I have been brewing for at least two years, but I have not heard of FWH. The brewing circle in my immediate area is very small, by small I mean me and one other guy. Any insight would be great.
Thanks in advance
-Koehler
This is adding hops to your boil kettle during the mash runoff and they remain in kettle throughout the boil
FWH is adding the bittering addition while sparging. It is said to add a mellower bitterness and contributes flavor of a 20 min addition.
http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-first-wort-hop-beer-brewing-techniques/
I use it from time to time. I brew a kolsch that is only hopped at FW with Nelson. Turns out well.
Thanks for the information guys. Does this mean if you only FWH that you would not need to have a boil prior to fermenting?
No, the hops remain in the kettle throughout the boil. You would still do a full boil as normal. The hops still need to be boiled to isomerize the alpha acids and create bitterness.
They are bittering hops for the lazy person that are added to the BK during the lauter. Add a few ibus to your recipe for the extra contact time. They are not smoother; they do not contribute anything more than standard full boil bittering hops. They can have the effect of reducing the big foamy hot break action though.
With regards to not being smoother, I’ve found the opposite to be true for my taste. I’m not sure I notice a difference in flavor though. Maybe, maybe not. Koehler, give it a try and see for yourself - It won’t make you lazy.
My perceptions disagree.
In my recipe software, I have just made utilization from 60 minute bittering and FWH additions equal. For the longest time I set FWH equal to a 20 minute addition but it didn’t seem right.
When I want what I perceive to be a smoother bitterness, I use FWH and sometimes a combination of the two. I like to use FWH in less hoppy styles and darker beers.
In lab studies, FWH apparently adds something like 10% more IBUs than a 60 minute addition? There is a multitude of info out there on this topic but at the end of the day you just have to use your experiences and perceptions.
Yes, it’s a ~10% increase over whatever boil length you use. I’m the creatively lazy type, so I have basically decided to change all my hopping to either FWH, Whirlpool/Steep, or dry hopping. My IPA I made recently with that new schedule is the one I like best so far, and if the extra 30/15/10 additions don’t add much that I can tell, I’m better off adjusting my numbers to eliminate them.
I’m beginning to wonder of anyone else has actually had an IBU analysis done, or if everybody is just quoting me!
Awesome thanks for all the information I definitely give it a try in the up and coming brews. Though I will not send it out for analysis, I might do a side by side comparison to see the difference of a fill 60 min boil hop addition to FWH and see how that comes out.
Good question. From what I recall at the 2014 seminar, he had two different stated lab results: 1 at 108% and 1 at 110%. Not sure if those were just your numbers.
who gave the seminar?
Dan or Dave Curtis. Don’t exactly remember his first name. Primary focus of the seminar was First Wort Hopping and Mash hopping in comparison to Boil hopping.