• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Brewing at Altitude

frank80401

New Forum Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Just read an article that when brewing at altitude bittering hops need to be increased 5% for every 1000 ft.  Does this also apply to later hop additons, such as finishing hops, whirpool hops, dry hops????  I brew BIAB at 7800 feet.
 
It usually applies to utilization but could apply to aroma additions. If your beers are coming out the way you like them, don't change anything.

Altitude additions are to compensate for two things: Slightly lower utilization and loss of taste sensation at altitude.

The latter is highly debatable, IMO, because loss of smell is somewhat temporary. A person plunked down at 7800 ft (or taken into an airplane) will have a reduced sense of smell for a while. Apparently after a week or two, the body acclimates and all is well.

Lower utilization is simply due to the lower boil temperature at altitude vs sea level. There again, the length of a boil can compensate for this. Truly, 5% may well be below the threshold of taste or within an acceptable margin of error from hop aging. It depends on the beer.

I brew at sea level, but I know a lot of brewers at high altitudes. The subject of compensating for altitude in ingredients doesn't come up. More often it's boil times and DMS.

 
Altitude applies to boil utilization by lowering the boiling point effectively lowering the utilization during the boil.  During the whirlpool/steep it really is not a substantial factor as you can't really whirlpool above your boiling temperature, and most whirlpool hop additions are well below the boiling point.

The next version of BeerSmith will have a whirlpool temperature setting for each addition so you can add hops at a given whirlpool temperature and it will estimate based on that.
 
Back
Top