I have 7.163 pounds of liquid malt extract for making a Pale Ale. I’ll be fermenting a total volume of 5.75 gallons. How many ounces of which hops would those of you with greater experience than me suggest I use for bittering?
Also have right around 6.0 pounds of liquid extract for making an Amber. Will be fermenting a total volume of 4.8 gallons. Again, how many ounces of which hops would you suggest for bittering?
Thank you for your assistance…
I’m guessing the first question will be: how bitter do you like your beers?
Second will probably be: do you have a stock of hops with a specific alpha acid % that you’re planning to use? (Alpha acid % would probably be the determining factor for how much to use)
Also keep in mind that the late hop additions in the boil and whirlpool will add to the bitterness. Start by planning the late hop additions, then do the math to figure the early additions. You can use BJCP guidelines to judge the bitterness to target. I generally use BU:GU ratio. In other words, higher OG would suggest higher bitterness.
Sounds like you’re switching from Mr. Beer, or the likes, to putting together your own recipes. If this is the case, you should download a trial version of BeerSmith, Brewers Friend or other brewing software to help design recipes. Getting a copy of How To Brew (4th edition) by John Palmer would also be a good idea.
I agree software makes this a lot easier though it can be done on the back of an envelope.
As far as Pale Ale, here are some ideas:
Full Suspension uses all CTZ
JZ’s APA from BCS:
More Beer’s version:
BrewBama’s suggestion reminded me of what I did when I first started designing my own recipes. I downloaded recipes from MoreBeer and used them as a guide to build my own. Almost all of their kits have recipe sheets available. Look at a couple of their amber ale recipes to help you choose your hop schedule.
Also as to hops, you should factor in a loss of IBU’s if bagging them or using a hop spider. I think I once read that bagging them results in about a 10% loss in IBU’s, but I could be wrong on that - there is information out there on this and you can experiment to get the right bitterness, etc… to your preference over several otherwise identical batches.
I still do that with a few more sources. 
[quote=“Skeeter686, post:2, topic:33030, username:Skeeter686”]
I’m guessing the first question will be: how bitter do you like your beers? I like my IBU in a Pale Ale or in an IPA to be in the low forties. Have downed a few cans of Founders All Day IPA in the last 24 hours. Has an IBU of 42. I drink beer for the flavor of the hops. I don’t drink beer for the alcohol content.
Second will probably be: do you have a stock of hops with a specific alpha acid % that you’re planning to use? Alpha acid % would probably be the determining factor for how much to use. I have a treasure trove of hops I’ve purchased at my LHBS over the last year or so. They’ve been kept in my freezer all this time, in the brown heat-sealed bags in which I bought them from the store’s glass-front soda chiller. I’d hope they’re not dried-out by now, after so many months in the low humidity that is a kitchen freezer. With seven-plus pounds of malt, I know I’m going to need more than we’d use for a five-gallon batch. My concern is that if I use too little hops, my final product will be too sweet to drink. All that time, effort and worries for nothin’…
I looked around a bit and found a website that says to use one to two ounces of hops in, I assume, a five-gallon batch. I’ve got Centennial and Simcoe, both of which are way up there on the AA scale. Also have Chinook and Columbus/CTZ; they’re big on the AA, too. I think 2.2 to 2.5 ounces of a high AA hop would do the bittering job. Throw in another half-ounce of a good aroma hop at fifty minutes into the boil and I’d say we did all we could. I read within these pages that the flavoring hops in the middle of the boil don’t really help much, so we’ll forego those. Then again, I have so many hops at my disposal that I could use an ounce just for grits and shiggles…
Yes and no. I have several mr. beer kits on hand, and enough raw makings from the LHBS to ferment several more from scratch. I’m thinking about a mr. beer “assembly” right now that would be two of their Diablo IPA cans (70 IBU) and one of their American Ale cans (36 IBU). That’s 7.59 pounds of malt syrup in 6.4 total gallons of liquid, which is a 1.186 pounds per gallon solution. That’s 94.9% of my standard of 1.25 pounds per gallon solution, so I doubt the final product will be weak and watery. The reviews of the American Ale are mostly very positive for taste, body and head retention. I’ll add one foilpack of Brewmax Booster and one softpack of Brewmax Robust unhopped LME to it. 18 to 20 days in the fermenter, bottle and condition for thirty days. With winter coming, there’s always a bit of a slow-down in trucking. We have the “peak season” of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, after which things cool-down until Spring. I’m hoping I can have a few sporadic days off so maybe I can brew-up something for consumption in February…
I have had the Cali Mountain kit and it is good. They only use 1/2 ounce of magnum for bittering at the start of the boil. I believe I sub’d out with Chinook as that is what I had and it worked out pretty good. If you like Sierra Nevada Pale, just search Sierra Nevada Recipes and SN actually has their recipe on their website. Good place to start. I would look at kits for the styles and see what hops they use and when. That is kinda what I did and it helped alot. I still use the kit base and swap out hop varieties to see what I get. Next batch is a single hop using Motueka hops. Good luck
I have 142.4 ounces (8.9 pounds) of Pale Ale LME. I like the IBU of a store-bought Pale Ale libation to be in the low to mid-40s. I’ve decided to use two percent of the 19.62 kg of LME to bitter, which would be 2.85 ounces/81 grams. No decision yet taken on what will be the hops used for bittering. I am open for suggestions from brewmasters who are far more experienced than me. I’m thinking Simcoe (13.5% AA) or Magnum (12.1% AA). Also have Columbus/CTZ (14.2% AA) and Chinook (11.2% AA).
Flavoring hops will be one percent of the mass, at 1.42 ounces/40 grams. Going to use Cascade (6.1% AA) for flavoring. Aroma hops will be 0.5 percent of the mass, at 0.71 ounces (20 grams). Going to use an orphan envelope of Tettnanger (3.1% AA) that’s been taking-up space in my freezer since January 2021. The Tett was originally slated for use in an Amber because it came with the ingredients for a Basic Amber, but I don’t see that type mentioned in any of the recipes I see around the web. The instruction sheet for the Amber specified just half an ounce, which didn’t seem like much to me in five gallons of beer.
Comments and suggestions from readers are welcomed…
Lately, I’ve been using a standard hopping regime that I modify as required:
Bittering Hops (top of the boil): ~ 20 IBUs.
Flavor (20 minutes): ~ 5 IBUs for each hop used.
Aroma (flame out): same wt as flavor hops for each hop used
Dry Hopping (if used): up to up to 7 grams per liter (~1 oz per gal) for each hop
In no way am I a pro at this, so please take this for what it is worth. I found a recipe for a pale ale that basically took Pliny the Elder, DIPA, and brought it down to a pale ale. In that recipe the brewer said he was using 2oz of bittering hops for a IBU of 50 or so. I plugged in the recipe into Brewfather and by using 2oz the IBU was at 80 or over. That is really high, as the Racer 5 I like is only 75. I brought it down to 1 oz of bittering and got the IBU to 63 or so. I think the 2oz of bittering you are going to use is way higher than the IBU of any Ale or Pale out there. I just looked and while I am a bit all over the board on my IBU, most of my ales have been in the high 50’s low 60’s. But, again, not a pro at this but just giving you the info I have found. Good luck and post the results.
I have tried to quote redrocker652002, but I keep getting the post from BrewBama. Must answer without the benefits of a quote…
Thank you for the info regarding that my two percent of the mass of the malt to be the mass of bittering hops may be too much. I can always go to 1.50 percent, which would be 2.136 ounces (934 grains) to bitter. I would assume the flavoring hops add a bit to the bitterness as well, so maybe all is not lost.
Does that account for AA%?
Having bought this book based on many people suggesting it, I have found it to be a rather unhelpful reference guide for me. To me, and please no flaming as this is just my opinion, the book is way to technical for me. I found reading it confused me more than I already was. I have found that getting info from here and another web forum has helped me more than that book has. Now, maybe once I get deeper into it I might revisit the book, for now it has found a spot on the shelf with the other books I have read, or attempted to read and found to be a bit over my head.
Yes, Palmer tends to be quite technical. That is understandable because of his background, but it is a common criticism of his books. I am glad you have a high shelf on which to put books over your head.
I’m going to use bittering hops that have their AAs around 10 to 13 percent. Flavoring will be Cascade. Aroma will be some orphan Tettnang I’ve had hanging-around for the several years I’ve been waiting for the time to actually brew the beer and get it into my fermenter.
