Skip to main content

The New IPA: Chapter 1

Read everything you can get your mind around. 


After perusing Ron Pattinson's history/reference books on mild and brown beer, I've turned to Scott Janish's The New IPA: A Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor. Spend a few hours to read his blog posts, seriously. You'll reconsider your brewing habits as Janish puts cutting-edge research into layman's terms. The posts that caught my attention revolved around brewing with oats, coffee beers, and best dry-hopping practices; the latter influenced my Eternal Evidence 1.0 recipe and procedure. 


Stan Hieronymus floats on the foreword, effortlessly laying out the history of hop research in a few short pages. To get this level co-sign means something mate. Tune in.


There's a fuck-ton of chapters in this beast. Here we are at chapter uno. 


Chapter 1: Introduction to Hop Compounds

A few things jumped out at me. A few things I considered nice, yet easily skimmed over.


Hop Bittering Acids

1. Alpha Acids (aka humulones)

2. Beta-Acids (aka lupulones)

3. Essential Hop Oils

  • Bittering components come from Alpha and Beta acids
  • Three main types of Alpha Acids. These isomerize when boiled (at high temperatures and for ample durations)...
    1. Humulone
    2. Adhumulone
    3. Cohumulone
Hops add bitterness during the whirlpool and during chilling. In fact, IBU extraction tends to peak after 10 minutes in the whirlpool. Though beers that primarily rely on whirlpool bitterness tend to lose more IBUS during fermentation than hot-side hopped beers. Semi-related, high gravity beers lose more IBUs during fermentation as well.

Essential Oils may be the most important acid within the hop. These oils, like hydrocarbons, oxygenated, and sulfur-containing compounds, provide flavor and aroma. Specifically the oxygenated portions. Linalool receives the majority of research attention, so Janish's book will mention these compounds frequently. Linalool boasts floral, citrus, and fruity character. Oxygenated oils also fortify flavor stability. 


Hydrocarbon portions, such as Monterpenes (spicy, herbal, green) and Sequiterpenes (woody) make up 40-80% of a hop's oils. Myrcene is a heavily-researched monoterpene, but Janish doesn't expand on this at the moment. He also glosses over Aliphatics, which are the third head of the hydrocarbon oils. 


Thiols, which receives its own chapter later, is the most important sulfur-containing essential oil when discussing Hazy IPAs. As far as hops you should utilize in your brews: Galaxy and Columbus can possess up to 5 mL/1000g essential oils. 

Janish proceeds to hop pellets, whole cones, and miscellaneous hop products. One point of research which struck me, was the development of hop lots after they've been picked. Late August into early September are prime-time for hop picking, as linalool increased.

I watched a lecture/presentation by John Kimmich of The Alchemist, and he mentioned how Heady Topper is only bittered with CO2 Hop Extract. He discussed clean bittering results, increased wort yield, and an overall ease. This report was corroborated by Janish, who discusses consistent control over bittering targets, increased yield, and heightened control over hot-side foam formation. Furthermore, these hop extracts increase mouthfeel and head retention. But using this hot-side shortens beer longevity, requiring a consumption during peak freshness. 

Hot-side hop additions, supposedly, are needed when bittering with CO2 extract, because the extract doesn't isomerize until boil. Also, don't add the extract during fermentation; the aroma dies off. If anything, add it to a purified beer. If you do add this to a purified beer, your shelf storage will benefit! One study showed a hop extract beer lasting 11 months in a refrigerator.

Here we are, at the end of the first chapter. I did not mention the fact that hop pellets are blended to provide crop stability, nor that Sierra Nevada proudly uses whole cone hops. Please forgive me!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Paradoxical Logic Pale Ale

 Let's kolsch a saison grist and hop the fuck out of it. Boat Beer by Carton? Es posible...  Here's the recipe: Recipe Grain 2 lbs. Rye Malt - Deer Creek 2 lbs. Pale Wheat Malt - Deer Creek 1.5 lbs. Colonial Pilsner - Deer Creek 0.5 lbs. Pale Corn Malt - Deer Creek 1 lbs. of Brown Sugar @ 5 minutes in the boil Water 6.5 gallons of water: 4 spring, 2.5 Buffalo filtered water 132 ppm Calcium, 22 ppm Na, 115 ppm sulfates, 115 ppm chlorides, 52 ppm bicarbonates Mash 153 degrees for 40 minutes pH: 5.5 Boil (90 minutes) 1 mL of Cascade CO2 Hop Extract @ 90 0.5 oz. Chinook @ 20  1 oz. each of Hallertau Blanc, Chinook, Nelson Sauvin @ flameout 1 gram of Aromazyme @ yeast pitch 1 oz. each of Chinook Cryo and Hallertau Blanc @ yeast pitch 2 oz. Chinook Cryo @ secondary for 2 days 1 oz. NYS Ahhhroma @ secondary for 2 days Fermentation Cooled in a cold bath 1 packet of Fermentis Kolsch at ~68 degrees Fermented to absolute dryness in 7 days Lagered for 7 weeks Force carbonated to tast...

The Smoking Moon Under Water

Alaskan Smoked Porter + Stephen Kirby talking about the cask program at Hogshead ... that's what did me in.  I've never tried the Alaskan product but hearing such high praise as "timeless" and "quintessential" drove me into recipe development. Luckily, I caught a podcast by Stephen, in which his London porter was being consumed all-too-quickly. He was kind enough to share recipe tidbits, which I mostly incorporated here. Ideal... what is my ideal porter? Chocolate, comforting, soft, chuggable. Add a touch of smoke, because I'm tired of paying $18 for Schlenkerla 4 packs.  The Moon Under Water is George Orwell's conception of an ideal pub. The Smoking Moon Under Water is my conception of an ideal smoked porter. Here's the recipe: Recipe Grain 4.25 lbs. Colonial Pilsner - Deer Creek 2.5 lbs. Pecan Smoked Pilsner Malt - Sugar Creek 2 lbs. Barke Munich - Weyermann 3/4 lbs. Flaked Oats 1/2 lbs. British Chocolate malt (450L) 1/2 lbs. Dehusked Carafa I ...

The New IPA: Ch. 15

Last but not least, Chapter 15. We've made it guys! This chapter features practices by Haze producers such as Other Half, Bissell Brothers, and others. I'm going to break things down by ingredient to give a general overview: Water Other Half: neutral, low in mineral ... OH favors calcium chloride additions Prison City: chloride-heavy  Reuben's Brews: n/a Breakside: gypsum-heavy trending toward a Burton profile, looking for a snappy finish (10:1, 8:1, 4:1, then most recently 3:1) sulfate-chloride ratio Bissell Brothers: neutral water that undergoes carbon filtering, then they add gypsum and calcium chloride for a 1:2 sulfate-chloride ratio, finishing around 100 ppm of chloride and 50-75 ppm of sulfate Great Notion: soft, neutral water, then they add a 1:2 sulfate-chloride mixture as well as sodium Sapwood Cellars: carbon filtered water, then add 1.5:1 chloride-sulfate ratio Mash: pH, Temperature, Grist Other Half: low ABV beers mash around 160 for enhanced mouthfeel and feat...