How many ounces of hops in your American IPA?

Ingredients
21

I rarely brew the same IPA twice, but my best uses 10.5 ounces in a 90-minute hot whirlpool (starting right at flameout), with 6.5 ounces of dry hops. I brew 2.5 gallon batches, so double that for a 5 gallon batch (that would be 21 oz in the whirlpool and 13 oz dry hops).

That said, there is a diminishing return on hops, and you also run the risk of harsh grassiness with too much hop material. I’ve been playing with different temperature steeps, shorter steeps, no dry hops. I don’t think you need 5+ ounces per gallon to nail an amazing IPA, but it certainly works.

22

For you the question should be, “how many ounces of beer in your pound of hops?”

23

Wow.  My 12 ounces doesn’t sound like too much anymore.  I am surprised that 20% use 13 or more ounces.  I would love to have a side-by-side with these IPAs!

24

Depending on how much whole and pellet hops I use, I only net about 1.8 gallons vs my usual 2.5 when I brew this recipe. The rest is the green devil’s share…

25

14oz on average for me.  I think 10oz is the least amount I would use.  I have used 24oz before but I think it is not worthwhile.  The effect is not linear.  With regard to hop astringency (polyphenols) I find polyclar on the hot side particularly effective at reducing this but a low temp hop stand can also mitigate since polyphenols are extracted above 185F.  That said, I much prefer the hot hop stand (30m) and use polyclar 10m to KO after the stand.  Large hop bills in IPA is pretty old news.  I think the use of oxygen scavengers is the new frontier and have been using ascorbic acid to good effect but there are plenty of options like using SMB, full sani keg purges, closed transfers, and/or spunding.  All this being said, the single largest improvement I made to my IPAs, is simply dry hopping onto bright beer off the yeast.  As was also mentioned, I scale up to 6G to yield 5G in the keg for IPA.  Green devil’s share!  LOL  ;D

26

The most that I’ve used in a 5.5 gallon batch is 18.5 oz. This was also before I practiced water chemistry and would add extra hops to bitter with. But I’d say I average 12 to 16 oz per 5 gallons now. I brew 11 gallon batches now.

Here is my last hop schedule:

FWH = 1 oz Southern Cross and 1 oz Columbus
60 Minute = 1 oz Southern Cross and 1 oz Columbus
5 Minute = 2 oz Cascade, 1 oz Amarillo, 1 oz Centennial, and 1 oz Equinox
175 degree whirlpool = 4 oz Cascade, 3 oz Amarillo, 3 oz Centennial, and 2 oz Equinox
Dry Hop = 2 oz Cascade, 4 oz Amarillo, 4 oz Centennial, and 2 oz Equinox

33 total ounces which is a few ounces more than normal, but it was also considered a hop clean out IPA before the new crop came in. I don’t typically use Southern Cross, but I had a couple ounces that Yakima Valley had tossed into an order. I use Columbus 80% of the time for bittering an IPA. Chinook would be the other 20%. I’m also not opposed to using my flavor hops at the FWH addition either.

27

Just to add, the IPA I posted above measured 98 IBU for the batch I sent to the lab. There were no boil additions at all. Needless to say, I don’t bother with 60 minute additions much any more.

28

I am in the 7-10oz.

29

8ish total:
2@FWH (approx, I’m a 70 IBU guy)
2@flameout
2@170 degree steep
2@dry hop in the keg

Beyond that I start to get sticker shock at the register of my LHBS

30

I usually do 14 to 17 oz.

31

9 total for me today, 2 oz magnum at 60, 1oz mosaic at 20, 2oz mosaic at 10, 2oz mosaic at flameout, 2oz mosaic Dryhop at high krausen

32

Can I vote twice? Depending on the AA% and what I’m trying to achieve the amount of hops I use can vary quite a bit.

33

Keeping in mind that Bell’s is only about 55 IBU and is considered one of the best, I brewed an IPA with the Bell’s grain bill with one addition at 60, 2 ounces at 5, and 2 ounces dry hopped. It was delicious.  I’m using 9 ozs. total in an IPA currently in the fermenter and that’s only because I got some free hops just before brew day.  I can’t imagine feeling the need to go above that unless I’m making a double which I’ve only done once.

34

I’m about to put 5 oz of hops into a 3 gallon batch of my CDA.  1 oz for bittering, 2 oz at about 10 minutes and then 2 oz for dry hop.  Scaled to 5 gallons that’s 8.333 oz.

35

Pretty much this, though I will often add a 5 minute addition and split the flameout between flameout and a whirlpool/steep.

36

I try to brew mainly with whole hops, as pellets tend to clog up my sure screen.  As such, If I used more than a half pound of hops, I would be concerned about how much wort is absorbed by the hops.

Last week I brewed a 10 gallon batch of Belgian blond with 8.5 ounces of hops, all leaf.  I stopped the boil with 11 gallons of wort in the kettle, but only managed to collect 9 gallons into my two fermentors.  I left the kettle to clean the next day.  When I went to clean it, it felt somewhat heavy…so I opened the drain valce, and collected 1.5 gallons more wort!  Evidently that had drained from the pile of spent hops sitting on top of my false bottom overnight.  I re-heated that wort, chilled it, and topped off my fermentors.

37

I made the move to CO2 extract for bittering, at least for this year (I bought a can of HopShot and filled so many syringes). So an AIPA will have 5-10 mL extract at 60-30 min, 1-2 oz at 10-5 mins, 3-4 oz whirlpool, and 2-3 oz dry per 5 gallons. I have had issues with filtering, but my hop spider had issues with extraction, so I now use a false bottom and a whirlpool, chill with an immersion chiller (sans pump), then squeeze and remove most of the hops when I get to the end of the kettle.

38

Depends on alpha acid %age for that year’s harvest which varies greatly.

39

Depends on the hop varieties (alpha acid), but on average about 8oz per 5 gal. batch give or take.

40

Typically, how many total ounces of hops do you use on average when brewing a 5 gallon batch of American IPA?  So for bittering, late additions, and dry-hopping.

I usually use 10 ounces but i have an ipa that uses about 17 ounces :slight_smile: