Mash Hopping

[SiHoltye]

This supposedly adds great aroma as molecularly something bonds to something else and blah blah, I'll buy into most things, and this aroma remains throughout the boil into the finished beer. The utilisation is suggested at 20% for bittering purposes when hops added to mash.

Anybody tried this with any success for increasing their hop aroma?

PS, so far in the next suitable brew I plan to (possibly now) mash hop, first wort hop, boil bittering hop, aroma 30 min 80° steep whilst cooling, and dry hop. Whilst I'm ordering and thinking about hops, that's a big IPA I guess then. , and maybe a quicker drinking PA. Yes a PA first, best not to over commit!

[bconnery]

This is a recipe from Ross here on the forum for his summer ale, which uses almost all of these.
You probably don't need a bittering addition as well as the First Wort Hops, but that doesn't mean you can't!
I've also done it in a blonde ale and it was very nice. Hard to say whether the aroma came from the mash hop or the dry hop but it was there for sure!
This is Ross's version, mine used a different hop for bittering, and also had some crystal...
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.013
Alcohol content: 4.81%
Method: All Grain
Efficiency: 75%
Total IBU (Bitterness): 36.6
EBC (color): 5

Ingredients: (portions for a 23 L batch)
4.5 kg Bairds Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
0.4 kg TF Torrefied Wheat
15 g Nelson Sauvin (Flowers, 11.4 AA%, 80 mins) (FWH/bittering)
15 g Nelson Sauvin (Flowers, 11.4 AA%, 20 mins)
20 g Nelson Sauvin (Flowers, 11.4 AA%, 5 mins)
15 g Nelson Sauvin (Flowers, 11.4 AA%, 0 mins)
25 g Nelson Sauvin (Flowers, 11.4 AA%, 0 mins)
15 ml Wyeast Labs 1056 - American Ale
Directions:
15gm 0 min addition = mash hops
25gm 0 min = added 10 mins after flame out & steeped for 20 mins before chilling. Yeast = Dried US-56.
Mashed cool at 64c final gravity 1010 = 5.2% Alc.

[Aleman]

I have tried it on a couple of occasions, mainly with pilsners, can't say that I noticed a massive hop aroma, but then see my stuff on FWH in the hops category. Mash hopping is simply an extension of FWH (Steep the hops in concentrated wort for an extended period of time below the boil off temp of the hop volatiles). You will find a milder hop flavour and bittering though, so that the beer will not appear as bitter as one withthe same (measured) IBU but using standard hopping schedule.

You should remember that to mash hop you ought to be using hop pellets not whoile hops, so choose a hop that takes to the pelletinisation process successfully (Saaz doesn't do it that well IIRC)

[Gurgeh]

You should remember that to mash hop you ought to be using hop pellets not whoile hops...

why is that?

[Aleman]

You should remember that to mash hop you ought to be using hop pellets not whole hops...

why is that?

You get much better 'contact' with the hops and a wider 'dispersal' during doughing in.

TBH whole hops will work, and 'possibly' have the benefit of opening the mash bed up although I will say that I have only used Pellets for mash hopping, and Saaz at that

[Gurgeh]

hmmm.. experiments to follow...

btw - is that an i fear no beer t-shirt off that podcast pair?

[steve_flack]

so choose a hop that takes to the pelletinisation process successfully (Saaz doesn't do it that well IIRC)

Tony, do you know of a list of hops that pelletises well and of those that don't?

[Aleman]

so choose a hop that takes to the pelletinisation process successfully (Saaz doesn't do it that well IIRC)

Tony, do you know of a list of hops that pelletises well and of those that don't?

Off hand no, I know that its related to the fact that myrcene volatises during the pelleting process, so any hop that relies on myrcene for its aroma/flavour component is not going to take to being smashed into little bits and compressed tightly together. Saaz is one of these . . . Why is it you read these facts just after you have bought 1.5Kg of the bloomin' pellets!

[Aleman]

is that an i fear no beer t-shirt off that podcast pair?

No, it's an I fear no beer singlet off of the rail in Matalan