form of hops, remember that if you pour your wort through a strainer after the boil, the hop flower and plug strain out well (the pellet does not). If you cool your wort in the boiling pot and then siphon out of the pot off the trub, pellet hops will settle well and will not clog the siphon (whole flower will clog siphon and absorb a lot of wort).

Also, remember that pelletized hops give up their bitterness more quickly and completely during a boil, so shorter boiling times may be possible (e.g. 45 min.) and recipes that call HBU’s of flower hops may need to be reduced slightly for pelletized hops (and vice versa). Hop flower and plug tend to have a higher quality flavor and aroma.

Pelletized hops are ground and compressed hop flower. They become quite powdery in the boil and do not need to be put in a hop sock.

Hops that are boiled for 45-50 minutes tend to impart bitterness only. Hops that are boiled for the last 10-20 minutes of a boil tend to impart hop flavor. Hops that are added the last 0-5 minutes tend to add hop aroma. Hops can also be added to the secondary fermenter when the beer is racked from primary to secondary. This is commonly referred to as “dry hopping”. It will impart a very fresh hop aroma that is difficult to achieve with late boil additions.

Received from:- Brian Summers