started playing with hops

[AndrewF111]

put 2 brews on this weekend and have experimented with hops for the first time.

A coopers pale ale with cascade and halletau (tea bags) (as suggested by LHS)

and a coopers larger with galaxy. pellets used in a tea mesh ball thingy.

 

boiled for 15 minutes and put in just before the yeast (as instructed by LHBs).

how much diference from boiling to dry hopping does it make?

[Damien E1]

Hallertau for an ale, interesting.

 

Dry Hopping provides only aroma, a very short boil provides aroma, flavour and a tiny bit of bitterness, a 15 minute boil provides some bitterness and flavour, but less aroma, and longer boils provide more bitterness but less aroma and flavour.

[Guest]

Damien is correct.

 

You may find this THIS CHART useful. At least it will give you an idea of what to expect from your hops boiling at different times.

 

Also if you are boiling hops then it is best to create a 1.040 wort to boil the hops in to get the best result from them. Just use 10% LDM to your boil volume. i.e. 5L water + 500g LDM.

[AndrewF111]

These brews turned out the best ive done. unfortunately my first crack at choc mahogany porter is crap

 

[Hairy]

Adding hops to your brew will significantly improve them. Although I believe you would be better off sticking with the pellets and giving the teabags a miss. The teabags tend to be more expensive (per gram) and not always the freshest. But it depends on what you can get your hands on up there.

 

Was your Choc Mahogany Porter the Cascade kit? I have seen mixed reviews on that kit; you may not be responsible for its crapness.

[AndrewF111]

It was the cascade kit, Hairy. But I don't think i sterilized the fermenter properly: no head, bitter and fruity smell and flavour.

 

I need to change my details, as I'm now on the central coast NSW. I agree with the pellets over the tea bags, the smell was considerably different and fresh looking.

[Guest]

I did a Cascade kit once... ONCE! [pinched]

I had 3 so gave 1 away and used the other for hop boils.

 

I did a Tooheys once too.... ONCE! [pinched]

It tasted like the old home brew kits back in the 80's.

 

I did a Muntons once too which wasn't as bad as the former 2 but still tasted crap.

 

TBH and not only saying this because it is on Cooper's forums but.... unless doing AG, I just don't try anything else but Coopers cans now. An old adage is, if it's not broke, then why fix it?

[AndrewF111]

Whats AG? want to do a choc porter but coopers dont have a kit

 

[Hoptimus Maximus]

Whats AG? want to do a choc porter but coopers dont have a kit

 

All Grain.

 

[LeonardC2]

What I've been doing at this point,on average,is adding 3lbs (1.362kg) of Munton's plain DME to a Cooper's can with anywhere from 2-6oz's (56.7g-170.1g) of hops. I boil some 10L of water (about 2.5-3 gallons),then add half the big bag of plain DME,stirring to mix well.

Then do my hop additions over the course of 20 minutes. The number & frequency of additions depends on how much hops I'm using. But the total time is the same,just divide the # of additions by the total time to get frequency of additions.

We're finding over here that a lighter starting wort gives better hop utilization. Late hop additions done like this are called "hop bursting" here.

Late malt additions (remainder of DME & Cooper's can) give lighter color & cleaner flavors as well.

[Guest]

What I've been doing at this point,on average,is adding 3lbs (1.362kg) of Munton's plain DME to a Cooper's can with anywhere from 2-6oz's (56.7g-170.1g) of hops. I boil some 10L of water (about 2.5-3 gallons),then add half the big bag of plain DME,stirring to mix well.

Then do my hop additions over the course of 20 minutes. The number & frequency of additions depends on how much hops I'm using. But the total time is the same,just divide the # of additions by the total time to get frequency of additions.

We're finding over here that a lighter starting wort gives better hop utilization. Late hop additions done like this are called "hop bursting" here.

Late malt additions (remainder of DME & Cooper's can) give lighter color & cleaner flavors as well.

That's interesting. I thought it was proven that a wort with a SG of 1040 gives the best hop utilization. Curious as to roughly what SG are you creating to achieve this?