Mash Hopping

[TheHairyHop]

I was reading a journal paper about controlling antioxidant activity in the mash, and began thinking about adding hops to the mash as a source of antioxidants. In Jurkova et al, Figures 1 and 2 show concentrations of antioxidant polyphenols of wort with and without hops. The wort with hops has almost twice the amount of polyphenols in some applications. Therefore, could adding hops to the mash supplement the use of SMB or other antioxidant additives? The oxidative potential of hops would have to be greater than that of the malt, but I think it's an interesting consideration.

[Owenbräu]

I mash hopped and FWH'd for that very reason for a long time. Look back to the older threads for more discussion.

I still FWH, per some styles, but don't rely on hops as antioxidants much anymore.

[lupulus]

@HairyHop - Where in the paper does it say they mash-hopped? From what I read, it seems that in all samples they hopped after mashing and it does not say how much hops they used. They compare 5 samples after mashing, all sweet, and the same 5 samples after boiling, all hopped.
Wietstock (2016 Brewing Science) did a comparison of mash hopping vs other hopping techniques and reported similar level of polyphenols in all hopping regimes. All hopping regimes were more advantageous in key variables vs CO2 hop extract, but no major differences between hopping techniques using real hops.

[TheHairyHop]

[lupulus]

There are more efficient ways but I do not see mash hopping doing any damage so if you have somewhat old hops with no purpose, you may try. If the effect does exist, it would be rather small so you may need a few test batches to form an opinion. The Wietstock paper showed no sign difference of mash hopping vs other hopping methods in fresh or aged beers.

[Weizenberg]

Take a massive brewery like Augustiner for example. That's 2.8 million litres of beer per week.

There the hops from the boil are added to the next mash. It's an optimisation though, and not intended as antioxidant.

This little measure saves €500,000 a year.

As home brewer you don't need to bother.