Hops in Beer

by Jared Birbank
(Home Brew Delegate, Australia)

Home Brewing: hops in beer

By Home Brew Delegate, Jared Birbeck
See part one of the Beer Hops article here

So how do we use hops? If we want to add bitterness to a beer we need to boil the hops with the wort (beer before it is fermented). Any length of boil time will add bitterness, but as a guide most bittering additions are boiled for between 45 and 90 minutes, depending on the beer you are brewing, as the longer the hop is boiled the more bitterness is added.

If we want to add flavour, it is generally thought that any added from around 30 to 10 minutes from the end of the boil will achieve this, with around 20 minutes used by many brewers if they are going for only a single flavour addition.

Many brewers will add more than one flavour addition for some styles, such as an American Pale Ale. For example, a brewer may add different hops at 30 minutes, 20 minutes and 10 minutes to maximise the flavour and develop hop complexity in the beer.

Aroma hops are usually added in the last 10 minutes of the boil, or when the boil is complete. For some styles of beer, adding hops to the fermenter once fermentation is complete is also used. I find this adds a grassy taste and aroma and don't like this so-called "dry hopping". I prefer late hopping for that reason.

Hops can be used by all brewers, from kit brewers through to all grain brewers. Kit brewers will generally focus on aroma hops in their brewing, because the kits have already been bittered.

Hops can be used by all brewers, from kit brewers through to all grain brewers. Kit brewers will generally focus on aroma hops in their brewing, because the kits have already been bittered.
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Hops in Beer: adding aroma and flavouring hops

Adding aroma hops in beer is relatively easy, with a quick steep (five minutes) in boiling water releasing the aroma compounds necessary. This can be done in hot water or by heating a portion of the wort. I've found heating the wort provides a smoother and less grassy flavour than using boiled water, but either way works fine.

Adding flavouring hops is a bit more complicated for kit brewers, as it requires a 20 minute boil of the kit (or a part of it) mixed with water to release the flavour into the beer.

More advanced kit brewers will often do this to enhance their kit brews. I recently did this to a beer I made with two kits and it scored well in competition (bronze medal). Many kit beers you can buy come with flavour hops and require a 15 minute boil of the dried malt extract, speciality grain and hops. This is a great step in adding extra flavour to the beer and the use of the hops in this way will improve the beer significantly.
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Hops in Beer: advanced brewers

For more advanced brewers brewing extract, part mash or full mash, hops are added for bitterness, flavour and/or aroma. Advanced brewers play with their hop additions, based on their experience with hop varieties and the cohumulone level of the hops they are using.

Cohumulone is an indicator of how harsh the bitterness of the hop is; the higher the percentage of cohumulone, the harsher the bitterness. For example, Columbus has a cohomulone of 30-35%, compared to Magnum with 24-28%. Magnum is generally considered to be a very smooth bittering hop, but Columbus can be very harsh when used at higher levels.

A little tip from experience: harsher hops, such as Columbus, add a smoother bitterness if you bitter with them at the time you would add flavour hops. So if you want smooth bitterness using nothing but Columbus, you could use more Columbus hops in beer, adding it later in the boil. I did this with Chinook Hops, combining my bittering and flavour additions to come up with a full-flavoured and smoothly bittered Chinook Ale.

There are other ways to hop as well that can add different aspects to your beer. A popular method is first wort hopping. This process involves the addition of some flavour and aroma hops to the first runnings out of our mash tun before we start the boil.

This allows the hops to steep, adding aroma and flavour. Brewers believe that this allows those aromas and flavours to stabilise. This differs from our bittering additions, because the aroma and flavour compounds are boiled off. You also need to add less bittering hops in your beer, as the hops that are first wort hopped remain in the wort until the end of the boil, adding bitterness.

First wort hopping is a great value for money way of using hops in beer. I use it often, but replace all bittering hops with first wort and maintaining the flavour and aroma hops. It makes for great hop flavour in the beer.

The last way to hop our beer is mash hopping. This involves the addition of hops to the mash. There are supporters of this process, commenting that it adds great depth of flavour and aroma to beer without impacting bitterness. But knockers say it is a waste of hops.

The best thing about hops in beer is you control when you add them, how much and what type even multiple types. You could brew your own beer at home for years and never go through every combination. Playing with hops is one of the great pleasures of brewing your own beer.
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Where next?

Click to read part one of Jared's article about beer hops
Return to the How to Make Beer HQ