Why Don't the NB Kits Use All of the Hops?

I love the NB kits but I always wonder is why they don’t use the entire amount of hops on some recipes. I made the Tongue Splitter yesterday and the first addition is .75 oz of Summit and the .25 oz isn’t used anywhere else. Why don’t they just round it to 1 oz., is that .25 oz really going to affect the beer? Of course I just used the entire amount. Just seems to me like they could make it a bit more efficient for new brewers and not leave any waste.

25% more is a fair amount sometimes. Heck, I just brewed a little sumpin sumpin clone that had a bunch of .1 oz additions.

Don’t throw out extras, though. I take remainders and blend them, calculating IBUs using them as 60 min bittering additions. I just made a generic APA using such a frankenblend of remainders for my 60 min bittering, and it turned out great.

^^^ What he said…

Yup- what was already said. Also- consider that if you’re doing a FVB, you’ll be getting anywhere from 10-20% extra bittering already. Another 25% more on top of that gives you 35-45% more bitterness, which would affect the beer.

Summit is a very high alpha hop too. Probably 16-17%. Still how can you over bitter something called tongue splitter? I think you’ll get what you asked for.

Interesting that they don’t even use Summit in the AG version of that beer and it’s much lower total IBU than the extract.

I’ve noticed the difference on a couple of the brews.

.25 is enough to notice a change (to me).

I haven’t had any problems using the entire package. Kinda dig how mine have tasted so far.

NB Milk Stout is the same. I kept my extra and put it in a bag in the fermentation freezer. Debating what I want to do with them. Not sure if I’ll add them the Dead Ringer I have on deck or add it to something else.

You can always increase your malt to maintain the same BU:GU. I sometimes do that and use the whole oz. Other times I do as previously suggested and save the extra.

Just for comparison I do 10 gal batches and .25 oz can add a ton of IBUs depending on the time you add them.

The amount of hops used is to create balance in the recipe. Not using all the hops in a package, for certain recipes, is a cost savings to you. The packaging and holding an inventory of hops bagged by the quarter, half, or three quarters of an ounce would be much more expensive than just using part of a one ounce bag.