Is the Hop Back Dead?

[sasky7777]

Seems like the technique of hopbursting, late hopping at flameout/whirpool has really taken off. To me this seemed like the domain of the hop back. Is it now a redundant piece of equipment since both commercial and home brewers are having great success with late kettle additions and not needing a hop back to "lock in" the flavour and aroma?


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[Owly055]

I don't think there is any technique that can lock in flavor and aroma like the hopback. It may seem "out of vogue" at the moment, but there is nothing else that hits the hops with a hot stream of wort, followed by rapid cooling, with no opportunity for the volatiles to escape. Assuming that you are using a counterflow chiller or plate chiller inline with the hopback. Dry hopping doesn't release some things that need heat, and whirpooling / hopstanding provides a surface area where volatile oils can escape before they condense back into the wort. The hop back on the other hand captures these things. It's far from obsolete or dead. It may fall from favor briefly.......but it will be back. Good tools never die.

H.W.

 

[beergutbrew]

It is also rumored that The Alchemist uses a hybrid hopback to brew Heady.

 

[day_trippr]

I don't think there is any technique that can lock in flavor and aroma like the hopback. It may seem "out of vogue" at the moment, but there is nothing else that hits the hops with a hot stream of wort, followed by rapid cooling, with no opportunity for the volatiles to escape. Assuming that you are using a counterflow chiller or plate chiller inline with the hopback. Dry hopping doesn't release some things that need heat, and whirpooling / hopstanding provides a surface area where volatile oils can escape before they condense back into the wort. The hop back on the other hand captures these things. It's far from obsolete or dead. It may fall from favor briefly.......but it will be back. Good tools never die.

Well said. And the most coherent counterpoint I've read all week...

Cheers!

 

[grathan]

really, now I need a hop back all the sudden...

 

[Owly055]

really, now I need a hop back all the sudden...

I don't use a pump for boiling hot wort........... my system is only for the mash, nor to I use a counterflow or plate chiller....... I use an immersion chiller, so I'm left out in the cold.......... Or am I?

I propose this alternative........... put your hops in a quart mason jar, pour boiling hot wort over them, right to the rim of the jar, and cap it immediately. Cool it and add back to the chilled wort.


H.W.

 

[wobdee]

Give mash hopping a whirl.