Why remove hops when trensfering to fermenter?

[beermonstermilburn]

I have just brewed my third extract brew. The first was in IPA, I left the hops in the fermenter and the beer ended up tasting too tangy/hoppy. My second brew was a golden ale and I took the hops out and I cannot taste them much.

On my third brew (dark bitter) ive left the hops in but used crystal malt to hopyfully give more body and a better all round flavour.

Can anyone tell me if my first two brew were coincidental or does it matter if I leave my hops in the fermenter after the boil. i.e. have not used a sieve.

Ta

[gnutz2]

I have never heard of leaving the hops in the fermenter before, the longest i have left them is overnight (bout 10 hours) when i tried a no chill method in winter, there was a different hop character but not that different.

I bit of info about the recipe's would help us understand your situation.

Cheers Baz

[Kev888]

The long boil extracts most of the bitterness and drives off most of the aroma and flavour of hops added at the start of the boil for bitterness, so these wouldn't contribute much of value if left in during the fermentation, though aside from blocking taps and possibly adding some vegetive flavour they're unlikely to be harmful.

Flavouring/aroma hops used closer to the end of the boil or steeped at 80c have more left to offer. But they've already imparted/lost the bulk of the flavour and aroma they were added for, and retain bitterness - this won't come out easily in the cool wort but there will be 'some' infusion going on over time, which may or may not be desirable compared to any residual flavour benefits.

Either way though, its not common to leave them in so this shouldn't be the cause of under-hopped beer - it'll be the quantities and/or timings of your hops. Flavour and aroma are very subjective and hard to measure, but generally people try to ballance the bitterness and gravity of their beers, using the %Alpha Acids estimated for the particular hops to gauge how many to add and for how long.

However, you can definately add 'new' hops to the fermenter (dry hopping) which gives additional hoppy aroma and a bit of flavour too, and relatively little bitterness. I find it compliments the boiler's hops nicely in IPAs.

BTW, it depends how old your IPA was, but hoppy brews like that can take longer than normal to lose the rough edges - given time they usually mellow and round out, though given a lot more and you start to see the aroma dissapearing too.

Cheers
Kev

[beermonstermilburn]

Thanks Kev. I think I will filter them out next time I brew (plays havoc with the syphon when bottling/kegging).

Ive been using the book "how to brew" by John Palmer for assistance, this book says it is optional to filter the hops. A good book it is too!