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first wort hopping

brewnut

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If I understand this right, fwh is adding hops only during the sparge? And mash hopping is adding hops during the mash? How come adding hops only during the sparge adds so much more bitterness than adding for the whole mash? Is it because the water is hotter? It seems like it should be the other way around. If you guys could help me wrap my head around this I'd really appreciate it, because I like the concept of getting more and smoother bitterness out of my hops.
 
Mash hops sit at ~155F or so and never boil, so extraction of the bittering components never happens. 

FWH sit at 155F during the sparge, and then boil for the full duration of the boil. 

The conventional wisdom is that sitting at 155F at certain pH mellows out the bittering.  Your experience may vary.  BSmith allows you to adjust this factor. 
 
Thanks Maltlicker. I've been doing that all wrong. I was throwing the hops into the mash tun during the sparge. Now I see that they go into the hot liquor. I'm slow, but i usually catch up eventually.
 
Actually, it's best to add FWH as soon as you start running off your mash.
 
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