MASSIVE HOP CHARACTER Prepared by : Jeremy Wallis For : WHB Meeting 4 th October 2006 ~ Based on the article in Zymurgy May-June 2006 ~    

Wazzup ? The latest trend with USA Micro-Brewers is for beers with a ‘Massive Hop Character’ … but how do they do it ? Such beers have shown themselves to be : –Very drinkable (not grassy) –Successful in competitions –Popular with the beer drinking public –Defying what we’ve always thought about hops ! Advocates include : –Alesmith Brewrey, San Diego, California. e.g. ‘Evil Dead Red’ –Firestone Walker Brewing Company, Paso Robles, California. How : through the use of almost all of your hops in the last 20 minutes

Hop Basics Hops are used to provide : –Bitterness –Flavour –Aroma

Hop Basics Affect of hop boil-time on their contribution to beer :

Hop Basics Bitterness : –Add hops minutes before boil-end Flavour : –Add hops 5-20 minutes before boil-end Aroma – Add hops 0-5 minutes before boil-end

Increasing Hop Flavour & Aroma Add some hops “late” in the boil (T < 20 mins) Add some hops at the whirlpool stage (post boil) Run wort through a hop bed during wort chilling (hop back) Dry-Hopping during secondary fermentation Dry-Hopping in the keg / cask Latest technique employed by USA Micro-Brewers : –Add 95% of your hops in the last 20 minutes

But first, a refresher on calculating IBUs Hop bitterness is calculated :- Hop Utilisation can be calculated in many ways ! Tinseth’s approach : Where : OG = (i.e. not as 1060) t = time in minutes Or visit : : Resources / Technical Library / Boiling & Chilling

Boil Time (mins) Data here for whole hops, multiply utilisation by 1.1 to get approximation for pellets

Massive Hop Character Conventional approach on a IBU, 24 litres wort Used Tinseth’s Hop Utilisation Calcs Conventional Approach VarietyFormAlpha Acid Boil TimeMassIBUIBU % GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins %

Massive Hop Character Conventional Approach VarietyFormAlpha Acid Boil TimeMassIBUIBU % GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins % New Approach : GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins % GoldingsPellet mins %

Guidelines for MHC The example in Zymurgy has : –40% of the IBUs from a 20 minute hop addition –60% of the IBUs from a 10 minute hop addition –A final hop addition at zero minutes equivalent in mass to the 10 minute addition The pros still add say 5% of the IBUs at the start of the boil because it helps reduce the occurrence of boil overs Hops should be as fresh as possible Avoid low AA hops (<4% ?) as they will result in considerably more hop mass than you can manage Select hops for their flavour & aroma qualities Pellets result in lower hop mass because of their higher utilisation

Guidelines for MHC If a high IBU beer is desired (e.g. > 50 IBU), then add some bittering hops at boil-start to keep overall hop volume reasonable Ensure your wort pH is correct (~ 5.0 – 5.2) as higher pH’s achieve higher hop utilisation Aim for 5% more wort at boil-end to assist with higher hop mass VERY IMPORTANT for you to be sharp about your post-boil timescales so you don’t take 2 hours to achieve yeast pitching, otherwise all the good stuff goes to waste !

Massive Hop Character Who ’ s game ?!