Author: Jason Cipriani

Traditionally, wort was hopped at 3 points during the boil– early on for bitterness, about halfway through for flavor, and toward the end for aroma. As the love for all things hoppy began to grow, brewers began dropping in larger aroma additions to amplify the aromatic qualities of their beer, particularly for styles like IPA and Pale Ale.

Up until a few years ago, such hop-forward styles were still known for possessing a certain degree of bitterness, though it would seem the skyrocketing popularity of New England IPA and led to an evolution of drinkers’ preferences. In addition to its recognizable haze, NEIPA has come to be known for its relative lack of bitterness, something that has led to some interesting experimentation by brewers of this style.

Instead of the classic approach involving multiple kettle hop additions, a number of professional and homebrewers have started adding all of their hops at flameout for 20 to 30 minute hop stand. I’ve even seen some breweries go so far as to advertise beer made using this approach as having zero IBUs– really?

With this trend on my mind, I designed an xBmt to evaluate the differences between a more traditionally hopped Pale Ale and one that received only a hop stand addition.

| PURPOSE |

To evaluate the differences between a Pale Ale hopped at various points during the boil and one where all hops were added at flameout for a 20 minute hop stand.

| METHODS |

Wanting nothing to get in the way of any differences caused by the variables, I designed a hoppy Pale Ale for this xBmt.

Rolling To Stand Still

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 6 gal 60 min 41.0 IBUs 5.4 SRM 1.058 1.014 5.9 % Actuals 1.058 1.01 6.3 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Ale Malt 2-Row (Briess) 11.435 lbs 91.04 Vienna Malt (Briess) 1.125 lbs 8.96 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Citra 5 g 60 min Boil Pellet 14 El Dorado 5 g 60 min Boil Pellet 14.4 Mosaic (HBC 369) 5 g 60 min Boil Pellet 12.4 Citra 11 g 10 min Boil Pellet 14 El Dorado 11 g 10 min Boil Pellet 14.4 Mosaic (HBC 369) 11 g 10 min Boil Pellet 12.4 Citra 15 g 2 min Boil Pellet 14 El Dorado 15 g 2 min Boil Pellet 14.4 Mosaic (HBC 369) 15 g 2 min Boil Pellet 12.4 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Flagship (A07) Imperial Yeast 75% 60°F - 72°F Notes Water Profile: Ca 48 | Mg 5 | Na 5 | SO4 104 | Cl 46 Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

While the mineral adjusted water was heating up, I weighed out and milled the same amount of the same grains for both batches.

I started the kettle hop batch about 30 minutes before the hop stand batch to make things less hectic, both were treated identically. After mashing in, I checked the temperature of each and found a slight difference, which was corrected within a few minutes of recirculation on my Grainfather.

Measurements of the mash pH bout 15 minutes into each one were the same and right on point with what Bru’n Water predicted.

During the mash rests, I began heating the sparge water with my heat stick.

Sparging occurred after each 60 minute mash.

While the wort was heating, I weighed the hops, each batch receiving the same exact amount– I designed the beers to be as close as possible in terms of IBU without adding the variable of hop amount.

Both worts were boiled for 60 minutes with only 1 receiving hops in that time.

When the kettle hop wort was finished boiling, it was immediately chilled and racked to a fermentor while the hop stand wort boiled away.

Once the hop stand wort was done boiling, I turned the heat off, tossed in the entire hop charge and stirred intermittently over the next 23 minutes, the time BeerSmith predicted would lead to a similar IBU as the kettle hop batch.

The wort was then chilled and transferred to an identical fermentation vessel.

Hydrometer measurements showed both worts had achieved a similar OG.

The worts were left in my chamber to finish cooling to my desired fermentation temperature, during which I made a vitality starter for either bacth with Imperial Yeast A01 Flagship.

I pitched the yeast 4 hours later then noticed airlock activity 12 hours after that. Following 4 days of active fermentation, I raised the temperature in the chamber to 72°F/22°C to encourage complete attenuation. With signs of fermentation absent a few days later, I took hydrometer measurements confirming both at reached the same FG.

Both beers were then transferred to Torpedo kegs.

The filled kegs were placed in my cool keezer where the were burst carbonated and fined with gelatin. After a week of conditioning, they were ready to serve.

| RESULTS |

A total of 29 people of varying levels of experience participated in this xBmt. Each participant was served 2 samples of the kettle hop beer and 1 sample of the hop stand beer in different colored opaque cups then asked to identify the sample that was unique. At this sample size, 15 tasters (p<0.05) would have had to select the unique sample in order to reach statistical significance, though only 9 (p=0.67) made the correct selection, indicating participants were unable to reliably distinguish a Pale Ale hopped that was hopped at multiple points during the boil from one where all of the hops were added at flameout and steeped for 23 minutes.

Lab Data

Curious as hell about claims the effect hop stands have on level of bitterness, I sent samples of each beer to Oregon Brew Lab for IBU analysis. Given the fact the hops were in contact with boiling wort longer in the kettle hop beer, I admittedly presumed it would come back with a higher IBU than the hop stand batch, and that both would be discrepant from BeerSmith’s predictions.

Tinseth Formula Rager Formula Garetz Formula Measured Kettle Hop 40.5 50.3 40.5 33.5 Hop Stand 40 40 40 30.5

It doesn’t necessarily speak to the impact on flavor and aroma, but these lab results show bitterness between the beers was more similar than different. As predicted, lab measured IBU was lower than BeerSmith’s predictions for all formulas, though not by as much as I expected.

My Impressions: Despite feeling confident I’d be able to pick the odd-beer-out due to my knowledge of the variable, I went a lowly 2 for 8, which is just slightly worse than chance. My biased opinion prior to my triangle attempts was that the hop stand beer was a bit sweeter with a smoother overall bitterness than the kettle hop beer, which I thought had a sharper bitterness. Of course, this all jibes with expectations and I was unable to perceive the differences once blind to what I was drinking, leaving me to guess. Both beers were very good, though if I were to brew the recipe again, I’d probably do a blend of kettle hops and hop stand to really bump up the hop character.

| DISCUSSION |

In the not too distant past, it was commonly believed any hop addition that didn’t occur during the boil add very little if any bitterness to beer and was used primarily for aromatic purposes. The fact tasters in this xBmt couldn’t distinguish beers produced with hops added either solely during the boil or as a hop stand not only suggests bitterness doesn’t require a boil, but calls into question the age old adage about kettle hop timing for flavor and aroma as well.

On one hand, it makes sense these beers were as similar as they were since isomerization of alpha acids is known to occur at 175°F/79°C and the hops for the hop stand batch were tossed in immediately at flameout– even after the 23 minute stand, the wort was still over 190°F/88°C.

On the other hand, the effect of more traditional kettle hop additions is something ingrained in the minds of most brewers. How is that a beer with a portion of hops boiled for 60 minutes could end up tasting the same as one where the hops were steeped for a mere 23 minutes? Not to mention their awfully similar IBU levels as measured by a lab.

What surprised me the most, though, was the fact these beers weren’t different in terms of flavor and aroma, that a beer made with a single dose of various hop varieties was indistinguishable from one where the hops were added at points in the boil traditionally believed to impart flavor and aroma. Given the hop stand wort was not chilled prior to adding the hops, and considering the results of a prior xBmt on the topic, it would seem one could plausibly achieve desired character by making a single hop addition with 20 minutes left in the boil.

Hop stands have become a common method for brewers of hoppy beers known for imparting heaps of aroma, though this xBmt demonstrates it does more than just that. I certainly plan to continue messing around with this variable and am particularly interested in the impact of performing hop stands in cooler wort. Until then, I’ll comfortably question the “zero IBU” claims of some breweries.

If you have thoughts about this xBmt, please share them in the comments section below!

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