[homoeccentricus]

I was thinking of standardizing to 50 IBU with Warrior, so that only the hop flavor would be tested. Not a good idea?

[HoosierBrew]

I was thinking of standardizing to 50 IBU with Warrior, so that only the hop flavor would be tested. Not a good idea?

I should've included that - I bitter these with Warrior since I'm only concerned with evaluating the hop flavor and aroma. My bad.

[erockrph]

If you're simply looking to check out flavor and aroma, then bittering with a neutral hop should be fine. Personally, I like to get an idea of bittering quality as well, so I do a FWH to 40-45 IBU with the same hop that I'm testing. It all depends on what you're going for.

[klickitat jim]

Don't count on zero flavor from the warrior bittering. Neutral doesn't mean flavorless. 50 IBU from any bittering hop seems like a lot for trying to learn flavor/aroma hops. Unless your plan down the road is to make beers that have 50 IBUs of warrior at bittering addition.

Magnum is also considered a "neutral bittering hop" but, to illustrate my point, last winter I brewed a Helles with just a half ounce at 60 min, nothing else, and multiple judges, including two Masters, said that it had too much spicy/floral hop flavor and aroma. Point being that some will come through and it will interact with the late hops you are tryin to test out.

[HoosierBrew]

If you're simply looking to check out flavor and aroma, then bittering with a neutral hop should be fine. Personally, I like to get an idea of bittering quality as well, so I do a FWH to 40-45 IBU with the same hop that I'm testing. It all depends on what you're going for.

I used to bitter with whatever the hop was,  but I always seem to have a lb or two of Warrior and Columbus in the freezer and just prefer those to bitter especially American styles. I don't rule out going true single hop occasionally on the ones that are higher AA% though.

[homoeccentricus]

The problem is that I have 2 oz packs from Yakima. Say I want to try out cascade. If I want to bitter with that in  15 min boil with extract, I already loose 20 grams (almost 2/3 of an ounce for the Liberians on this forum).

[HoosierBrew]

The problem is that I have 2 oz packs from Yakima. Say I want to try out cascade. If I want to bitter with that in  15 min boil with extract, I already loose 20 grams (almost 2/3 of an ounce for the Liberians on this forum).

In that case, definitely bitter with the Warrior.  It's clean enough that it's neutral up against especially American type hops used late. Cascade is nothing to write home about as a bittering hop anyway.

[homoeccentricus]

Yes, I think I will bitter with Warrior then, but maybe not as high as 50 IBU. Cascade was just an example, I am not going to experiment with it, but I will do lemon drops, and that has only 4.5% AA, if I'm not mistaken.

[homoeccentricus]

OK, another shot at it. 1 gallon, made with exactly half a kilo of extract, which is nice because I can just use a small pack. Everything between the boundaries of the APA. Lowered IBU's to 30. Added some carapils to make the beer a bit more interesting to drink.

Recipe: HEHE (Homo Eccentricus' Hop Experiment)
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.32 l
Post Boil Volume: 3.85 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.70 l   
Bottling Volume: 3.20 l
Estimated OG: 1.050 SG
Estimated Color: 11.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 29.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 15 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
0.03 kg               Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC)             Grain         1        5.4 %         
0.03 kg               Caramunich I (Weyermann) (100.5 EBC)     Grain         2        5.4 %         
0.50 kg               Extra Light Dry Extract (5.9 EBC)        Dry Extract   3        89.3 %       
5.50 g                Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min        Hop           4        29.8 IBUs     
0.50 g                Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Boil 15.0 mins Water Agent   5        -             
0.05 tsp              Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)              Fining        6        -             
10.00 g               Falconer's Flight [11.00 %] - Steep/Whir Hop           7        0.0 IBUs     
0.5 pkg               Safale American  (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)  Yeast         8        -             
18.00 g               Falconer's Flight [11.00 %] - Dry Hop 5. Hop           9        0.0 IBUs     

Notes:
------
- add steeping grains to cold water; remove when 75C has been reached.
- still need to calculate boil-off.

Questions:
----------
- is one ounce of hops enough? I see some people use as much as 2 ounces in a gallon.
- I have a high quality burr grinder for my coffee. Could I use that to grind the steeping grains without fearing tannin extraction? I would hate to get my mill and drill from the basement for a lousy 60 grams of grains. Or could I freeze 60 gram packages of milled grains?

[HoosierBrew]

is one ounce of hops enough? I see some people use as much as 2 ounces in a gallon.

Try it and see. I use ~ an oz (sometimes a tad over an oz) for whirlpool/stand in a gallon plus an oz dry hopped. And it works fine for what I want to achieve to test out hops - hoppy APA. As a reference, I whirlpool/stand ~ 5 oz for 5 gallons of APA (nothing in the boil but a 60 min addition) so an oz works out to that amount in a gallon. Using 2 oz/gal is fine but it'll have more of an IPA character - nothing wrong there, I just don't think you need to go that high to assess a hop. If you think it needs more next time, definitely adjust up a little.

[homoeccentricus]

One more question. I am going to make  the transition from bottling to kegging. But I guess it doesn't make sense to put 4 liters of beer in a 20 liter keg, now does it?

Are there 5 liter kegs that can be used for this? Does anybody know/use this type of system? https://homebrewshop.be/en/mini-kegs/767-starter-set-profi-tap-basic-mini-kegs.html - apparently you have to prime them with sugar...

[Stevie]

I have read stories of those mini kegs failing. Look around and you should be able to find 1.75, 2.5, & 3 gallon ball locks. I think Williams sells 1 gallon now too. I pocked around Ali express after you posted about the beer gun knockoff and saw that they had reasonable prices on some smaller kegs. Shipping was a bit high.

[erockrph]

Questions:
----------
- is one ounce of hops enough? I see some people use as much as 2 ounces in a gallon.
- I have a high quality burr grinder for my coffee. Could I use that to grind the steeping grains without fearing tannin extraction? I would hate to get my mill and drill from the basement for a lousy 60 grams of grains. Or could I freeze 60 gram packages of milled grains?

I think an ounce would be plenty. That's what I typically use and I've never thought I needed any more if I'm just taste-testing.
I'd be concerned about grinding the husk too fine. If you're planning on doing several batches, then I'd mill a bunch (or buy some pre-milled; this is just a taste-test, not a competition entry)

One more question. I am going to make  the transition from bottling to kegging. But I guess it doesn't make sense to put 4 liters of beer in a 20 liter keg, now does it?

Are there 5 liter kegs that can be used for this? Does anybody know/use this type of system? https://homebrewshop.be/en/mini-kegs/767-starter-set-profi-tap-basic-mini-kegs.html - apparently you have to prime them with sugar...

I still bottle these batches since I usually brew a bunch at a time and don't have that many kegs free. Otherwise, there's no issue with filling a keg part-way full.