Just exactly what does First Wort Hopping do? Does it add a tad bit of hop flavor to the beer?
What is claimed is that it adds some flavour and a softer bitterness, although with a higher IBU in comparison with a 60 minute addition.
Can also help with boilovers.
Dave
What he said. Some references say that you can estimate FWH by assuming its a 60 min addition plus a 20 min addition in one dose.
I tried it for the first time last month and brewed a very nice pale ale with all cascades. I’ll definitely do more of it in the future. Like Mort said, it softens the bittering effect.
Bruce
Agreed - to a point. IME FWH utilize small amounts of hops more efficiently because you can extract 15 min addition-type flavor from a bittering hop. But you cant just move all your flavoring additions to FWH.
I use FWH mostly to reduce total hop mass in the kettle without sacrificing bitterness or flavor. I’ve changed my IPA recipes, taking a portion of my higher alpha hops from the 15-20 min addition and adding to FWH, normally in place of the 60 min addition. I’ll use a small amount of super high alpha hops at 60 min if I can’t get the desired IBU with 1/2-1/3 of the flavoring hops as FWH.
Do a side-by-side with a Pale/IPA. You can never have enough of it around the house anyway.
I count is as a 20 min,. addition because that what it seems like to me in terms of flavor and bittering. Although it actually measures as more IBU when the beer is analyzed, it tastes like less. Since we generally taste our beer rather than measure it, that works for me. I did an experiment with FWH and the results are here starting on pg. 29…
http://www.ahaconference.org/wp-content/uploads/presentations/2008/DennyConn.pdf
I am going to do the recipe of the week this Sunday. The Brown Eye Women. I think I will do the FWH thing. After reading Denny’s research on it I don’t see where it will change the recipe much if any. But it will avoid the boil over thing and possibly give me a bit of flavor from the hops.
I haven’t found that to be the case.
yeah - on my keg kettle system, it actually makes things a bit more tentative, since I usually am filled darn close to the brim with wort - a layer of hops on top usually puts it almost over the edge.
When you do this do you leave the hops in for 60 min.? Or take them out when you reach a boil?
they stay in the whole time.
Bear with me as I can be a bit dense, but are you saying that if you want to FWH a recipe that has only a 60-min addition, you can take the total IBUs and break them into a 60 minute charge and a 20 minute charge that ends up with the same IBUs?
i dont think so. when you design a recipe using FWH you estimate the ibu from that addition as though it were a 20 minute addition
Beersmith has a FWH option when you are filling in your hop additions. I assume the math I need is all figured into that.
It does and it doesn’t. The FWH option in beersmith estimates ~10% more bitterness from a FWH addition than a 60 min addition. If your cool with that, no problem. Denny uses different numbers, so that wouldn’t work for him. It may be possible to change the math somewhere in beersmith, but if there is it’s not obvious to me.
FWIW, Brewer’s Friend calculates IBUs from FWH as a 20 minute addition. It may not be the most accurate estimate of what a lab would report for IBUs, but for recipe formulation it’s pretty close to how my palate perceives it.
i brewmaster comes up with about 10% more bitterness as well
That’s the point I keep trying to make. It doesn’t matter how many IBUs you estimate or measure, really. What matters is what it tastes like.
I think you’ll get a more pronounced hop flavor with a FWH addition than you would with the same amount of hops added at 60min during the boil, at least in my experience that has been the case. I’ve heard varying opinions on this, but my experience has been very positive with FWH additions. Just be sure to calculate your IBU’s using FWH’s as a 20min addition and I think you’ll be happy with the results.