BeerBorg

I have all the ingredients for the MB LBK IPA recipe and will probably brew in the next week or so.

The instructions say this:

Using the measuring cup, pour 4 cups of water into your clean 3-quart or larger pot, then Bring water to a boil, add in hop sack, then remove from heat.

My question is how long should I continue to boil, if any, after adding the hop sack?

Any experienced tips with brewing this recipe is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
CheapTrix

The directions say to remove from the heat after adding the hop sack, which means you would drop the hops in and immediately remove from the heat, so it will stop boiling almost immediately.

What is the next step in the directions? I'm guessing its to add the extract? Hops need the extract to serve any purpose.

yea i thought those directions seemed kinda weird too. i would think not really being sanatized the hops and sack should boil for a lil bit
......so i boiled a lil dme with some hops then added hme at flameout.... i was using the bland cal tho

BlackDuck wrote:Hops need the extract to serve any purpose.

The hops added at that point are just going to be for aroma and a touch of flavor. Those compounds are extracted in plain water just fine. (make tea with hops sometime, you will see).

Boiling them is more a matter of getting stable IBUs out of them. This does not require wort, but it does require a lower PH then water has on its own - at least for the boil durations we use - Wort just happens to make the PH adjustment for you. It is *not true* that wort is needed to "glue" the hop oils to some other magic molecule. That's not what happens, that's made up gibberish. Isomerization is simply the restructuring of an existing molecule into a different "form". No component of the molecule is added or removed, no compound from some other molecule is involved. Its simply a reaction that happens based on Temperature, Time, and PH (all of those elements affect how quickly the reaction occurs).

Blackduck,

Yes, you are correct the next step is Open the HMES, pour the contents into the hot mixture. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

So.....put hop sack in and remove from heat right away....or....let boil a little bit to sanitize....or does it really matter?

CheapTrix

You don't want to boil the HME as it will change the hop profile. If you want to boil the hops for more flavor as opposed to aroma, boil in some DME or LME before adding the HME

Yep, I know not to boil the HME. I was just confused on the hops as described in the recipe instruction. So how long should I boil the hops/hop sack? Is 5 minutes long enough?

Thanks,
CheapTrix

don't worry about the "bitter" hme has already been bittered.

If you want more flavor and less aroma out of them, my suggestion is to follow directions and then once the HME is mixed in, put a sanitized lid on your pot and walk away for 20-30 minutes. Then add to your keg as normal.

If you put a lid on your pot when you put the water in it, and bring it to a boil and let it boil for 10 minutes then you are sanitizing your pot and your lid. Which is always a good thing IMHO. So I'd just do that, toss in the hops, toss in the HME, put the lid on as I said, and then let it sit.

That will get you some stable flavor and aroma. That's what we call a "hop stand". You do not need boiling temps to extract the flavor/aroma and IBUs even really, you will get some small amount of IBUs from a stand too.

That's a good idea mashani. That will definitely add some flavor and aroma.

mashani wrote:

BlackDuck wrote:Hops need the extract to serve any purpose.

The hops added at that point are just going to be for aroma and a touch of flavor. Those compounds are extracted in plain water just fine. (make tea with hops sometime, you will see).

Boiling them is more a matter of getting stable IBUs out of them. This does not require wort, but it does require a lower PH then water has on its own - at least for the boil durations we use - Wort just happens to make the PH adjustment for you. It is *not true* that wort is needed to "glue" the hop oils to some other magic molecule. That's not what happens, that's made up gibberish. Isomerization is simply the restructuring of an existing molecule into a different "form". No component of the molecule is added or removed, no compound from some other molecule is involved. Its simply a reaction that happens based on Temperature, Time, and PH (all of those elements affect how quickly the reaction occurs).

Wow. I learn something every day here. I always thought you needed the malt stuff for the hop stuff to 'stick to'. I should have known. Do you know what a good ph for IBU isomerization is?

Thanks Mashani

Monty

5.2 I believe.

Thanks everyone.....I think I got it.

monsteroyd...you are right.....everytime I look around the borg, I learn something new. That's what is so great about having so much brewing knowledge in one place.

Thanks again,
CheapTrix

One of my early batches I boiled hops with booster and it had great flavor and aroma.