[Steve L]

I'm preparing to brew an American Amber (Highland Brewing Gaelic ale clone) and the recipe calls for Chinook, 60 min boil, and then cascade and Willamette added at the end of the boil and steeped for 2 minutes. It then says to strain out the hops... Will a 2 minute hop stand impart a significant hop presence?
It's not a particularly Hoppy beer at 32 IBU's so this may be correct. I've just never strained out the hops, I just toss them in at flameout and start my immersion chiller.

Any observations are greatly appreciated.

[HoosierBrew]

Not significant, but being a modest IBU beer I say go with the recipe as written. If you brew it again and would like a little more hop flavor, try letting the hops steep a little longer, like 10 or 15 minutes. Good luck !

[mabrungard]

What? Screw the straining after 2 minutes.

I have gone almost exclusively to a zero minute addition for aroma and those hops steep in the wort through the whirlpool and chilling time.  No need to remove hops from the kettle. They will be at the bottom of the kettle when you are done!

[HoosierBrew]

What? Screw the straining after 2 minutes.

I have gone almost exclusively to a zero minute addition for aroma and those hops steep in the wort through the whirlpool and chilling time.  No need to remove hops from the kettle. They will be at the bottom of the kettle when you are done!

+1.  When hops go in, they stay in my kettle. I'm assuming whoever wrote the recipe was trying to avoid excess IBUs from the FO addition, but you're not getting much from a 2 minute 'steep and then chill' anyway.

[erockrph]

What? Screw the straining after 2 minutes.

I have gone almost exclusively to a zero minute addition for aroma and those hops steep in the wort through the whirlpool and chilling time.  No need to remove hops from the kettle. They will be at the bottom of the kettle when you are done!

+1.  When hops go in, they stay in my kettle. I'm assuming whoever wrote the recipe was trying to avoid excess IBUs from the FO addition, but you're not getting much from a 2 minute 'steep and then chill' anyway.

Bingo. My guess is you're also not getting much else from the hops in 2 minutes anyways. Might as well steep a $5 bill for 2 minutes then chuck it in the trash, IMO.

Even better would be to kill the heat, chill to 170F, then stop chilling and stand for about half an hour. You will get a lot more hop flavor that way, with practically zero extra bitterness. It may be more hop presence than the beer you're cloning, but your palate will be happy. Of course this is coming from someone who would be happy drinking hop oil smoothies if he could, so take my palate with a grain of salt

[Steve L]

Thanks for all the info. I think you guys are right, longer steep. Of minor concern is my equipment limitations, a brew pot and immersion chiller. I imagine I could add the hops a FO and let it steep for 10-15 minutes while slowly stirring every couple minutes for the whirlpooling. I guess my chiller may impact the effectiveness of the whirlpool but introducing the chiller post boil makes me nervous about infection. Does the whirlpool make a tremendous difference  or could I just toss in my FO addition, let it steep for 10-15 minutes and swirl my chiller around every couple of minutes to stir the hops. Then turn on the chilling water and drop the temps.  Suggestions?

Thanks

[majorvices]

I don't think an IC is a limitation. And you can still form a cone usually with an IC. I do not worry about getting hops into my fermentor. No need straining them out. They will settle on bottom and just leave what you can behind. I think bring some over into the fermentor can help boost aroma and flavor.