FWH: Aroma vs. Bittering Hops

[biertourist]

Does anyone have any experience using high alpha hops for First Wort Hopping?

I always hear that the "common wisdom" is that noble profile aroma hops are the best suited for First Wort Hopping, but I'm curious if anyone has done a comparison between FWH with High Alpha and Low Alpha hops...



Thanks,
Adam

[river water brewing]

BT, I have done FWH a few times and i like the results, i wish i had a more technical reason for you but from what i read and my gut feeling, it is a way to get the most from the hops. I think it has to do with the time in contact. But i have only done this with my IPA's

the link below is to a recipe i did that used FWH, i entered it in a couple local contests and revived best in show for one and 1st place for the other.

the only problem i had was that my ball valve in my kettle got plugged and i had to siphon out the wort into my carboy, so next time prior to boiling i will make sure to clean this out.

in the recipe below it lists the FWH as in the "mash tun" but i just added the hops to my kettle just prior to sparging, i did a nice long fly sparge and gave the hops lots of time to steep in the wort as i sparged.

http://www.screencast.com/users/joshgib ... bd050ccd75

good luck with your batch!!

[slothrob]

Off the top of my head, the only high alpha hop I've used for FWH is Amarillo. I've never noted anything off about those beers, but Amarillo is a low cohumulone hop, which might change things.