[HopDen]

I have a love/hate relationship with IPA beers in general. I don't usually drink them but when I do, I want to drink them until my palate is ruined for a while. I tend to enjoy ones that have more aroma/flavor contributions than just full on bitterness. I also don't make IPA beers very often either.

So that leads me to question you about your preferences on hopping your IPA brews.

Bittering... when and how much? I know its subjective.

Flavor.. which hops and their combinations work best, individually or in tandem?

Aroma... Again, when? 20-15-10-knockout, whirlpool, dry hop??

I would like to get a consensus on what you believe works best in your recipes.
What are your likes/dislikes?

So, specifically to one answer I'm looking for, Does anyone add hops only after the boil is complete?

[denny]

I have a love/hate relationship with IPA beers in general. I don't usually drink them but when I do, I want to drink them until my palate is ruined for a while. I tend to enjoy ones that have more aroma/flavor contributions than just full on bitterness. I also don't make IPA beers very often either.

So that leads me to question you about your preferences on hopping your IPA brews.

Bittering... when and how much? I know its subjective.

Flavor.. which hops and their combinations work best, individually or in tandem?

Aroma... Again, when? 20-15-10-knockout, whirlpool, dry hop??

I would like to get a consensus on what you believe works best in your recipes.
What are your likes/dislikes?

So, specifically to one answer I'm looking for, Does anyone add hops only after the boil is complete?

Kinda like asking how long is a piece of string, so you define some things...assuming a 1.065-75 beer with a fair amount of malt flavor and a touch of crystal...

I start with an oz. of FWH, usually something high in flavor.  I look at how many IBU I get from that and then add enough at 60 to get to around 50-60 IBU.  Usually something like Columbus or Chinook.  Maybe an addition at 5 min. of something like Simcoe cryo.  2-3 oz. in whirlpool, again something cryo.  Dry hop with 2-5 oz. of cryo again. 

To your final question, no, never.

[EnkAMania]

I typically do a FWH, 5 minute, 0 minute, whirlpool and dry hops.  I've never done all hops after the boil.

[Visor]

   I think I must be a tasteless heathen, or maybe just really lazy but I've literally never calculated IBU's for any beer I've brewed. After kinda sorta wandering off the path of the recipes I borrowed for the half dozen or so batches I approached hopping in a similar way to the way I cook, see what the AA% of what I have on hand is and wing it on bittering. With flavoring, aroma and dry hops I'm much less scientific, if my experience with, or the description of the hop more or less sounds like it's appropriate I'll probably use it. Honestly, my ability to discern the difference between a beer brewed with one hop and another identical beer brewed with another hop is very limited - I suspect that in blind taste testing 75% or more of the population would be no more accurate than I am.
   As far as bittering hops, 5 years ago my preference was the more the merrier, today I prefer a MUCH less bittering and maximum aroma. Funny how our tastes change, I used to love Voodoo Ranger DIPA, but now I have a 4 bottles of a 6'er in the fridge that've been there for months waiting for some else to stop by and drink them, I can't hardly gag 'em down anymore. Nasty, stinky sock-feet beer!

[MNWayne]

I always FWH and 60 min boil unless I'm doing a NEIPA where I then boil for 15 and do a few whirlpool infusions and dry hop.

[narvin]

I will admit that my IPAs have moved northeastern in style in the past few years.  Absolutely no lactose, and I don't find the need to use any raw grains, since hopping during primary fermentation seems to keep things permanently hazy.  But I love dry hopping during primary with a yeast that favors biotransformations.

Latest hop schedule for 6 gallons (5.5 into fermentor):

1/4 oz Columbus at 60 minutes
5 oz in whirlpool at 180* for 30 minutes, most recently Equanot + Columbus
7-8 oz dry hops on day 3 of primary (60 hours in), Equanot + Citra

Edit: I recently used half cryo for the Equanot and Citra and have been liking the results

[Visor]

I will admit that my IPAs have moved northeastern in style in the past few years.  Absolutely no lactose, and I don't find the need to use any raw grains, since hopping during primary fermentation seems to keep things permanently hazy.  But I love dry hopping during primary with a yeast that favors biotransformations.

Latest hop schedule for 6 gallons (5.5 into fermentor):

1/4 oz Columbus at 60 minutes
5 oz in whirlpool at 180* for 30 minutes, most recently Equanot + Columbus
7-8 oz dry hops on day 3 of primary (60 hours in), Equanot + Citra

Edit: I recently used half cryo for the Equanot and Citra and have been liking the results

   Was there any beer left after you discarded all the hop trub ?

[denny]

I will admit that my IPAs have moved northeastern in style in the past few years.  Absolutely no lactose, and I don't find the need to use any raw grains, since hopping during primary fermentation seems to keep things permanently hazy.  But I love dry hopping during primary with a yeast that favors biotransformations.

Latest hop schedule for 6 gallons (5.5 into fermentor):

1/4 oz Columbus at 60 minutes
5 oz in whirlpool at 180* for 30 minutes, most recently Equanot + Columbus
7-8 oz dry hops on day 3 of primary (60 hours in), Equanot + Citra

Edit: I recently used half cryo for the Equanot and Citra and have been liking the results

Have you seen the Shellhammer research on diminishing returns from heavy dry hopping?

[narvin]

Have you seen the Shellhammer research on diminishing returns from heavy dry hopping?

Nope, I haven't seen it but I'll Google it and check it out.  Thanks.  Have you lowered the amount that you dry hop with after reading it?

I will say that for this style I'm pretty happy with a single charge of about 7 ounces for 4-5 days before transferring off the hops to a keg with a mesh screen and then spunding. Fermentation is still active so I'm sure some CO2 scrubbing is going on.

[denny]

Have you seen the Shellhammer research on diminishing returns from heavy dry hopping?

Nope, I haven't seen it but I'll Google it and check it out.  Thanks.  Have you lowered the amount that you dry hop with after reading it?

I will say that for this style I'm pretty happy with a single charge of about 7 ounces for 4-5 days before transferring off the hops to a keg with a mesh screen and then spunding. Fermentation is still active so I'm sure some CO2 scrubbing is going on.

https://patspints.com/2019/01/16/the-surprising-science-of-dry-hopping-lessons-from-tom-shellhammer/

Also...

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/reevaluating-dry-hop-techniques

[chinaski]

   I think I must be a tasteless heathen, or maybe just really lazy but I've literally never calculated IBU's for any beer I've brewed.

In some ways I brew in a similar manner I suppose.  I brew now exclusively with homegrown hops that I don't have analyzed for %AA.  I do however use reported %AA from studies done in my region as a starting point, and use those values to estimate IBUs.  I also note when my beers turn out over or under hopped and adjust.  There is, IMO, something freeing about abandoning hard %AA values and utilizing my taste buds in recipe design.

Finally, in response to the poster's question- I enjoy an IPA where the bitterness is there and a bittering addition accounts for perhaps at least 50% of the  IBUs.  I've had commercial NEIPAs that are just plain sweet and I would never ask for a second pint. 

[BaseWerks Brewing]

I always put a small FWH in my NEIPAs, maybe 1 addition at flameout, and then 2-3 whirlpool additions lasting around 30 min while at 170 degrees.  I use two dry hop additions to get somewhere around 0.75-1 oz per gallon. A recent study showed anything much more than than that is wasteful.  I feel like at higher levels it pulls more grassy notes and can get astringent.   I put on dry hop charge in the very end of fermentation then another after I drop the temp down a bit. 

I've adapted my process from the Weldworks Juicy Bits Clone here:
https://beerandbrewing.com/weldwerks-brewing-co-juicy-bits-new-england-style-ipa/