I am formulating a pale ale recipe. I have never tried a hopstand but have been interested in trying it out. By “hopstand”, I mean a hop addition after the wort has cooled below 170F or so.
I plan to do a FWH, 20 min, and either a 5 min, flameout, or hopstand addition. I will be dry hopping as well. My question is if I had to choose one of the 3 late additions which would you recommend? I will be keeping my IBUs around 35 and am going for light bitternes with good hop flavor and aroma. I assume many would recommend doing all 3 but I am curious about the impact of each separate addition.
So if you could only choose one which would you choose?
1.) FWH, 20, 5, dry hop
2.) FWH, 20, Flame Out, dry hop
3.) FWH, 20, hopstand, dry hop
The plan right now is to FWH with Bravo, use an equal amount of Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo for the last 2 additions and possibly dry hop with Simcoe.
I have read that certain volatile hop compounds will boil off at temps as low as 150F. Apparently by adding below certain temps those compounds are more likely to stick around and impact the beer with more intense flavor and aroma. This is just how I understand it from very limited research.
I doubt that you there would be much benefit from doing a hopstand starting at 170F vs. waiting for the boil to end. I think the desired reactions in a hopstand occur faster at a higher temp so starting at a lower temp would probably result in more flavor and aroma compounds being removed during fermentation. While hops may have compounds that boil when pure at 150 F, those compounds are not present in a pure state in the hops and in the boil.
Anyway whatever I said is just an opinion. It would be interesting to see what differences there would be.
I think the main reason why you’d want to start your hop stand at a lower temp is to minimize the IBU contribution from the flameout hops. This can definitely be useful in helping to take the guesswork out of calculating your IBU’s in a beer with a lower amount of IBU’s. The volatile hop compounds will come from your dry hops, so don’t worry about that.
The tricky part about hopstands is determining how many IBU’s they will contribute. Everyone’s system will be different, so there is no real standard rule of thumb. I generally estimate a 60 minute hop stand as the IBU equivalent of a 20-minute addition, but others find that it could be anywhere from a 15-30 minute addition. I find that it is definitely a softer bitterness (similar to FWH) than a standard 60-minute addition, so that does give you some leeway if you overshoot. My all-hopstand IPA measured 98 IBU’s, but tasted closer to a 60-IBU FWH-ed beer.
For your first hopstand beer, I’d target about 20 IBU’s from the FWH addition, then do a 60 minute hop stand calculated as a 15-IBU addition at 20 minutes. You can then tweak your process based on what your palate tells you. I’d skip the 20-minute addition, since the hop stand is going to give you a crapload of flavor.
I normally do hopstands on AIPA/IIPA styles, and occasionally do one on an APA. When I do one on a Pale Ale I do it for ~ 45 minutes along with dry hopping of 2 -2.5 oz (7 days). I totally agree that the bitterness obtained is more akin to FWH, ie., softer. Similarly, I calculate a 45 minute stand as a 15 minute addition and especially for an APA, do not add any flavor addition in the boil, relying on hopstand and dry hops for flavor. +1 to erockrph’s entire post.
Thanks for that. I didn’t realize that a hopstand would contribute to bitterness. Also, I realized that it would not be a true hopstand for me if I continue to cool after adding the hops. I will probably just simplify and add flameout hops then cool as usual. Not really sure…
Erockrph…Are you adding the hopstand addn at flameout or are you cooling to a specific temp? I’ve been cooling to ~170 then adding. Not getting much discernable bitterness increase when I do that, though I expect it would test higher.
I’ve never bought a pump ( yet), so it’s a moot point for me. But breweries obviously whirlpool and, as I understand it, more bitterness and flavor is extracted more quickly by whirlpooling during this period.
From the perspective of a homebrewer who doesn’t have a pump and does hop stand in boil kettle
PROS:
-possibly better transfer of hop compounds into wort - remember in the boil the wort is being mixed by the boil; I feel this is somewhat of a minor advantage for homebrewers. For commercial breweries, the extra efficiency could be beneficial.
CONS:
hot side aeration (probably not an issue)
difficult to keep a whirlpool going (occasional stirring might work just fine)
I don’t. I let my flame out hops steep for 10 minutes before chilling with the lid off. At the end of the 10 minutes, the wort is still 190+ so I don’t worry.
Personally, I think the higher temps help with extraction of hop flavor/aroma compounds. For most beers I do add my hop stand hops at flameout. I brew on a ceramic cooktop, so I kill the heat and slide the kettle off the burner. As soon as all boiling/bubbling has stopped I add my flameout hops and stir constantly for a few minutes until all the pellets have dispersed and all the hop material has become wet. Then I throw the lid back on and slide it back on the warm burner (now turned off) to keep the heat loss relatively slow. I’ll come back and stir every 5 or 10 minutes.
For lower IBU beers, I’ll let the temp drop down to about 180-185 before adding my hop stand hops. I find that 30 minutes at this temp is in the ballpark of 5 minutes more boil time. I brew 3 gallons in a 5-gallon kettle with a pretty thick-clad bottom. YMMV based on your system.