First wort hopping: who would like to help me with some practical questions?

Hi all,

In the thread "Recipes / Re: Session IPA Brewing Tips? « on: January 04, 2014, 01:18:18 AM »" first wort hopping was introduced.

In this thread Maltlicker shared his experience with correcting the BS2 settings to compensate for the Perceived Bittering while using first wort hopping (MaltLicker on December 21, 2013, 03:29:22 AM).

I've read a couple of articles on first wort hopping (FWH). I am interested in the crispy dry Pilsner style beer with FWH. It seems, based on the articles I read, that FWH is the practice of adding hops to the brew kettle, into which sparged runnings are collected, at the beginning of sparging (which originated in Germany). Some refer to FWH before sparging.

Q1: It seems to me that those who use FWH before sparging leave the hop in the "grain filterbed". Do I understand this correct?
Q2: What is the most common FWH routine; before or at the beginning of sparging? Or perhaps a combination?
Q3: Are there different routines for low alpha and high(er) alpha acid hops?
Q4: What part of the total hop addition is used as FWH? One of the articles (after experimenting) recommends that FWH should be carried out with at least 30% of the total hop addition, using the later aroma additions.

All information/shared experiences/answers are very wellcome!!

Regards,
Slurk

You may be confusing two different techniques: FWH and mash hopping.

FWH is the hops added to the BK as you mention so there is no contact with the grain bed or no considerations vis a vis sparging. The hops are added to the kettle at the beginning of lautering at the first runnings. They get the steep action of the wort pre-boil so there is some slightly different chemistry going on with the hops at those temps.

For FWH your question relative to sparging is a moot point. Adding them to the BK at first runnings is completely separate and has no bearing on when you sparge.

I use FWH on everything I brew and I don't use a different routine on different %AA hops.

I've used anywhere from 20% to 60% of the total hops in FWH. I don't base it on anything other than the BS calculations relative to my later additions and to get to the total IBUs that I'm looking for in the style.

Hope that helps.

A very experienced brewer (I think it was Denny Conn) recently stated that he considers FWH to give the bittering perception of hops boiled for 1/3 of the actual boil time. I usually do 60-minute boils, so I select FWH and 20 min for my BS calculations. It seems to work out about right.

I add my FWH hops to my empty kettle, add my first runnings to the kettle (usually at about 170 F), batch sparge, and add second runnings (at about 175 F). The hops sit in the kettle for about 15 to 30 minutes before I start heating the kettle. I add FWH hops then I lots of late hops, usually at 20, 15, 10, 5, and 0 minutes. BeerSmith does the arithmetic to let me know the effects of the amounts added at each point. It takes some playing with the numbers, but I consider it just that: play.

My palate is not very discerning, but I like the bittering and  flavor I get from FWH and late hops.

pcollins said:

I've used anywhere from 20% to 60% of the total hops in FWH. I don't base it on anything other than the BS calculations relative to my later additions and to get to the total IBUs that I'm looking for in the style.
Hope that helps.

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Thanks a lott pcollins!
One question: did you find a kind of optimal/prefered ratio between FWH hopping and the later additions (20 - 60% is a rather large bandwidth)

durrettd said:

I add my FWH hops to my empty kettle, add my first runnings to the kettle (usually at about 170 F), batch sparge, and add second runnings (at about 175 F). The hops sit in the kettle for about 15 to 30 minutes before I start heating the kettle. I add FWH hops then I lots of late hops, usually at 20, 15, 10, 5, and 0 minutes. BeerSmith does the arithmetic to let me know the effects of the amounts added at each point. It takes some playing with the numbers, but I consider it just that: play.

Click to expand...

Durettd, thank you very much for your reply.
Q: How much of the total amount of hops do you use as a FWH or do you consider being a good ratio (%)?

Yeah, that is a fairly wide bandwidth. LOL

I think it depends on the recipe that I looked at. Some included the dry hop addition in the recipe and some didn't. It would depend on the style: A stout with only a FWH addition is going to come in at 100% of hops added FWH. IPAs where I'm looking for aroma and flavour in the hops are going to have a lower % FWH. It's going to depend on the %AA in the hop as well.

I'm sorry I'm not much help here but the answer is a good solid "it depends". The recipe, style, hops, IBUs, calculations, will all determine that for you. And finally, your taste buds will confirm all that as well.

Let me clarify pcollins' post. Uhhh... unfortunately, I can't.

I guess that under duress, I'd say I shoot for about half the IBUs from FWH, but that's a guess. I'd recommend googling the subject looking for opinions from reputable brewers, remembering that FWH is not yet fully understood by anyone I know of. Eventually we'll learn the science of it, but for the moment we're all gathering data.

durrettd said:

FWH is not yet fully understood by anyone I know of. Eventually we'll learn the science of it, but for the moment we're all gathering data.

Click to expand...

True, that.

An ASBC paper noted that CoHumulone (which isomerizes faster than Humulone) can also get bound up in protein break. CoHumulone is considered responsible for the "coarseness" of bittering texture. This would hint, but not prove, one reason why the bittering seems "softer."

@pcollins&durrettd  Thanks a lot guys, fair enough! I appreciate your honoust reactions

R, Slurk

brewfun said:

An ASBC paper noted that CoHumulone (which isomerizes faster than Humulone) can also get bound up in protein break. CoHumulone is considered responsible for the "coarseness" of bittering texture. This would hint, but not prove, one reason why the bittering seems "softer."

Click to expand...

Thanks Brewfun!