To maximize aroma and flavor, how fast are you chilling your wort after the last hop addition or flameout?
Sometimes I give IPAs a 30 minute hop stand. Most beers get chilled immediately after I turn the burner off. Depending on the time of year, it takes anywhere from 15-25 minutes to chill down to pitching temps. Lagers are a different story, however, I was able to chill a vienna lager down to 50F in 20 or 25 minutes last Saturday. The tap water is really cold right now. That was great. I might have to buy a pump to recirculate ice water for the summer months.
I ask because I have had a problem with plenty of bittering but lack of flavor and aroma in my brews. I have been killing the heat, adding the flameout hops, and letting it stand for an hour or more.
Also, I use a plate chiller.
Isn’t the obvious answer here to try cutting down the hop stand after flameout?
Do you dry hop? If so, what is your typical dosage for your IPA you are having aroma/flavor issues with? I don’t usually whirlpool for more than 10 minutes and dry hop a couple ounces per 5 gallons for 3-4 days. I don’t usually have flavor/aroma issues, but my IPAs aren’t cheap either, so…
How many flame out hops are you using? Also, try chilling it down to 170ish before starting your hopstand.
I use a plate chiller so it would have to be recirculated into the kettle. Without a pump, that will be hard to do. I suppose I could let it drop to 170 and then add the hops.
No massive hops at flameout, just as directed by the recipe.
I suspect the lack of flavor/aroma is due to a prolonged hop stand.
Is a 10 minute contact time enough to add aroma @ flameout?
I don’t necessarily chill my down but many people do. Flame out hops are becoming my favorite additions. For an IPA, I usually add 4-6 oz and let stand for a half our.
Also… Look into a couple ounces of first wort hops for flavor.
+1. I’ve done this on my last two IPAs, FWH and flameout with 30-60 minute hop stands and Dry hop. I liked the aroma on the 30 minute better than the 60 minute but I like the firm bitterness from the 60 minute and the aroma and flavour are still there.
I cool to ~ 180F before adding hop stand hops for this reason. You extract more bitterness by adding at true flameout vs cooling some first. I hop stand for 30 -45 minutes and extract more flavor and aroma at 180F, without much of a bump in bitterness.
I whirl pool with a march pump through my chillzilla CFC back into BK and when water is cold I can get down to 60 degrees in 20 - 30 minutes. During summer water temps under 100 degrees in 20 minutes.
Today I learned what a hop-stand is and why I thought flameout additions weren’t worth all the fuss. Will have to try cooling the wort slightly.
How much hops are you using in your hop stand? I’m up to 3+ ounces/gallon in a 90-minute hop stand, but I’m insane :) I’d really recommend at least 1 ounce/gallon to start. I kill the heat, and as soon as all boiling activity stops, in go my hops. I stir until they are all incorporated and wetted, then give it a good hard stir every 5-10 minutes. Since there is no boil activity to keep the hops circulating, you need to keep them moving yourself to maximize extraction.
90 minute hopstand? That’s a long time. I usually do 30 minutes after flame out or until the temp drops to 180F, which is about 30 minutes. I’ve never had a problem getting a good amount of hop flavor and aroma, even without dry hopping.
I’m not convinced that hop stands are really necessary or that they do anything more than chilling as fast as you can at flameout.
I spent a long time chasing the level of hop intensity I wanted in my hoppy beers, and using a hop stand is the one change that got me there. Maybe an insane amount of hops at flameout might get you there with no steep, but I’d hate to waste a pound of hops to test that out.
+1. After the Zymurgy and BYO articles I gave it a try, since it was recommended for homebrewers who wanted to try to emulate what commercial brewers get from whirlpool hopping. I feel like it’s pretty noticeable for the better, in flavor and aroma. I can only speak for my system and methods though.
Just to clarify…a hop stand would make up for a slow chilling as it relates to hop utilization?
We’re kind of talking two different things. Hop utilization refers to how much bitterness (IBU’s) you get out of your hops in the boil. Depending on what temp you hold your hop stand at, you will get some additional utilization (i.e., bitterness) versus if you rapidly cooled your wort below the temps that hop Alpha Acids isomerize at (roughly 170-180F)
The goal of a hop stand is primarily to extract extra flavor and aroma compounds from your hops. Hop oils are quite volatile and will boil off rapidly in boiling wort. But they are extracted better at higher temperatures. By holding your wort at a high temperature (but below boiling) the idea is that you are extracting a lot more of the hop oils compared to if you rapidly chilled your wort, but aren’t losing as much to a vigorous boil. There is also some speculation that hop oils bind to the sugars dissolved in the wort and therefore may be even less likely to evaporate. That is also one of the proposed mechanisms for why you get more flavor contribution from FWH as compared to a normal 60-minute bittering addition.
In my experience, I get a huge hop flavor from hop stands. I also find that beers that use FWH and hop stands seem to retain their hop flavor longer than traditionally-hopped beers. I have a hunch that there is some chemistry going on in the sub-boiling temperature range that helps extract/retain/enhance hop flavor compounds. I’d love to see someone run some tests using HPLC/GCMS to see if something is truly going on.