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Steep/Whirlpool Questions - Time settings in Hop addition vs. Equip Profile

dougweiser

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Hi,
So far liking what I'm seeing in BS3, and since I am doing a fair amount of steep/whirlpool hops at lower temps these days I appreciate this addition.

What I am confused about though is the 'Total Whirpool Time'  setting in the equipment profile vs. the "Steep for" time in the Hop addition settings. 

My typical scenario would be, end of mash, start chilling until I reach my first Steep/Whirlpool hop addition temperature, say 175.  And I'll steep for 30 minutes.    Putting those two values in the the hop addition itself is pretty obvious.  But how does that time setting in the equipment profile play into this?

Thanks.


 
I noticed this discrepancy too.  From what I can figure out playing around with it, it seems like it is equivalent to a hop stand at 94.5C for the amount of time that you enter it.  For example, if you put in a hop addition at boil time 0, with a setting of 20 mins in the equipment profile, it will calculate the same IBU's as a whirlpool addition for 20 mins at 94.5C.

I'm obviously not sure how it works 'under the hood' - it seems to me that this is an estimation specifically for the boil additions that carry on into the whirlpool, which keeps them separate from the whirlpool additions.  If you used a hop spider and took the boil additions out at the end of the boil, then you could set the equipment profile to 0 and then include your whirlpool additions separately.

For your process (which is similar to mine), I'd suggest that you time how long it takes to get to your target temperature and then adjust the equipment profile to estimate around this.  For example, I did a sweet stout today.  It took me 5 minutes to get from boiling to 80C at the end of the boil, so I have set my profile for 5 mins.  IBUs are really just a guess, anyway, so being out a couple here or there is of little consequence to me in the context of knowing roughly what my system will achieve.

For an IPA, I will (haven't done with BS3 yet) let steep for however long I want my boil additions in - say 10 mins - the add on the ~5 mins to drop my temp to an 80C steep.  So my equipment profile will be for 15 mins, with the other hop additions set in the recipe

It seems to me that there is a lot of scope to adjust the equipment in the individual recipe - this is how I'm now recording my individual measures on a brew day, as the "vols" tab still doesn't cut it

Hope that helps
 
bougie1st said:
I'm obviously not sure how it works 'under the hood' - it seems to me that this is an estimation specifically for the boil additions that carry on into the whirlpool, which keeps them separate from the whirlpool additions.  If you used a hop spider and took the boil additions out at the end of the boil, then you could set the equipment profile to 0 and then include your whirlpool additions separately.

For your process (which is similar to mine), I'd suggest that you time how long it takes to get to your target temperature and then adjust the equipment profile to estimate around this.  For example, I did a sweet stout today.  It took me 5 minutes to get from boiling to 80C at the end of the boil, so I have set my profile for 5 mins.  IBUs are really just a guess, anyway, so being out a couple here or there is of little consequence to me in the context of knowing roughly what my system will achieve.

Bougie1st, you have the idea of the whirlpool time down exactly.  It is not for the whirlpool additions but for the further boil hop utilization during the whirlpool/steep step.  Theoretically, it should be set based upon how much time it takes your wort to cool from boiling to 180F where the utilization drops off precipitously.  The IBU contribution calculations for the whirlpool hops is based upon the temperature of addition and the steep/whirlpool time for that addition.
 
So if i'm getting this right, if you want to whirlpool you put it in at a boil time of 0? If I put my whirlpool addition as a steep/whirlpool for 30 min (Time to cool down), then it blasts my IBU's though the roof.
 
So if i'm getting this right, if you want to whirlpool you put it in at a boil time of 0? If I put my whirlpool addition as a steep/whirlpool for 30 min (Time to cool down), then it blasts my IBU's though the roof.
Not exactly. You add the hops in for a given time. You will then need to determine how long you need to wait to reach your target wort temperature that you want to add the hops before starting the timer.

As an example, I have a recipe where I am adding whirlpool hops in for 20 minutes and 10 minutes each. The first addition happens when the wort is 180 F, and the second at 170F. It takes my system about 15 minutes to get to 180 F. So the first addition goes in at approximately 15 minutes post flame out. The second addition happens at 25 minutes post flame out.

The issue with the timer built into the software is that it does not naturally take this into account. What I did is create a "hop" which is called "Whirlpool Pause". I add this "Hop" as a Whirlpool hop and set the time for the total time of the wait to get to the target temperature PLUS the time the hops will be in contact with the wort. In the example I used above this means that my "Whirlpool Pause is set for 15 minutes to get to temperature plus 20 minutes for the hop contact (since the two additions overlap the 10 minutes of the second addition), or 35 minutes total.

Now the timer will sound off for the end of boil, and then again in 15 minutes for the first (actual) hop whirlpool addition as well as the second whirlpool addition.

And yes, large amounts of whirlpool hops at a high temperature will increase your IBU, especially if you have a lot of late addition hops. There is some calculation of the carry over AA into the whirlpool which is set in your equipment profile under 'total whirlpool time' and a box which will enable/disable the calculation of IBU from the boil hops into the whirlpool.
 
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