We're a week out from Halloween, so let's get spooky. Hop Creep definitely scared me when formulating the recipe for Eternal Evidence, so much so that I neglected caramel malts from the grist. Granted, I had just listened to Vinnie Cilurzo lecturing on the topic but after reading this chapter, there are processes you can implement to avoid hop creep other than cutting out caramel malts. Hops contain enzymes that can break down dextrins into fermentable sugars. If yeast is present, it will consume those sugars, increasing alcohol content. This is known as refermentation or hop creep . As Allagash Brewing found when bottle-conditioning their dry-hopped Hoppy Table Beer, refermentation can cause beers to become over-carbonated. Hop creep is most commonly found in heavily hopped styles. The enzymes responsible for refermentation are amyloglucosidase, alpha-amylase and beta-amylase. Short dry hopping durations, lower temperatures, and smaller dry hopping rates produce fewer...