At the mo I am messing with single hop ales, can anyone tell me what is the minimum quantity of hops I can add to 5 gallons of hops to make an ale. I realise that its an open ended question, but I refer to the amount of hops required to make a stable ale - rather than from a taste aspect.
Regards
Ump..
Single hop beers
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Madbrewer
[Edit] Just read you meant from stability point of view not taste - but I don't think I have ever seen anyone deliberately to for an IBU of less than 15 an dtherefore I would suggest 15IBU's would probably give you the 'stability' you need (assuming you are referring tothe antiseptic nature of the hops?) [Edit ends]
You need to aim for getting the bitterness to a level of bitterness that typifies your brew otherwise it will be too sweet or too bitter.
The stronger the beer, the more hops are usually required to balance the beer and I also find if there's crystal malt in it it will 'taste' less bitter than it sounds.
If you were doing a lager you'd probably aim for 20 IBU's, a session bitter would be say 28 - 35 IBU's and a 5% Ale maybe 35 - 45 IBU's. This is where recipe books come in handy - you can look at a recipe for a beer you know decide how bitter/ hoppy it tastes and get an idea of how bitter that is in IBU terms.
According to Graham Wheeler the following is how to work out the quantity of hops required.
weight of hops in grams = IBU's required * 10 * Volume on litres
-----------------------------------------------
Alpha Acid of hop * Utilisation percent
Sounds complicated but assuming you boil for 90 mins you'll probably get a utilisation level of 27%. So if you want 30 IBU brew and your hops are 5% AA then ...
30 (IBU) * 10 * 25 Litres = 7500
5% (Alpha) <- read the hop packet it should tell you it's AA) * 27 = 135
7500/135= 55.5 grams required
I hope that all makes sense?
You need to aim for getting the bitterness to a level of bitterness that typifies your brew otherwise it will be too sweet or too bitter.
The stronger the beer, the more hops are usually required to balance the beer and I also find if there's crystal malt in it it will 'taste' less bitter than it sounds.
If you were doing a lager you'd probably aim for 20 IBU's, a session bitter would be say 28 - 35 IBU's and a 5% Ale maybe 35 - 45 IBU's. This is where recipe books come in handy - you can look at a recipe for a beer you know decide how bitter/ hoppy it tastes and get an idea of how bitter that is in IBU terms.
According to Graham Wheeler the following is how to work out the quantity of hops required.
weight of hops in grams = IBU's required * 10 * Volume on litres
-----------------------------------------------
Alpha Acid of hop * Utilisation percent
Sounds complicated but assuming you boil for 90 mins you'll probably get a utilisation level of 27%. So if you want 30 IBU brew and your hops are 5% AA then ...
30 (IBU) * 10 * 25 Litres = 7500
5% (Alpha) <- read the hop packet it should tell you it's AA) * 27 = 135
7500/135= 55.5 grams required
I hope that all makes sense?
-
tomU
If you want to try single hops you should use plenty of late hops for aroma and flavour - early kettle hops lose most of this through the boil but will be responsible for most of the bitterness. Hops added 15mins before the end give ~15% AA utilisation (bitterness) and hops added at switch off are all but negligible so you can go nuts with them without making your beer unpleasantly bitter.
For a 4-4.5% beer I'd go for roughly 30IBUs - 18-20 at start of boil, 10-12 IBUs at 15mins
eg. for a hop with 7% AA in 23L:
Start of boil: 22g (18 IBUs)
15mins from end: 26g (12 IBUs)
End of boil: 20g (0 IBUs)
use the hop calculator to work out IBUs - it saves you doing the maths:
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/hop_calcul ... weightcalc
Also make sure you use aroma or dual-purpose hops like EKG, cascade, styrian goldings or amarillo, and not kettle hops like target which wont make a nice one-hop beer.
Hope that is helpful
For a 4-4.5% beer I'd go for roughly 30IBUs - 18-20 at start of boil, 10-12 IBUs at 15mins
eg. for a hop with 7% AA in 23L:
Start of boil: 22g (18 IBUs)
15mins from end: 26g (12 IBUs)
End of boil: 20g (0 IBUs)
use the hop calculator to work out IBUs - it saves you doing the maths:
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/hop_calcul ... weightcalc
Also make sure you use aroma or dual-purpose hops like EKG, cascade, styrian goldings or amarillo, and not kettle hops like target which wont make a nice one-hop beer.
Hope that is helpful
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