| Understanding Hops |
| Home Brewing Recipes Baker Street Ales Associate Brewer Arny Lands |
| Beer Nexus the crossroads of the beer world |
Ahh hops... Lovely hops! The "hopheads" most beloved brewing ingredient. Loved by many, signature of such American styles as American Pale Ales and American Browns. But just what are these things sometimes referred to as the "spice of beer"? Hops plants grow as vines that yield a cone-shaped hops flower Hops mainly contribute bitterness, aroma, and flavor to beer. However, hops also contribute to better head retention, help with the removal of unwanted proteins resulting in a clearer beer, and beer hops have anti-bacterial properties which can help ward off spoilage and give beer a longer shelf life. The hops plants are very prolific, and can be grown in many parts of the world. The aroma, flavor, and bittering properties derive from the lupulin glands containing the hop oil and resins in the hop flower. Hop oil contributes to the beautiful and intoxicating beer hop aroma and flavor, and alpha acid resins contribute to the hop bitterness of your homebrew. Using Hops at different times will provide distinct characteristics to your homebrew. Understanding Hop Bitterness: You must boil hops to extract bitterness from them. Typical boiling (bittering) hop additions are 60-90 minutes. As a rule, the higher the alpha acid %, the more bitterness the hop will provide. Your first hop addition is typically to provide the bitterness to your homebrew. Bittering hops typically do not provide much in the way of aroma or flavor in the finished beer because the volatile oils are boiled off over the 60-90 minutes. Understanding Hop Flavor and Aroma: As discussed before, beer hops not only provide bitterness, but also flavor and aroma to the finished beer. Aroma and flavor hops are typically called "finishing" hops. Finishing hops typically do not impart much bitterness to the beer, and you can adjust the hop aroma or flavor in your beer by knowing how to use them. Aroma hops are typically added for 5 minutes or less at the end of the boil to impart hop aroma. Hop flavor is imparted with a hop addition(s) at 5-15 minutes before the boil is done. Dry hopping, a technique of adding hops to the fermenter, can be used to impart hop aroma and flavor, but not bitterness. I love to dry hop my APA's, IPA's and similarly hoppy styles. Usually, 1 oz of hop pellets for a 5 gallon batch in the secondary a week or two before bottling does the trick. Don't worry about contamination after adding your dry hops; beer hops are a natural preservative. Other tidbits on hops: Make sure to use fresh hops when brewing your homebrew. Hops should be green in color, not brown or yellow. Brown or yellow may indicate that the hops are oxidized, or stale. Also, do not use cheesy-smelling beer hops as this may also indicate that the hops are past their prime. Keep in mind that hops are a perishable product, always keep your hop supply under refrigeration. Hop bags (muslin bags) can be used when creating your homebrew, however make sure to compensate with a slightly higher amount as you may get less utilization in the boil. There are a variety of hops, each contributing different flavors, aromas, and bitterness levels. Each hop also can have different home brewing applications. Some homebrewers stick with old stand-bys, like the Bullion or Fuggles hop, and some opt to go with relatively new varieties such as Amarillo. I hope that answers some of the many questions I've received from my readers. Just keep e-mailing them in! Good Brewing and Cheers! Arny Lands More recipes from Arny: Holiday Ales Belgium Style Triple Pale Ale or Porter Brown Ale Time to Think Oktoberfest |
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