Amount of pelleted hops/ gal of wort

Aksarben

Aksarben

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As a general rule, and just ballpark guidlines, what is the grams/gallon one would add of Cascade hops? Obviously it matters what style of beer and Alpha and Beta content. My Cascade is 6.3% Alpha and 6.6% Beta. I want to add just a bit of bitterness, but don't like too much bitter. Also what about adding pelleted hops after the beer is done fermenting for hop aroma?

Vern
 
I know that it's possible to do all the calculations for a beer recipe if you know the pertinent data like AA content, wort gravity, etc, but I just can't imagine doing all that math. :p:D
The recipe calculator allows you to simply enter an amount, boil time and the proper AA and know the IBU contribution immediately (after filling the grain bill, of course).
 
I prefer beer to not be too bitter, but I like the darkness and flavor of Guiness Stout, and New Holland Brewing (Holland MI) Oatmeal Stout. If I had my choice it would have the same amount of bitterness as some light pale ales. From the craftbeer.com glossary: "Light lagers typically have an IBU rating between 5-10 while big, bitter India Pale Ales can often have an IBU rating between 50 and 70."

So I could make a dark beer in the 10-20 range for my liking?
I didn't get a bill for my grain as I paid cash for pale malt.?? LOL (interesting wording in brewing).
 
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You can definitely brew beers with low IBUs.

I actually brew most my beers in the 15-50 IBUs range.

I go for 60 IBUs in my Black IPAs and 50 in my DIPAs. 15-25 is usually something I go for in Belgian Pale ales, Saisons, light/bright NE style beers.

With the Cascades you have, for a 6 Kg grainbill, you need something like 15 gr at the 60 minutes mark for 11-13 IBUs and the rest carefully get from late additions and whitlpool/knockout/hopstand.
 
Aksarben said:
I prefer beer to not be too bitter, but I like the darkness and flavor of Guiness Stout, and New Holland Brewing (Holland MI) Oatmeal Stout. If I had my choice it would have the same amount of bitterness as some light pale ales. From the craftbeer.com glossary: "Light lagers typically have an IBU rating between 5-10 while big, bitter India Pale Ales can often have an IBU rating between 50 and 70."

So I could make a dark beer in the 10-20 range for my liking?
I didn't get a bill for my grain as I paid cash for pale malt.?? LOL (interesting wording in brewing).
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Keep in mind several things contribute to "bitterness", not all of them hops! Just like wine, beer has tannins and just like wine, beer can have too many of them. Dark malt can add bitter flavors. Best thing I've found to do is when you approach designing a beer for the first time, shoot for everything in the middle of the range. OG, IBU, color, everything mid-range. Then tweak for subsequent beers. I used to be the "extreme right of the bell curve" guy but have found over time, good is in the middle. The recipe designer can help, unfortunately in its current stage it's kind of "trial and error." I really wish you could specify target IBUs, contribution at each stage in percentage and have the software calculate the weight for you. IBUs aren't a good measure of bitterness, by the way. You don't know how much alpha acid is really in the hops, you don't know how well they're converted, hence my advice to start in the middle and work your way out, one variable at a time.
 
Looks like a straight forward beer to me minimal hops and looks a bit darker than predicted unless the picture makes it look that way. I think itll be a tasty drop
 
the recipe calculator, from personal experience, is not a good guide of IBUs. 60IBUs in my batches feel like 30, so I adjusted my recipes. My IPAs these days usually clock in around 150-200 IBUs on the calculator and they taste like the hoppiness of commercial brews. just saying. Also really depends on your hop schedule, ie boil or whirlpool, dry hops, etc. IBUs are 100% subjective if you ask me.
 
really ibu's are all about the water, and everyones water is different, I can create a very bitter beer or malty beer just by changing my brewing salts, so its relative to your water as to how you perceive bitterness
 
You won't likely be bothered by the level of bitterness in that recipe, but Cascade isn't going to give you anything very German in character. Use a similar IBU count with a noble hop like Hallertau and you'll have a nice smooth beer. The Cascade will make a nice beer, but it'll have a citrus aroma and flavor that will be much more like an American Amber, especially using Chico strain yeast.
Another thing to consider is that dark extract tends not to attenuate as well as you think it will. You'll have a relatively sweet finish on a beer using a recipe like that. Using a fair amount of Light DME and getting some color from dark steeping grains is a way around that issue.
PS...First Wort hopping is more of an all-grain thing...just use a 20-30 minute boil for all-extract and adjust your hop amounts to get the bitterness you want.
Good luck! ;)
 
I created another "future" recipe called Vern's Dunkel. Thought about naming it Uncle Dunkel, but left it as Verns.
In my recipe I would use Munich Malt 20L and 1 lb of some Chocolate Malt I have in a vacuum bag, along with Haltertau hops, and finish at the end with some Cascade pelleted hops for a bit of aroma.

Now on that other recipe I was using Ale yeast as that was all I had at the moment. Should be getting in some Saflager 23 lager yeat tomorrow.. Should I really call that beer a Stout? And, how warm can I ferment a Lager?
 
Aksarben said:
I created another "future" recipe called Vern's Dunkel. Thought about naming it Uncle Dunkel, but left it as Verns.
In my recipe I would use Munich Malt 20L and 1 lb of some Chocolate Malt I have in a vacuum bag, along with Haltertau hops, and finish at the end with some Cascade pelleted hops for a bit of aroma.

Now on that other recipe I was using Ale yeast as that was all I had at the moment. Should be getting in some Saflager 23 lager yeat tomorrow.. Should I really call that beer a Stout? And, how warm can I ferment a Lager?
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JA i know has used the yeast a fair bit and im sure he has fermented that at ale temps with good success. Ive used 34/70 at 18c which stayed fairly clean at that temp. Im sure a dunkle is a dark larger.
 
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Aksarben said:
and finish at the end with some Cascade pelleted hops for a bit of aroma.
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If you want grapefruit aroma in your Dunkel, go right ahead. That's not what the style calls for. There are a lot of aroma hops that have more spice/floral. My favorite combo for German style beers, light or dark is Magnum for bittering, Hallertau and Saphir for flavor and aroma.
Aksarben said:
And, how warm can I ferment a Lager?
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S-23 is pretty temperature tolerant. I'd keep it no warmer than 60 for 2-3 days until the krausen starts to fall and then start warming up to 68 over a couple days time. I know folks have used it up to 70 degrees, but I like the results I get with the middle temp range.
 
Like the latest brulosophy exbeerment testing lager yeast one pitched warm and other cold with small yeast count. They couldn't tell the beers apart:). Good news for those without a fermentation fridge to keep temps down at 10c.

Oh it is strain dependant.
 
Trialben said:
Like the latest brulosophy exbeerment testing lager yeast one pitched warm and other cold with small yeast count. They couldn't tell the beers apart:). Good news for those without a fermentation fridge to keep temps down at 10c.

Oh it is strain dependant.
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Yeast are living funi that bud (break apart from 1ea to 2ea) as they multiply. Small yeast count will eventually make no difference as they have to reach a certain population when the real alcoholic fermentation begins. During the "build up" period there is little alcohol aka EtOH produced as they are using available oxygen for growth. When the oxygen available in the beverage is used up their conversion to EtOH then begins in real earnest. The reason for a starter or a large amount of dry yeast addition is to lessen the "lag" time from the addition to the beginning of some real fermentation that produces the CO2. EtOH is also produced in similar quantities to CO2.

At the winery we add 1 lb / thousand gallons 1lb/M and have done that for years and have great success with fermentation. Key with wine and yeast is to not add it below 53 degrees as they have little growth (cold) at that temp and takes quite a while to start doing some serious reproductions. It is the enzymes that are produced in the splitting of the yeast cell that starts the chain reactions to producing alcohol. The sugar molecule has an oxygen molecule attached and they are after that along with the minute carbohydrate they use for growing. We have some yeast, like Uvaferm 43 that have a large temperature range for fermentation, and can work optimally even up to 95 deg F. We use that almost exclusively for our red wines and use it for Icewine as well since it is a powerful fermenting yeast. Each wine yeast has a temperature range that is optimal for it. So I guess it is also with beer yeasts that come are better adapted to handling the higher temperature of fermentation than others. I have it written down at work what some of the more common yeasts we use temperature ranges are, if anyone is interested.
 
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