One Hop Brew Experiment

[Krimbos]

OK - so I am planning my 4th brew and want to devise a more controlled plan of attack. My first 3 - Irish Red, Dry Stout, and Kolsch. Red and Stout came out great (actually got compliments on Stout at my LHBS!). I have posted earlier about my "IMperial" Kolsch. In secondary now, so far, so good.

In a previous thread, Nosybear suggested to work one recipe for a few batches to refine technique.

Searching the web, I came across the concept of ONE HOP BEERS, to better understand the impact of different hops.

So, I developed the following using CASCADE (who doesnt like SNPA?)

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... k-pale-ale

It is a 3 gal batch to speed things up. (Question - can I ferment in my 5 gal carboy? I assume 6.5 is too big)

I assume the veterans here have done this? (Search the threads and did not come up with anything).

Comments? Suggestions?

 

[LarryBrewer]

I think you will have beginner's luck with your beginner's luck recipe.

Fermenting a 3 gallon batch in a 5 gallon carboy is fine. If you rack it, just make sure there is no head space - head space is very bad in the secondary.

As for doing beers with one hop - yeah it is a great way to learn. I just did an all Nugget batch using hop grown hops just to see what it would turn out like.

There is another similar concept called SMaSH brewing = single malt and single hop.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/09/05 ... h-brewing/

 

[Krimbos]

Thanks LB

Will a 4 gal boil be enough to eliminate need to add more water? I just want to boil, chill, aerate and pitch to minimize variables.

Ferment for a week (or 2?), and then bottle.

(BTW - this is by far the best website for homebrewing that I have seen, hands down. Everything is here, software, info and this forum. The best!)

 

[EvanAltman36]

I actually have a single-hopped beer that I'm going to brew next, though I can't claim any noble motives. I really like Gumballhead from Three Floyd's (microbrew from Northern IN), which is a wheat beer that uses multiple additions of Amarillo. I devised a quasi-clone partial extract recipe that uses 6 separate Cascade additions. I think I'll start brewing once I finish the IPA I bottled 3 weeks ago.

 

[EvanAltman36]

(BTW - this is by far the best website for homebrewing that I have seen, hands down. Everything is here, software, info and this forum. The best!)

+1

 

[Nosybear]

I did a one-hop beer a while back using only Crystal. Instructive - you can learn a lot about the contribution of hops to flavor that way. I find dropping back and brewing simple beers (limited grain bill, limited hops) very instructive. Hey, it's a hobby, right? Try it and see what happens. Another advantage of keeping it simple: If you end up pouring it down the drain, it's not that great a financial loss.

 

[Krimbos]

Exactly Nosy! I am even considering doing a 1 gal test batch. - basically a 12 pack.

OR............

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

 

[LarryBrewer]

Thanks for the praise!

I think you'd be fine boiling down from 4 gallons. Presently the water requirements calculator does not include the extra volume from the sugars. Figure about 10.6oz of extra volume in the kettle per pound of LME, 9.5oz per pound of DME. That will be fixed in the next release...

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

You don't want to add hops during fermentation, the yeast will blow off most of it. You could however experiment with dry hopping that way, or compare different yeast strains.

 

[MrBIP]

Planning to bottle Mosaic single hop this weekend...

 

[Krimbos]

Planning to bottle Mosaic single hop this weekend...

What's your recipe look like?

 

[MrBIP]

Planning to bottle Mosaic single hop this weekend...

What's your recipe look like?

I made some slight adjustment on the fly because of a shortage of ingredients, but the intended recipe was:

Boil 5
Batch 5.5
Steeping: 3# two row, 1# C20, 1# carapils
Extract: 6.6# Muntons extra light LME
Hops: (Mosaic)
60 - 0.5 oz
30 - 0.5 oz
15 - 0.6 oz
5 - 0.7 oz
1 - 0.7 oz
dry hop 2-3 days, 1 oz

Using Wyeast Northwest Ale 1332

Should be ~ 5% ABV and ~ 55 IBU

 

[EvanAltman36]

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

I think this would be good for determining the effect of different dry hops, but that would defeat the purpose of your single-hop experiment. I do think it'd be cool to chose some different hops and experiment with the schedule to see how that affects bitterness, aroma, etc.

 

[Nosybear]

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

If you're testing dry-hopping, it would. My advice to the experimental: Vary one major factor at a time. If you're testing a single-boil hop, don't confound by testing dry-hopping. If you're testing yeasts, splitting into three batches is a good idea as a test but changing yeasts and grain bill, as an experiment, is not. In any experimental design, you want to be sure it's your treatment you're detecting so you want to keep all other factors as constant as possible.

 

[LarryBrewer]

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

If you're testing dry-hopping, it would. My advice to the experimental: Vary one major factor at a time. If you're testing a single-boil hop, don't confound by testing dry-hopping. If you're testing yeasts, splitting into three batches is a good idea as a test but changing yeasts and grain bill, as an experiment, is not. In any experimental design, you want to be sure it's your treatment you're detecting so you want to keep all other factors as constant as possible.

Spoken like a scientist.

 

[Foster82]

Planning to bottle Mosaic single hop this weekend...

Keep us posted on how this turns out. I am preparing to brew with Mosaic this weekend.

 

[Nosybear]

What if I do a 3 gal batch with just 60 min boil hop, and then split into 3 1 gal fermenters with 3 different hops? That wouldnt work, would it?

If you're testing dry-hopping, it would. My advice to the experimental: Vary one major factor at a time. If you're testing a single-boil hop, don't confound by testing dry-hopping. If you're testing yeasts, splitting into three batches is a good idea as a test but changing yeasts and grain bill, as an experiment, is not. In any experimental design, you want to be sure it's your treatment you're detecting so you want to keep all other factors as constant as possible.

Spoken like a scientist.

Engineer, actually.... ;-)

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Planning to bottle Mosaic single hop this weekend...

What's your recipe look like?

I made some slight adjustment on the fly because of a shortage of ingredients, but the intended recipe was:

Boil 5
Batch 5.5
Steeping: 3# two row, 1# C20, 1# carapils
Extract: 6.6# Muntons extra light LME
Hops: (Mosaic)
60 - 0.5 oz
30 - 0.5 oz
15 - 0.6 oz
5 - 0.7 oz
1 - 0.7 oz
dry hop 2-3 days, 1 oz

Using Wyeast Northwest Ale 1332

Should be ~ 5% ABV and ~ 55 IBU

That's a lot of carapils

 

[MrBIP]

[quote="The Brew MentorThat's a lot of carapils[/quote]

Isn't 5-10% pretty normal use?
Actually, I've started dropping it out completely, I'm still only doing extract, and have seen that most extract kits don't have it at all.. should be sufficiently covered in the extracts.

 

[Matty]

Interesting discussion....this post has inspired me experiment with a single hop brew this weekend. As for brewing smaller batches in a larger carboy, 2.5 gallon batches are my standard size as I love tweaking recipes and experimenting. I only have 5 gallon carboys on hand and have rarely ever had a problem. I say rarely as I have had 2 slightly oxidized batches over the course of a year. Not sure if the carboy size in the secondary contributed to this, however.

 

[LarryBrewer]

If your secondary is not totally full, that will lead to oxidation problems.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/2011/03/26 ... pping-off/