German Hopping Techniques

[OswaldvW]

Hello All!

I just started homebrewing in July of 2013, and have already moved up to All-Grain brewing, specifically BIAB.

I always have had interests in German beers, and after brewing a bunch of styles (Irish Stout, Hefeweizen, English Bitter, American Blonde Ale), I began wondering what our German brothers and sisters were doing in their homebrew community.

Browsing through some of their online groups, what I find of particular interest is their hop selections and hop schedules. For instance, I was just looking at a recipe for a Münchner Hell and see the following:

4 g Tettnanger at First Wort
12 g Magnum right after the Hot Break
4 g Tettnanger last 10 minutes of boil

So, I thought it was interesting that they put the Magnum in after the Tett. I wonder what the reasoning is here. Also, they have listed a Tett with 8% alpha acid, and a Magnum with 13.5% alpha acid.

I can get Magnum at a 12-17 here in the US. Have any of you seen a Tett above a 4-5% alpha?

Also, many of the German recipes (I would say most) require a 90 minute boil. Some are single rest, but most of them require some form of step mashing.

Peace,
OswaldvW

 

[Foosier]

Well, the 90 minute boil is likely easy to explain. Most Pilsner malts can produce a lot of DMS. Boiling for 90 minutes is the accepted best practice for eliminating as much DMs as possible.

 

[TrickyDick]

Be sure its a "vigorous" boil as well...

 

[BigEd]

The Tettnager is before the Magnum but it is a FWH addition which is mostly for flavor. The Magnum is added near the beginning of the boil as a main bittering addition.

 

[OswaldvW]

How would a first wort hop add flavor if you are going to boil it for 90 minutes? Isn't that just going to be a bittering hop? I seem to be missing something here.

 

[MeBrew2]

Bitterness is flavor...

 

[day_trippr]

Bitterness is more a "sensation" than a discernable flavor.
And bitterness isn't what FWH is supposedly all about...

Cheers!

 

[MeBrew2]

The way I see it if we only had aroma hops and sugar the beer would smell hoppy but taste more or less sweet. It's the hops added earlier in the boil that balance the sweetness.

The extra 30 minutes will boil off some of the bitterness but not all of it, making it less bitter but to me the point is still a controlled level of bitterness to affect flavor but I may be wrong.

 

[BigEd]

How would a first wort hop add flavor if you are going to boil it for 90 minutes? Isn't that just going to be a bittering hop? I seem to be missing something here.

From John Palmer's "How to Brew"

First Wort Hopping
"An old yet recently rediscovered process (at least among homebrewers), first wort hopping (FWH) consists of adding a large portion of the finishing hops to the boil kettle as the wort is received from the lauter tun. As the boil tun fills with wort (which may take a half hour or longer), the hops steep in the hot wort and release their volatile oils and resins. The aromatic oils are normally insoluble and tend to evaporate to a large degree during the boil. By letting the hops steep in the wort prior to the boil, the oils have more time to oxidize to more soluble compounds and a greater percentage are retained during the boil.

Only low alpha finishing hops should be used for FWH, and the amount should be no less than 30% of the total amount of hops used in the boil. This FWH addition therefore should be taken from the hops intended for finishing additions. Because more hops are in the wort longer during the boil, the total bitterness of the beer in increased but not by a substantial amount due to being low in alpha acid. In fact, one study among professional brewers determined that the use of FWH resulted in a more refined hop aroma, a more uniform bitterness (i.e. no harsh tones), and a more harmonious beer overall compared to an identical beer produced without FWH."

 

[OswaldvW]

Ahh, so I was missing something! Ok. FWH with the lower alpha seems to be something right out of the John Palmer textbook. Thanks, BigEd, for posting the quote.