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Hops – the green gold2013-04-30Lars Marius Garshol, larsga@bouvet.no, http://twitter.com/larsga

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Why do we put hops in beer?

• To balance the sweetness– the malt adds lots of sugar– not all of that is turned into alcohol– bitterness from the hops keeps beer from

being unbalanced sweet like a soft drink• To guard against infection– hops kill bacteria

• Because we like the flavour– hops can add aroma

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The beer brewing process

1. Mashing– put malts in hot water, to extract sugar

2. Boiling– boil malt extract for a long time– add hops during boil

3. Fermentation– the yeast goes to work

4. Conditioning– resting period to let the beer mature

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The hoppiest beer

• The classic hoppy beer is India Pale Ale– originally created in the 1790s– contained lots of hops– exported in great quantities to India for British

officers, hence the name• Reinvented in the 1980s by US craft

brewers– dominated by resiny/citric flavours– very powerful aroma– very bitter

• Even more hoppy: Imperial IPA/Double IPA– originally created by Vinny Cilurzo– doubled the malt bill by mistake, decided to

balance by doubling the amount of hops

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Hophead

From Urban dictionary:“Someone who enjoys really hoppy beers,

or drinks hoppy beers exclusively. Most likely this person is a beer-geek or craft-brew drinker.

Hops are what give beer the Citrusy, Piney, or sometimes what bring out the Herbal or Fruity flavors.

Man, that Stone Ruination IPA turned me into a true Hop-head.”

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What are hops?

• A climbing plant– latin: Humulus Lupulus– belongs to the cannabis family

• The useful part is the flower– also known as “hop cone”

• Hoppy, bitter beers often seen as macho, but:– only female hop plants produce cones,– hops contain lots of estrogen (female

hormone),– many women are hop-heads

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How to grow hops

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A difficult crop

• Hops are prone to disease– downy mildew,– powdery mildew,– pests,– etc etc etc

• Norwegian saying– “hop plants need to see their owner

every day”• Hops also keep poorly– aroma fades quickly– antiseptic qualities also fade fairly fast

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London hop prices, 1790-1842

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.no/2008/10/price-of-hops-1790-1842.html

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UK GermanyUS New ZealandCzech Republic

World’s 5 Biggest Producers:1. Germany2. USA3. Ethiopia4. China5. Czech Republic

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The rise of West Coast hops

• 1956– US agricultural researchers attempt to make a

hop resistant to downy mildew– cross English Fuggle and Russian Serebrianker– create the Cascade hop– macro brewers don’t want it; too aromatic

• Then– the craft beer explosion happens– to a large extent driven by hoppy west coast

IPAs• Result

– many new hop varieties created on the west coast

– many of these have clear family resemblance– often called “C-hops”

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Hop varieties

• Cascade– floral citrus/grapefruit aroma

• Centennial– like Cascade, citrus/lemon and flowers

• Chinook– mostly a bittering hop– spicy, pine needles, grapefruit

• Citra– very new hop: 2007– became an almost instant hit, very popular– citrus, tropical fruit, kiwi

• Amarillo– lovely, lovely aromas– floral, spicy, tropical fruit (mango) and oranges

• Columbus– herbal and earthy, citrus if fresh

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Beer by the numbers

• International Bitterness Units (IBU)– a measure of how much alpha and beta

acid is in the beer– or, if you will, how bitter it is– except, the sensation of bitterness

depends on more factors• BU/GU– alpha/beta acid to sugar ratio– attempts to measure sensation of

bitterness

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This evening’s beers

Brewer Beer ABV

IBU

BU/GU

Hops

Anders Volle

Lys IPA 6.9 73 1.12 Chinook, Columbus

Anders Volle

Sprint IPA 6.2 58 1 Amarillo, (Columbus)

Anders Volle

Black IPA 5.8 82 1.32 Chinook, Columbus, Citra, Cascade

Konrad Beiske

American pale ale

4.6 38 0.69 Centennial, Cascade

Knut Skomedal

mead 7-8 0 0.0 -