End of boil process

[Cain Harland]

I've had a couple of beers lately that I've been a little disappointed in what I've got out of the late hops and I know some people do things differently so I will describe what I do and if you do different I would like to hear how an why:

1. 10 min before flame out - start whirl pool to sterilize counter flow chiller
2. At flame out - add flame out hops, turn off Gass, turn on cold water
3. Sometimes at <70 degrees add whirlpool hops
4. At 30 degrees stop whirl pool (@ a guess boiling to 30c is about 20 min)
5. Leave 10 -30  min depending on patience 
6. Transfer to fermenter via chiller and airation pipe
7. Pitch yeast if ground water cold enough to get to pitching temp or refrigerate to pitching temp

[Brett Mason]

Looks about the same as my process. I get best results from dry hoping if I'm after late hop character. Everything from late boil additions is much more subtle.

[Tim Low]

What size are your late hop additions?

Here's an interesting article on late hopping: Hop Stands

[Crusader-Rob]

Hop Stands - Worth their weight in gold.

I do similar, sterilise chiller, turn off gas, add hops, but then I use the whirlpool to distribute the flameout hops around for 15-20mins. you can do this twice if you like, once at turningthe gas off and again at around 80 degrees, to reduce the chances of some additional isomerisation from the flameout hops. (basically a bit more bitter.)

I recently went to stone in the US, and they suggest whirlpooling for 30mins prior to chilling, to ge that little extra out of the hops.

I've got a Stone IPa clone going now, which smells pretty going before dryhopping so i used their 30 mins test, and so far so good.

The othething I'd suggest is as your whirlpooling, if you have a GF like me, give the hops a stir as they may float on top and not get enough wort contact.

when i did BIAB, i spent 5 mins stirring and then left it for 10 mins making the 15 mins minimum time.

[Greg Tarr]

What kind of amounts are you guys using?

What proportion of whirlpool to late hops to early boil hops?

Would you do late boil hops AND whirlpool hops?

[Crusader-Rob]

depends on the recipe, style, malts and yeast.

IPa big late hops with a bittering addition and depending what I'm trying to do possibly layering hops at 30 mins to 10 mins.

[Nathan]

Hey Cain

Are you using your hop bag thing you made from that old pot?

I'm wandering if thats having any effect on utilization of the oils etc.....

After speaking to another "good" brewer he says he would up his hop bill by around 10% if hes using one.

Just a thought.......See you next month too BBQ at Damian's 

[Cain Harland]

Still use it but I never put my flame out or whirlpool hops in the bag. Will be good to see you.

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Hey I'm about to start my first ever brew this Saturday (BIAB) and don't know about whirlpooling? is that just so the trub stays in the centre? in this method above I wasn't planning on doing 3 4 or 5? is that necessary not mentioned in my book or recipe kit instructions either. Cheers.

[Crusader-Rob]

in my eyes, thats morethe end result, if your doing a hoppy beer, the whirlpool will help distribute you 0minute hops and get more wort contact. giving you a hoppier beer.

[Cain Harland]

Don't worry about that they are all kind of optional extra steps

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

Cheers mate big day is here tomorrow, I still need to figure out how to work the burner, and how to use new digital scales and then how I'll manage with my sparging. Easy, eh. :-)

[Darren Andrews (Daza)]

I have to dry hop in 5 to 7 days from my brew day, is it better to do it at 5 days or leave till been 7 days? I think my bubbles have either slowed down or stopped after 5 days of bubbling away that normal? Cheers