Hop Schedule for English Bitter

Northern Brewer General
1

I should be brewing this Friday and have been narrowing down my bitter recipe to some of the finer details.

Last thing I need to do is get the exact hop schedule down. I will be using almost exclusively EK Goldings pellets. I don’t quite have enough so I am going to throw in some Hallertau at the 60 min point to make up the #s. I don’t want to buy anything new when I have lots of hops at home already.

So right now (46l - 12 gal - batch):

60 min boil - 90g EKG / 30g Haller. (27-28 IBU)

Flavour / Aroma - 20 g EKG

Last week S Scoggin mentioned many english brewers would make their late addition at the 5 min mark.

Curious to know what others might do. I want some nice bitterness / some hop aroma and flavor / but I still want to detect my crystal and MO malt flavor.

May also dry hop. I can split this batch in two if I want and try dry hopping one keg and not the other.

2

I do the typical 60/15/5 schedule but I keep the late additions fairly low. I also only bitter to maybe 25IBU, that does as much as anything to let the malt shine.

3

What would your definition of low be?

If I were to do a 15 and a 5 addition I would likely do 10-15 g at each (.5 oz or less).

I think my 27-28 IBUs is the top of my range. I boosted it a bit when I booseted my gravity range as well. 1.048 (4.5 %ABV) - top end of the Best Bitter range.

4

I’d call 1/4oz at 15 and again at 5, a low addition. 1/2oz is probably good too. I’ve even used no late additions on occasion.

5

I’m pretty sure first wort additions are not typical of the traditional meathod, but would their effects be completely out of style?

Could try a first wort addition and leave out the later additions.

6

A smooth bitterness and some hop flavor would work well.

7

This is sort of what I was thinking. I have never done a first wort addition before. Only really read about it recently.

From what I read it sounds like I should add aprox 30% of my bittering addition pre-boil as it warms up? It would be low alpha EK Goldings.

If I do this would I need any other addition at all?

Would it make sense to do a first wort and a dry hop?

8

Late hop schedules really are one of the most brewery-specific parameters in brewing. The reason for this is that extraction of AAs and oils is extremely dependent on temperature and turbulence. And these items are dependent on your kettle, your heat source, your cooling method, and your cooling water temp.

At two extremes, a brewery that adds hops with 5 minutes left in the boil, then whirlpools at high temps for 30 mins before chilling will get very different results than another brewery that adds the same hops with 5 minutes left and immediately chills the whole batch down within a few minutes of turning off the heat source.

A typical bitter for me has about 20 IBUs from the 60 minute addition, another 10 or so from the 30 minute addition, and then I add 1oz of hops per 5 gallons at flameout. I use an immersion chiller and I am usually down to pitching temp within 20 minutes or so. This leaves me enough room to add additional hop character via dry hopping.