Late addition hops flavor differences: with and without wort chilling

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urg8rb8

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How much of a flavor difference is there of beer that has late addition hops when using a worth chiller. I currently don't chill and wondering if there would be a difference in flavor (let's say for an IPA) for a beer that has late addition hops if I started chilling?
 
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There's quite a difference. A hot, boiling wort - at least for many, many minutes from the moment you stopped boiling - will still be hot enough ( it will very slowly cool down on itw own at room temperature, but that takes ages ) to extract lots of bitterness from the added hops. This results in less aroma and flavour, although a bit more than say boiling hops continously at the same temperature for 20-60 minutes.

A wort you quickly chill down to under 160F ( in the course of 15 mnutes - it depends of course on how efficient your chiller is ) and add hops to, will extract less bitterness and actually allow the hop oils and polyphenols to infuse the wort, adding more aroma and flavour to the final beer. ( provided you do not dry hop / dry hopping on its own will add more aroma to the beer )

You can easily experiment how a temperature difference affects hop aroma and flavour, by brewing 2 exact batches, one you add hops at flameout and let them steep for 30 minutes and one where you cool down the wort to 160F and then add the hops to steep for 30 minutes. Ferment with the same yeast and package the exact same way. It should provid enough experience, to either trying more of these batches or simply deciding upon which of the methods you would like to continue with.
 
How are you allowing your wort to cool before pitching yeast?
I currently pour the wort into the primary bucket after an hour later and then put the bucket into the temp chamber over night. Then the next morning I pitch the yeast.
 
Anecdotal evidence is cool but you should experiment. I've been doing tons of hopstands usually chilling below isomerization temps before beginning(160-170) and I haven't gotten that huge hop flavor from most of my beers. Maybe it's part of the process unrelated to that causing it, but I came across an interesting blog recently where a brewer experimented with about 5 different hopstand temps on small batches, including flameout. Surprisingly he thought the flameout hopstand added the most hop flavor. I saw a graph posted here that showed at what boil times flavor, aroma, and bitterness were most pulled out of the hops. 20 minutes pulled the most flavor. So, doing a hopstand at flameout for 20 minutes might hit that sweet spot perfectly, if that graph is anywhere close to accurate.

OP, I realize you said you don't chill so YMMV but like I said just experiment
 
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I wonder if some people identify the bitterness with the "flavor" of hops. That could explain why the flameout had the most "flavor." But, I must admit I have no skill at identifying flavors in beers, whatsoever...
 
I wonder if some people identify the bitterness with the "flavor" of hops. That could explain why the flameout had the most "flavor." But, I must admit I have no skill at identifying flavors in beers, whatsoever...

Perhaps. Taste is our weakest sense. I would not claim to have an extremely refined palate but I think I am able to tell the difference between specific hops flavors and bitterness.
 
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