Forgot to put the hops in...

[Arny]

Hi,

Made up a Pilsner but forgot to boil up the hops and strain it in. Any chance I could dry hop it straight into the fermenter now (two days later)? Or is it best not to and just drink the beer without it?

Arny.

[Anna]

Hi Arny!

You can dry hop right up to a few days before bottling - but best to wait until after high krausen, usually around 4-5 days into fermentation. Just chuck your pellets/teabag straight into the fermenter.

Anna

[earle]

Hi Arny

Were you trying to add any bitterness from the hops or just aroma? I ask becuase you mention boiling them. What you need to do depends on whether you are adding bitterness or flavour or aroma or a combination.

[Arny]

That's a good question Earle! I was just really trying to follow the recipe from the kit provided but just completely forgot about it until I saw it sitting on the bench looking up at me while i was cleaning up.

If I throw them in to the fermenter as Anna has suggested which way do you think it will go? Flavour, aroma, bitterness or a bit of everything?

Thanks for your reply Anna too!

[Anna]

Dry hopping is mainly for aroma Arny - bit of flavour maybe, but no bitterness. That is only achieved if you boil them for 40-60 minutes in the beginning.

Anna

[Arny]

Thanks Anna, I'll give it a crack and see how it turns out.

I've been reading another part of the forum about dry hopping. Anybody want to throw in their two bits as to what stage of fermentation to dry hop? A few have said the later the better to maximise aroma?

Arny.

[earle]

If you just throw them in now you will get aroma. To get bitterness you need to boil them, the longer you boil the more bitterness you extract up to a limit . To get flavour you need to boil them for a shorter time - about 5-20 minutes.

A lot of recipes supplied by kit manufacturers recommend putting hops in for aroma like your's. They recommend it because it is easy to do, kits already have a certain amount of bitterness, and because of the price you pay for e.g. Morgan's hops it increases their revenue.

Because I add malt to kits rather than sugar, I usually boil hops for varying times to increase the bitterness (helps balance the extra malt) but to also add flavour and aroma. It helps get a more rounded beer than just adding hops at the end.

[earle]

Here's a link to a great chart that show's how boil time affects the contribution of hops.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/dat ... ation1.jpg

[Anna]

Hahaha! Earle - clicked on your link and got "No hotlinking" message - never seen that one before!

[earle]

Try copying the URL and pasting it into the address bar on a new browser window.

[Anna]

Doh! Should have thought of that!

Did it.

Very interesting. I sort of knew the rough times, but that makes it much more exact.

Good one!

anna

[SuperBroo]

Thers another chart there somewhere for viewing the balance of your brew Anna, but I'm not sure of the link, its a handy one to have.

[Anna]

Thers another chart there somewhere for viewing the balance of your brew Anna, but I'm not sure of the link, its a handy one to have.

This one? http://beercolor.netfirms.com/balance.html (It's on my Favourites!)

[SuperBroo]

No Anna,
its a chart as a jpeg like the first one, I've looked but cant find it,
will search again and post here if I find it, its a nice chart, and real simple to use.

[SuperBroo]

should have looked harder before, scroll down a bit on this page...

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/hop-malt-balance-57129/

or...

http://www.brewsupplies.com/hops-gravity.htm

hell, its everywhere now that i look

cheers,
Chris

[Anna]

Thanks for that Grog. On first glance that chart looks great - very simple and easy to read.

However, when I started checking my brew recipes in Brewmate against the chart, something looks wrong. eg: My "Disastrous Draught" which both Dr Smurto and I thought was horribly, cloyingly sweet, and was made with 1 kg all malt and no bittering additions, had an OG of 1.043 and an IBU of 31. Now according to that chart, that puts it into the "Extra Hoppy" range, when, by taste, I would have put it in the "Extra Malty" range. Of course, there's no "Extra Sweet" section, so I'm assuming Sweetness = Maltiness. Seems to be way off!

Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Have you checked any of your recipes against it? Anyone else?

Anna

[SuperBroo]

Dunno Anna, I've just been trying to get my last 2 brews just to the right of balanced, and havent really tried them yet.

I guess its a personal opinion thing, but am also keen to hear what more experienced people think of that chart...

cheers,
Chris

[warra48]

The chart is a start, and gives you a good base from which to work out your personal preferences.

Of course, the chart only gives you the starting gravity. What also impacts balance is the finishing gravity. Thus, suppose an OG of 1.060 for two beers. One finishes at 1.016, and the other at 1.008. The first will have a more malty sweeter finish, so it could carry more bitterness than the second.

Having said all that, I'm hugely enjoying an AIPA I brewed a couple of months ago. OG 1.060, FG 1.015, IBU 83. On the chart it appears unbalanced, but to my taste it is balanced, with plenty of malt character, and I'm loving the hop aroma, flavour and bitterness.

As I said, the chart is a good starting point, and you work from there to brew yourself the beers you love!