"Kit & Extract Beer Designer" and Hops

[TheCavanMan]

Can anyone shed some light on this for me as I completely new to hops.

I'm using the "Kit & Extract Beer Designer" to play around with hops, simple stuff at first. Just adding Fuggles to a stout.
I've attached the screenshot with the details I entered and have a couple of questions.

Q1. If I added 20g Fuggles for 30mins or 30g for 15 minutes I get the same results, is that right? Is there any difference?
Q2. Do I just boil the hops for the proposed time, remove hop bag and add the water to the wort?

20g for 30 minutes.


30g for 15 minutes

[Dunkel]

Hi James,

Q1) You'll get about the same amount of bitterness from the hops, but you'll get a lot more hop flavour from 30g for 15 mins.

Q2) Yep 

[Garry]

Q1. If I added 20g Fuggles for 30mins or 30g for 15 minutes I get the same results, is that right? Is there any difference?

That sounds right. The longer you boil hops the more bitterness (IBUs) you get. The shorter you boil hops the more flavor/aroma you get. So you need a larger quantity at 15min to get the same IBUs at 30min. LordEoin had a chart but I can't find it  :

Q2. Do I just boil the hops for the proposed time, remove hop bag and add the water to the wort?

Pretty much, yes. Tip your fermentables and kit extract into the FV first. Then add this water to dissolve the fermentables. Then top up with cold water as normal.

If you want to get more flavor out of the kit, brew it to 20L instead of 23L. You loose a few pints but it's quality over quantity 

[TheCavanMan]

Thanks a million guys

Going to have good funny playing with these.

[LordEoin]

here's the graph garry mentioned.
A picture tells a thousand words!

With the boiled hop water, use it to wash out the remaining goop from your kit can.
You only want about 2.5 liters of hot water if you're topping the wort with cold water to 23L. That should see you at a good pitching temperature