Hops

Hops are the flowers, or cones, of the perennial vine Humulus Lupulis. They are a natural preservative with their anti-bacterial properties and contribute to the head retention and kettle break formation. The first recorded use was from around 750AD but weren’t widely used until the 1500’s. England was amongst the last of the holdouts in the 1600’s when introduced by the Dutch. Hops replaced gruit, a combination of herbs and spices, as a balance for the malt’s sweetness.

Once harvested and dried they are ready for use. Some beers have been made with “wet hops” (un-kilned and un-dried) such as Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale (Not mentioned in the study guide). Some hops are given some aging as light oxidation helps the character of some noble hops. Lambics use old, stale hops. (I’ll bet no one thinks of mentioning this).

The active ingredients are found in the lupulin glands and are activated for bitterness (or extracted) by boiling. About 30% of the Alpha Acids (a soft resin) are utilized in the finished beer. Different boiling lengths determine the influence of the hops in the beer. A boiling length of 15-30 min. adds to the flavor of the beer more so than the full 60 min. boil which is usual for bitterness. Hop active ingredients such as oils for aroma can be extracted by adding at the end of the boil, and more aroma by adding to the fermenter at the end of fermentation (dry-hopping). Boiling drives off the desirable hop oils as well as undesirable characteristics, but not boiling adds to the aroma instead of bitterness. Use of a hop back, utilizing hops as a rough filtering medium before it enters the fermenter, extracts aroma (using whole hops).

Hops can be in whole flower form, pellet form which are shattered and compressed and have more utilization capability, plug form which are whole hops compressed into ½ oz. portions, or isomerized form which is an extract that can be added to the finished beer for exact bitterness (mega-brewery use). Hop oil can be added in liquid form to finished beer for aroma.

Hop character (bitterness and aroma) can be added by first wort hopping (adding the hops to the kettle before the wort is run off) with excellent results for some styles like hop-oriented Pilsners. Whole hops are preferred.

Variety	AA%	Storagability	Purpose	Styles
E. Kent Goldings	5-7	Fair	Duel	Eng
Somewhat earthy character. Best English hop. From the Kent region.
Cascade	4-7	Fair	Duel	Am Ale
Citrusy, almost grapefruit-like. Very popular. From the Yakima Valley/Pacific NW
Saaz	2-5	Poor	Aroma	Pils
Noble hop, spicy but mild. One of the best for Lagers. From the Zatec area of Czech Republic
Cluster	6-8	Excellent	Bittering	Amer Ales
Somewhat course. Not recommended for aroma. All-purpose Am. Grown hop. Most common Am. hop 25+ years ago. Grown in the Pacific NW

Noble hops are Czech Saaz, German Hallertauer, and German Tettnanger (and some consider German Spalt also). These are characterized by the low AA%, nearly even amount of Beta Acids, low level(20-25%) of co-humulone (one of the three main alpha acids), and the pleasant hop aroma (typically low in myrcene, one of the four main oils, the others being caryophelene, humulene, and farnasene).

Storageability can be graded by how much alpha acids remain after 6 mos. at 20C. Hops can be bred for desirable characteristics like how well they keep, resistance to disease, similarity to the classic European hops (Noble especially).

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- Written by David Teckam, PBN
- Edited by Rick Sellers, PBN