Hello everybody,
I have a question regarding controlling of bitterness. From what I found on forums, bitterness is being extracted from hops, as long as the wort temperature is over 140F (60°C). So bitterness rises even after flame out. That makes 60 min hops actually 60min + time to cool to 140F (60°C), and flame out hops add bitterness too. My guess is, that as temperature goes down, bitterness extraction lowers too, so that adds even more uncertainty.
Since I can't really predict the time, I would need to cool my wort after flame out, the bitterness would be different from expected. That's why I was looking at two possible solutions. I also thought of some pros and cons for each method.
1. Use hop bags for bittering and flavor hops during the boil, so I can remove them at flame out. That way, bitterness and flavor hops would not contribute to bitternes any more after flame out.
PROs:
- less trub from hops
- "clean cut" of bittering
CONs:
- flame out (aroma) hops would still contribute to bitterness
- some aroma from flame out hops would be evaporated
- would have to compensate for worse hop utilization because of bags
2. Boil concentrated wort and add cold water at flame out. That way, the temperature would drop instantly, and bitterness extraction would stop.
PROs:
- fast cooling time
- no loss of aroma
CONs:
- would have to compensate, when measuring original gravity
- less water available for sparging
Third option would, of course, would be to just predict the time nad adjust additions accordingly. Not complicating co much about exact bitterness would also help .
I hope someone can give me some more information about this and help me decide, what to do.
Best regards,
Miha.
I have a question regarding controlling of bitterness. From what I found on forums, bitterness is being extracted from hops, as long as the wort temperature is over 140F (60°C). So bitterness rises even after flame out. That makes 60 min hops actually 60min + time to cool to 140F (60°C), and flame out hops add bitterness too. My guess is, that as temperature goes down, bitterness extraction lowers too, so that adds even more uncertainty.
Since I can't really predict the time, I would need to cool my wort after flame out, the bitterness would be different from expected. That's why I was looking at two possible solutions. I also thought of some pros and cons for each method.
1. Use hop bags for bittering and flavor hops during the boil, so I can remove them at flame out. That way, bitterness and flavor hops would not contribute to bitternes any more after flame out.
PROs:
- less trub from hops
- "clean cut" of bittering
CONs:
- flame out (aroma) hops would still contribute to bitterness
- some aroma from flame out hops would be evaporated
- would have to compensate for worse hop utilization because of bags
2. Boil concentrated wort and add cold water at flame out. That way, the temperature would drop instantly, and bitterness extraction would stop.
PROs:
- fast cooling time
- no loss of aroma
CONs:
- would have to compensate, when measuring original gravity
- less water available for sparging
Third option would, of course, would be to just predict the time nad adjust additions accordingly. Not complicating co much about exact bitterness would also help .
I hope someone can give me some more information about this and help me decide, what to do.
Best regards,
Miha.