Hop Steeping

[jcj99be]

As a new homebrewer, I just finished my first brew day! I had some doubts though about hop steeping

I based my brew day from the book How to Brew by John Palmer. My first brew recipe is based on the Cincinnati Pale Ale from the book (Although I had to tweak it a bit as some components weren't locally available).

Anyway, my question comes from the 3rd Hop addition which should steep for 15 minutes.

It's mentioned that these hops are added after the 60 minute boil (I guess this is called knockout) and steep for 15 minutes before starting to chill the wort.

I understand that this last hop addition is for for aroma and by steeping after the boil it shouldn't impact bitterness?
I assumed that I needed to put the hops in a steeping sack and remove the sack after the 15 minute period? Is this really necessary, or could I have just dumped them in after the boil?

Also, how can I specify this hop steeping in the brewersfriend recipe tool? I selected "aroma" but in the brew steps it indicated that I should add it 15 minutes before the end of the boil. Whereas I should add it after the boil.

Are there any other accepted practices for adding hops for aroma other than hop steeping?

 

[White Haus Brews]

Hey jcj congratulations on your first brew!

You could just throw them in like the rest of the hops. The way to plug them into the recipe creator is to use the whirlpool option. It's not true that it won't cause any bitterness since hop isomerization occurs at temps over 175. So unless you are first cooling the wort below that temp you will get more bitterness and you may as well just add it in the last 5-10 min of the boil instead.

Practices for increasing hop aroma and flavor with less bitterness (in order of when you would do them in the brewing process):
1) Add anytime in the last 10 min of the boil
2) Add at knock out
3) Whirlpool (Generally at lower temps than 175)
4) Dry hop during fermentation

 

[jcj99be]

Ok, thanks for the useful feedback!

 

[BOB357]

The idea behind a steep/whirlpool addition is to extract aroma producing oils. While adding hops to the boil will also extract these oils, more of the aroma producing compounds will be lost to volatilization.

When using this method you not only get some bitterness from the hops being steeped/whirlpooled, but also from hops that were added to the boil late enough that their alpha acids weren't completely isomerized. The amount of bitterness will depend on both time and temperature. Hops added at knockout are technically being steeped or whirlpooled as well and produce a similar effect.