Things have been a little quiet on the brewing front these last few weeks but, after realising that the APA I brewed for my brothers up-coming house-warming will likely be consumed prior to the event, I thought a hastily prepared replacement might be in order. Don't ask me why, but I decided upon an APA brewed using a method I had only heard about recently.. the HopBurst.
Essentially, a HopBurst is a brew whereby the hop additions are added in 5 minute lots and boiled for a time not exceeding 30 minutes. Generally, two or three different hop types are used to add complexity to the rather up-front hop flavour and aroma. I decided upon a blend of 2/5 cascade, 2/5 willamette and 1/5 Nelson Sauvin. The downside to this is that you don't get the full efficiency out of your hop isomerisation, therefore you need to use alot more hops in the mix. 210 grams were required for a single 22 litre batch!
I must say it was refreshing to only have to boil the wort for thirty minutes instead of the usual hour and a half treatment, and the aroma coming off this baby was fantastic. Despite all this I was still trying to withhold peals of "I can't believe I am doing this" laughter as I dropped addition after addition of hops into the kettle. Once the batch had cooled and settled sufficiently, I carefully poured the contents of the kettle into the fermenter, trying rather unsuccesfully to leave behind as much of the spent hops as possible. I do say unsuccessfully due to the fact that, prior to pitching the yeast (US-56), there was about an inch of hop powder settling on the bottom of the fermenter.
I could not take an accurate gravity reading due to the above mentioned hop particulate, and the sample tasted quite bitter, but not as offensive as I would have imagined. Either way, it looks like my brothers mates are in for a crash course in hop-appreciation come house-warming time.
Quack,
TSD
Essentially, a HopBurst is a brew whereby the hop additions are added in 5 minute lots and boiled for a time not exceeding 30 minutes. Generally, two or three different hop types are used to add complexity to the rather up-front hop flavour and aroma. I decided upon a blend of 2/5 cascade, 2/5 willamette and 1/5 Nelson Sauvin. The downside to this is that you don't get the full efficiency out of your hop isomerisation, therefore you need to use alot more hops in the mix. 210 grams were required for a single 22 litre batch!
I must say it was refreshing to only have to boil the wort for thirty minutes instead of the usual hour and a half treatment, and the aroma coming off this baby was fantastic. Despite all this I was still trying to withhold peals of "I can't believe I am doing this" laughter as I dropped addition after addition of hops into the kettle. Once the batch had cooled and settled sufficiently, I carefully poured the contents of the kettle into the fermenter, trying rather unsuccesfully to leave behind as much of the spent hops as possible. I do say unsuccessfully due to the fact that, prior to pitching the yeast (US-56), there was about an inch of hop powder settling on the bottom of the fermenter.
I could not take an accurate gravity reading due to the above mentioned hop particulate, and the sample tasted quite bitter, but not as offensive as I would have imagined. Either way, it looks like my brothers mates are in for a crash course in hop-appreciation come house-warming time.
Quack,
TSD
On a side note: This gives me a great idea on a Nelson Sauvin Pilsner I have been toying with. Instead of using different bittering and flavour additions and, considering NS's high A.A.%, I might just use a single large NS addition at 20 minutes...
No comments:
Post a Comment