Green Gold: Getting the most out of hops!

Green Gold: Getting the most out of hops! Nick Zeigler Outgoing Director of Operations & Production, Magic Rock Brewing Incoming Director of Technical Programs, YCH Hops

What the Hell is Hoppiness? Catch-all Broad Strokes Traditionalist Perspective Edging towards specificity Spicy Herbal Hoppiness Aroma Bitter Noble Other Floral Vegetal

What the Hell is Hoppiness? Catch-all Broad Strokes BUT WAIT! Could there be more? Edging towards specificity Spicy Herbal Hoppiness Aroma Bitter Noble Other Vegetal Floral

Evolving perspectives It used to be all about bitterness. What we want Hoppiness Refining our vocabulary Spicy Resinous Floral Fruity What we experience Peppery Sulphury Piney Woody Cedar Sweet Roses Citrus Tropical Soft Fruit Stone Fruit Then, aromatics. Then we started looking at oil content and oil fractions. Now, we re looking at mono terpenes, sesquiterpenes, terpenoids, aliphatic hydrocarbons, polyfunctional thiols, esters and polyphenols. What are we measuring in our hops? What about our beer? Do our measurements align with what we know about flavour chemistry? How do our brains (and cultures) interpret the chemical soup?

Evolving perspectives I ll bet good money that there are WAY more waiting Bontempo, W. Measuring Essential Oils on the Farm. 2014. LinkedIn SlideShare, retrieved 25/08/2017

Almagues, C. et.al. Humulus Lupulus: A story that begs to be told. A Review. 2014. Journal of the Institute of Brewing. DOI 10.1002/jib.160

Almagues, C. et.al. Humulus Lupulus: A story that begs to be told. A Review. 2014. Journal of the Institute of Brewing. DOI 10.1002/jib.160

Where do these compounds come from? Turner, Z. Cryo Hops. Carlsberg Technical, 2017.

How do we get them into our beer? Varietal selection and blending hops. Format choice All are not equal but they can all be beautiful. Different formats from the same lot will differ in character. Different formats are suited to different processes. This allows us to better control our product.

Format: Hotside Bittering & Characteristics Point of Use Bitterness Format Boil Late/WP Hopback Dry Hop BBT Hotside Coldside Mouthfeel Foam Polyphenols Fresh Whole X --- = + + +++ --- Whole Cone X -- + ++ = ++ -- T90 (Referen X = = = = = = Cryo X ++ - + = -- ++ Noble/Bract X -- -- ++ + ++ - CO2 Extract X X X ++++ N.A. ++ + ---- +++ Iso-Extract ++ ++ = ++ ---- ++ Iso-E - Rho + + = ++ ---- ++ Iso-E - Tetra ++++ ++++ = +++ ---- ++ Iso-E - Hexa +++ +++ = ++++ ---- ++ Hop Oil N.A. N.A. = - ----? Colloidal Stability

Format Flavor and Aroma contributions T90 Dried Whole Cone Fresh Hops Cryo Noble (FKA Bract) CO2 Extract

Processes: Hot Side Mash Hopping Early Boil Late flavour additions. Whirpool Cooled Whirlpool? Hopback

Cold Side: Fermentation Hop Trub Carryover Ferm-Hopped Biotransformation and Enzymatic Release? Changing ph, O2, Alcohol Levels Other compounds interacting with hop-derived compounds?

DRYHOPPING Or, how I learned to stop fearing and love the linalool

Key Concepts in Dry Hopping TIME TEMPERATURE SURFACE AREA TO VOLUME RATIO (Quantity?) EXPOSURE / MIXING ph, ABV, residual sugars and O2 all also have a major impact on hop character in the final beer, but a lot of work remains to be done on these aspects.

Things to remember: If you want it in the beer, you have to get it in solution and keep it there. (Yeast adsorb many hop compounds!) Hop compounds solubilize differently in alcohol and water (and different solutions thereof). Ever notice how the same hop-bill tastes different in different strength beers? Solubilization can be accelerated by increasing the temperature and exposure but then you might also drive off some more delicate aromatics! Many compounds have synergistic and antagonistic relationships with one another. (e.g. 3-sulfanyl-4-methylpentan-1-ol & 3-sulfanyl-4-methylpentyl acetate to create grapefruit and Suavignon Blanc aromas, or β- pinene, caryophyllene, methyl heptanoate, 2-undecanone and S-methyl-hexanothiate [or isobutyl isobutyrate and ethyl butyrate] combine to elicit tropical fruit or mango & mango skin).

Different processes for DH Pellets & Powder: Fire & Forget 7-15 days. Dump & Bump 4-7 days. Centrifuge on to hops over length of transfer and then centrifugation back out to BBT. (12-24 hours for big tanks) Slurry Hops with DAL or Beer in reaction vessel and remix into tank. (12-24 hours for big tanks) Magic Rock Brewing Recirculation 12 hours spin, 12 hour rest then cool. Whole cone: Steep plain ( CONES CLOG EVERYTHING) Steep in weighted bags (Better, but lots of layering and loss of product.) Sierra Nevada Torpedo. (Best.)

Dry Hopping at Pump, T s & and lines CIPd & Blown out with CO2. Tank Degassed. Pump Started OUT Recirc, IN Total Outlet. Hops (T90, LupulN2 powder, Cryo Pellets) added to top. Tank sealed & top pressure added. After one hour, pump OFF. Switch T s: T.O. in to pump, pump OUT to Recirc Ports. Recirculate 12 hours.

What do we think? IN OUR PROCESS: Leaf hops are adding excessive grassy and herbal notes, as well as negatively impacting yields. (NB, we have a LOT of headspace in our hopback. This is likely a factor.) T90s can provide almost everything we want, but dramatically reduce yields and also throw too many grassy, veggie, and dank notes in large charges. Cryo on its own is super fruity, piney and resinous and is great for yields and clarity, but can lack complexity. Cryo and T90 are the overwhelming winning combination at the moment (100% Aroxa-trained taster preference for CB & HW, 90% preference for Fantasma), but we are beginning large-scale intensive trials with Bract fraction and extracts with an eye towards finer control over polyphenol and sesquiterpene-derived character. Dankness:Fruitiness (DtF) ratio.

How do we assess our progress? Sensory Analysis Culture & Personal Experience have very significant impacts on what we perceive! GC/MS & HPLC What are we measuring? Is it the same as what we taste and smell? In measuring, we change. We must account for Synergistic & Antagonistic relationships Public Perception

7 Months of yield data Leaf & T90 to T90 = 5% Increase T90 to Pure Cryo = Avg 3.1% increase on big IPA, up to 8% increase on heavily hopped session beers. Cryo + T90 vs T90 alone = 2.1-5% yield increase across all brands.

A final warning: