Calculating Hops

[Jymbo]

I'm planning to do PoP's stout later this week but I want to use up some fuggles that I have rather than the 100.0 g Hallertau (4.5%) listed in the recipe.

Unfortunately the alpha acid content isn't listed on the fuggles (supplied by youngs) so I'm assuming around 5%.

Is it a straightforward matter of multiplying the 100g by 4.5/5 to get the amount of fuggles that I'd need ? I make that 90g fuggles to keep the same IBU.

Jymbo

[Jymbo]

Well I have some Fuggles left from Brupacks which have a quoted figure of 4.75%. I was quite surprised that the Youngs pack didn't have a figure on it but I bought it cause it was cheap (£1.99 for 100g) in my local HBS. I'll take the advice on going a bit stronger as I intend to bottle this one and keep it for a while since it's quite strong. Thanks, DaaB.

[steve_flack]

What sort of bag are they in? Hop alpha's are not constant and if they're loose in a polythene bag they'll probably be nowhere near 5%

[Jymbo]

They're just in a polythene bag - poor job all round - see through bag and no alpha acid content on the label. I'll stick to the Brupack hops in future

Any ideas what alpha acid content I can assume? I need something to work with. Was thinking of using 4.75%, but maybe I should go for 4.5% and just throw the whole bag in.

I assume they are OK to use - the bag appears to be airtight.

[mysterio]

I would give them a good sniff, if theres any hint of staleness or cheesyness I would chuck them. Using stale hops is a sure way to ruin a batch of beer.

[Jymbo]

Well I don't want to waste this batch - the grain bill was quite expensive, although the hops are still within their sell-by date (expire in august sometime). Maybe I'll concoct a mixture of hops from my stash in the freezer instead to make up the required IBU figure.

[ECR]

Good luck with it, Jymbo. PoP's stout is a winner

[steve_flack]

Any ideas what alpha acid content I can assume? I need something to work with. Was thinking of using 4.75%, but maybe I should go for 4.5% and just throw the whole bag in.

The last batch of Fuggles I had from Barley Bottom had less alpha than that and were a lot fresher. I think you'd be lucky to get 2%. Polythene is not an oxygen barrier.

[Jymbo]

Cheers, Steve,

I'm going to chuck the Fuggles in the polythene. I have quite a few hops in the freezer, although some of them are over a year old - all the same they were frozen straight after use and I've used some of them recently to good effect. All of them were shrink wrapped in UV proof bags when I bought them and the earliest Best Before is Jan 2009.

Any views on how long you can keep hops in the freezer? The Ray Daniels book quotes figures of around 81-95% alpha retention after one year when stored cool.

Here's what I have in the freezer:

Hallertauer Hersbrucker 100g 2006 Harvest AA 2% Best Before Jan 2010
Cascade 75g 2005 Harvest AA 6.8% Best Before Jan 2009
Progress 55g 2005 Harvest AA 8.3% Best Before Jan 2009
Northern Brewer 70g 2005 Harvest AA 9.5% Best Before Jan 2009
Styrian Goldings 60g 2005 Harvest AA 4.1% Best Before Jan 2009
EKGs 70g 2006 Harvest AA 4.2% Best Before Jan 2010
Fuggles 45g 2005 Harvest AA 5% Best Before Jan 2009

Jymbo

[Jymbo]

OK I've been wrecking my brain over this - In order to use the freshest hops I suggest using the EKGs (4.2%) and the Hallertauer Hersbrucker (2%). I've scaled the recipe down to 16 Litres and it looks like this:

PoPs Strong Stout (16L)

3.3 kg Maris Otter Pale
700g British Crystal 55°L
350g Barley Flaked
350g Carapils
350g Roasted Barley
210g English Chocolate Malt
175g British Black Patent
70g Hallertau (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.35 tsp Yeast Nutrient (AKA Fermax) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
0.62 tsp Irish Moss - added during boil, boiled 15 min

Instead of the 70g Hallertau (4.5%) I propose the following:

70g EKGs (4.2%)
11g Hallertauer Hersbrucker (2%)

This should give me the requird 42.5 IBUs (if my calculations are correct!).

Since the hops will be boiled for an hour I'm assuming that the aroma content is going to be minimal in any case and I'm just going for freshness on the assumption that these hops will be closer to the stated AA content.

I'd be grateful for comments from the resident experts,

Jymbo

[steve_flack]

Any views on how long you can keep hops in the freezer? The Ray Daniels book quotes figures of around 81-95% alpha retention after one year when stored cool.

Cascade is probably the worst keeping hop out of that lot but, even so, kept in a freezer in a sealed bag they would keep 80-85% of their alpha over a year. Their loss would have been much quicker on the shelf in the shop before you bought them as they would have lost a similar amount of alpha in just three months.

[Garth]

You could maybe add a slight bit more pale, I've done this recipe three times now and when I've scaled this down in Promash all your amounts are the same as mine apart from I get 3.48kg pale rather than 3.3kg.

Also I wouldn't bother opening your pack of Hallertau for 11g, keep it for a wheat beer or something. I believe Pop used them as he had them to hand at the time. You'll probably not even notice them as the body on this beer is massive. Just up your EKGs a bit.

I find that hop type isn't greatly important in a stout as long as it balances the malt, I used Northdown to about 53 IBUs and it's been excellent every time.

Good luck with the brew, if you like a stout you'll enjoy this

[Jymbo]

Three times! It must be good. OK, so I'll up the MO to 3.5Kg and increase the IBUs to around 50 - may have to use some other hop along with the EKGs as I only have aroung 70g of these left.

Thanks again for all the advice.

[Garth]

Did you do the brew then Jymbo? How did it go?

[Jymbo]

Cheers, Garth,

Yes, I did the brew - details posted here:

viewtopic.php?t=12336


Jymbo