Hops experiment

[TappedOut]

I've been thinking of a not-too difficult way to do multiple single-hop brews, to get a good read on each hop. Basically, split a batch, ferment in corny kegs, and do all the late hopping in the kegs. I.e., add some marginal clean bittering (Magnum?) at start of boil, cool to ~180, xfer to kegs. I'm thinking of splitting a 10 gallon batch into 4x 2.5 gallon batches. After xferring to kegs, add "whirlpool" hops, and let sit. Chill, oxygenate, pitch. Add dry hops to keg, too. Then transfer from fermenting keg to serving keg. I get I need to be careful not to clog the diptubes w/ hops, don't seal while chilling and draw a vacuum, etc. But anything stupid about this plan? Any recommendations?

Part of the idea of fermenting in kegs, is that they can easily handle the hot wort, and I have refrigeration space for 4, which I couldn't do for buckets. Plus I should be able to transfer w/ a lot less oxygen.

I am thinking of a NEIPA profile. 4 oz of hops per 2.5 gallon subbatch. 2 oz in "whirlpool", 2 oz dry hop during last half of fermentation. (Is that enough? Should I also dry hop after fermentation?) Simple malt bill of mostly Marris Otter + some golden naked oats. Conan or some English-style yeast.

Thinking maybe Galaxy, Amarillo, Nelson, Mosaic, or maybe something else new and sexy. or something available.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
-Tom

[jjpeanasky]

Sounds like a well thought out experiment to explore those hops. Not exactly a SMaSH, but close enough that it won't matter much when looking for hop character.

-Josh Peanasky

[Matt F]

Sounds like a great way to get familiar with some hops. I would say you have enough hops. For a medium strength NE IPA I target 1 oz per gallon in whirlpool and 1 oz per gallon dry hop during primary as a minimum guideline. You should have enough.

[tony b]

Can we count on a Tech Meeting down the road to see how this turns out??

[TappedOut]

I was thinking that if it worked out that it might make an interesting tech meeting.