Hoppy but less bitter

[jb1677]

I know it sounds contradictory but I have noticed in my first few beers that the up front bitter hop flavor it very strong but the beer is not really hoppy. I had and old favorite Bear Republic Racer 5 and really noticed how hoppy it was without the upfront bitterness - just very smooth.

Is achieving something like this as simple as cutting the bittering/60 minute hops down and simply using more later in the boil? How low can you go? My last brew was a very low IBU Amber (1oz cascade 60 min and 1oz cascade 1minute @ 25IBU per beersmith) and it still has the upfront bitter punch, as much as a pale ale I made with more hops (48IBU per beersmith although the same 1oz @ 60).

 

[david_42]

Sure, it's called "hop bursting". Some of the recipes have all of the additions in the last 20 minutes.

 

[amingo]

Exactly. Anything within 0-20 minutes of the end of the end of the boil will bring out the flavor of the hops rather than the bitterness.

Most of my IPAs use 6-8 oz of hops but the majority are added during the last 20 minutes for a really flavorful brew with just enough bitter backbone to stick to the tongue.

 

[phatspade]

60min---------------30--------------0
Bitterness Flavor Aroma

This is a simple rule of thumb. So use less hops at the 60min or move bittering hop down to 50-40min mark to take care of the upfront hop bitterness. For more of a hoppy taste you'll want to use more hops from the 30-0min window. Most recipes I've seen like to use flavoring around the 20-10min mark.

I hope this helps and happy brewing!

 

[jb1677]

Makes sense, I think I may take one of the first 3 beers that I have brewed and brew it a few more times just adjusting the hop schedule and see the results first hand.

Is there any bare minimum for bittering hops? It seems playing with beersmith that I can acheive any level of IBU by adding more hops later, but I assume an IBU from a bittering hop and an IBU from a late addiiton must result in less perceived butterness?

 

[phatspade]

Say 1 oz @ 60 min is 10 IBU and 5 oz @ 15 min 10 IBU it'll have the same bitterness up front. When you add later and want bitterness you'll have to add more hops then you would at the start of the boil.

Bare with me on this part because I haven't read up on the science part of brewing, but this is as simple as I can remember.

What goes on during the boil is that you are heating the hops to extract acids/oils that causes the bitterness, hop flavor and hop aroma. The longer you boil the hop the more you extracted acids/oils are boiled off and what's left is the acid that makes the beer bitter tasting. The hop schedule dictates the balance of these acids/oils to make your beer either bitter, hoppy or taste malty and smell hoppy. You tweek the hop schedule to your liking to get what you want for taste and smell.

 

[kingwood-kid]

10 Ibu's at 60 min is more than 10 ibu's at ten minutes. The brewing software may indicate otherwise, but that's how it is. I've started to only bother calculating ibu's for 40+ min additions; anything under 15 doesn't add the ibu's my computer says it will. Hopping doesn't end at zero either. You can get a lot of non-bitter hoppiness by steeping hops at high temps post-boil and by dry-hopping.

 

[phatspade]

That's what I stated it's a simple rule of thumb. There are many variables to hop utilization. I'm confused as to how you state 10 ibu's isn't 10 ibu's at 10 minutes. It's the same no matter what time in the boil. I'm not here to bash, but something isn't right or what you're saying isn't being explained properly.

 

[kingwood-kid]

10 ibus at 60 minutes taste much more bitter/harsh than 10 ibus at 10 min. I think it's probably due to flaws in the ibu formulas, but given the huge number of flavor compounds in hops and in the rest of the wort, it's impossible to say what exactly is going on, chemically speaking.

 

[beowulf]

Perhaps it's that 10 ibus at 60 mins has all the flavor cooked away, where the 10ibus at 10 mins still adds a lot of flavor. Perhaps that extra flavor that's still there at 10 mins reduces the "perceived" bitterness, although it's still technically 10 ibus. I know that when I've tasted my IPAs that are a couple years old, they sure taste more bitter than they did originally...my guess is it's because aroma and flavor have dissipated somewhat but left the bitterness behind.