Poll: Favorite Homegrown Hop Varietal?

Like all our prior poll posts, this post takes a moment to memorialize the results we recieved on the most recent blog poll.  The readers' responses to the questions "Growing your own hops: what's your favorite varietal?" are presented below.

Total Votes: 14

I  knew when I put this poll up that it was going to be a bit hit-or-miss with participation.   The question is only applicable to those homebrewers (or brewers) who specifically have the land and interest in planting their own hops.  The interest level has spiked up in a few years, but the number of homebrewers that put rhizomes in the ground is a small fraction of the population.

Initially, the question was originally posted as a way to get suggestions about what type of hops I should plant.  A few years back, I had purchased some rhizomes and planted them in pots at my old house, which did particularly well in their first season.  However, the move to our new house and the lack of attention I was able to give them the first summer caused the plants to die off. But with the impending thaw coming (it is coming, right?), I got interested again in trying it again.  However, I ended up jumping the gun and purchased rhizomes (Sterling and Centenniel) before the poll could give me any suggestions on way or another.  Oh well - if I had waited, I would have been the proud owner of Centenniel and Willamette hops, but Sterling will just have to do.

Let us know if you've got hops in the ground at your home, and if so, what varieties?  I'm sure I'll write a bit more about the new rhizomes and their progress in the future, but I'm curious to hear what everyone else has.  And if you are reading this, our next blog poll is up and awaiting your participation.


Slainte!

-JW


"When the pilgrims, seeking religious freedom, landed at Plymouth rock, the first permanent building put up was the brewery."
-Jim West

Evaluating Taste and Aroma Of New Hops

New hop varieties are raining onto the beer scene in surprising quantities, which is of course great if you're a hophead. However, getting familiar with the flavor and aroma profiles of all these new hops is a task that is worth investigating. As a homebrewer, it could be easy to just brew a batch of beer with a new variety to see how it comes out, but which new varieties to choose from? If you're going to go through the 2-4 week process of producing a beer with the new hop, which one matches your flavor preferences the best?

As my local homebrew club (RIFT) is getting ready to do another round of our Single Hop Beer Experiments, several of us have been looking at all these new hops and wondering which one to claim. In order to help augment the hop selection process, we decided to do a quick-n-dirty technique which Anchor Brewing has used, or at least described in a recent interview. Thanks for the Bertus Brewery blog for inspiring our club to give this a try.

Essentially, the method involves taking a 6 or 12 pack of Bud Light (or other industrial lager), pops the caps off, drops in a few hop pellets, and then recapping the bottle to let the dry hop infuse its oils (more details can be found on the Bertus Brewery page). Granted only the dry hop flavors will be present and not the flavors produced when boiling in a kettle, but its a creative and quick way triage hops.  By using these low-in-flavor stypes of beer as a base, the hop flavor and aroma becomes a focal point without distractions. Plus, since multiple hop varieties can be done all at once, it makes for a great tasting panel to evaluate what the hops might taste or smell like. In other words, a great way to find out if that unknown hop is worth the effort of putting into a full batch of beer.

For the RIFT tasting, we decided on using Narragansett Lager as our base beer since it is local and is not as watered down as Bud Light (which Anchor described). Two or three of us each picked up a six pack and will be dry hopping with hops coordinated from our freezers. The plan was do two bottles per hop variety (so there is enough for everyone to taste) and use both common and uncommon hops (with the common hops acting as a reference flavor). The three hops I'll be doing for the panel are: Amarillo, Northern Brewer, and Newport

After dry hopping my beers last night, the biggest challenge was trying to reseal the twist-off bottles. Since almost all the commercial lagers come with twist-off caps, sealing them back up is a problem.  When I recapped the bottles, most of them began to produce small amounts of foam/fizz from under the cap when the bottles were agitated. I tried recapping a number of times to see if I could get a good seal, but only 2 out of the 6 had great seals. Its gotten me a little worried. 

In an effort to maintain some level of carbonation, I’m going to keep the beers cold during the 3 day dry hop (thereby keeping more CO2 in solution) and minimizing and handling or jostling of the bottles. It seems like a very primitive approach, but if I can just keep enough CO2 in the beer until Thursday (when the club meets), I'll be ok.

If you have any tips of tricks for resealing twist-off bottles or other methods for quickly evaluating hops, please let us know.

Slainte!

-JW


“Americans express hops better than anyone.”
-Garrett Oliver

Hops Used In Brewing Classic Styles

Below is the third Ingredients Chart in the series that visually compares the amount of ingredients (base malt, specialty grains and sugards, hops, and yeast strains) used in the recipes of Jamil's veritable book "Brewing Classic Styles" (BCS).  As mentioned in the first Ingredients Chart posting, this project came about as I tried to identify the most frequently used brewing ingredients in order to stock my brewing inventory accordingly.

If a brewer were to brew all 80+ recipes in BCS, it would take 1,197 lbs of grain and sugars, 207 ounces (~13 lbs) of hops, and 88 vials of yeast.  Looking at the hops usage, the chart below illustrates the 22 different hop varieties called out by the book.  Kent Goldings and the noble Hallertau reign supreme.  This is directly driven by the fact that these are Jamil's generic go-to hops for English and German beers respectively (for instance, all the American light lagers use Hallertau exclusively).  Substitutions can certainly be made if a related hop happens to be in your freezer, but the chart below describes what was called out specifically in the book.

In addition to the above chart, several other charts were generated for other BCS ingredients.  The links for each chart will be updated as they are published.

• Base Malts Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 20 Speciality Malts / Sugars Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Hops Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"
• Top 15 Yeast Strains Used in "Brewing Classic Styles"

This project is a bit open-ended, so please let us know what you think or if there are other ways in which this data can be useful to fellow homebrewers.

Slainte!

-JW

"Beer is an improvement on water itself."

-Grant Johnson

Cohumulone Ranges by Hop Variety (Hop Union)

Below is the second Hop Variety Chart, which visually compares the cohumulone ranges of each hop variety from Hop Union's Hop Variety Handbook.  Cohumulone, an alpha acid found in hops, in higher levels is widely believed to present a harsh, unpleasant bitterness as well as have a negative impact on head retention.

As mentioned in the first Hop Variety Chart, this project is intended to visually compare the critical parameters of each hop variety to one another.

Click on the thumbnail below to get a higher resolution image of the chart.

In addition to the above, check out the other Hop Variety chart(s) previously posted:

• Alpha Acid Ranges by Hop Variety

If you would like a higher resolution PDF of this or any of the charts, just shoot me an email.  I'm more than happy to share them.

Slainte!

-JW


"I adore simple pleasures.  They are the last refuge of the complex."
-Oscar Wilde

Mystery Hop Harvest!

The mystery hop plant that has been growing in my front yard has been a source of excitement for me as I've seen it go from 'I think that's a hop" to hundreds of cones being developing. 

When the news of the hurricane coming up the coastline and the hop cones turning papery, it was time to pick the cones before the winds decided to take them.  Once I got into the bines, it turned out that there were more cones that I expected.  Even as the initial rains from the storm system started coming down, I was out there picking the last of them.  In the end, I collected 3/4 lbs hoppy goodness.

All the cones are now spread out on a screen in front of a fan drying in our basement.  Breaking a few open, the aroma is still a bit grassy with some floral and citrus notes to it.  Nothing citrusy like the American "C" hops, but a background note.  I'm planning to brew the Mystery Hop Pale Ale next weekend so that the hops don't go to waste, but I am a little concerned about the grassy, chlorophyll notes.  Where the cones picked to early?  Will the green aromas fade as they dry?  If anyone has any guidance, please let me know.

Either way, it's been a great fun this summer watching them develop!

Slainte!

-JW


"It's not easy being green."
-Kermit the Frog

Alpha Acid Ranges by Hop Variety (Hop Union)

After the Style Profile Charts and Yeast Charts we've featured in the past, I was searching for another topic to explore for the next series of charts.  The Hop Union's Hop Variety Data Booklet provided the perfect data set for the next topic: Hops.  Which varieties would be best for a high IBU brew?  Which varieties will produce the smoothest bitterness?

The first comparative hop chart in the series is the Alpha Acid Ranges by Hop Variety, which is presented below.  Alpha acid is a staple for every brewer in determining the bitterness imparted in a beer.  Click on the thumbnail to get a higher resolution image of the chart.  The other hop charts in the series will be added in subsequent posts.

In addition to the above, check out the other Hop Variety chart(s) previously posted:

• Cohumulone Ranges by Hop Variety

If you would like a high resolution PDF of this or any of the other charts, just shoot me an email.  I'm more than happy to share.

Slainte!

-JW


"A quart of ale is a dish for a king."
-William Shakespeare

Mystery Hop Update

Six weeks ago, I was lucky enough to find a hop plant growing down near the road on our new property.  I have no idea how it got there, but the leaves and bines were unmistakable.  So I strung up some twine to the top of the adjacent post to see if it would climb up.  Well, it certainly took off...

Mystery Hop, Mid-July 

The plant has gone quite bonkers with several bines shooting past the top of the 8 foot poll looking for something else to grab onto.  The tips of the bines are now stretching out into the neighboring farm property, which I hope they don't mind.

After the plant took off, the question changed from 'Is it a hop?' to 'Will it produce cones?'.  Well this weekend answered that question as I noticed several burrs, the precursor to cones, forming along the bine.  Awesome.

Hop burrs showing up.



If cones are indeed produced, they should be fully mature in about a month from now in late August.  It's at that point that I'll be able to start the uphill battle of identifying what cultivar of hops.  I'm hoping the aroma of the raw hops will give me the first clue to what it is, after which I'll most likely need to make a hop tea or pilot brew to hone in on it.  That and depend on friends with better palletes than I have.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Slainte!

-JW

"Everybody has to believe in something ... I believe I'll have another drink."

-W. C. Fields

Pleasant Surprise: Mystery Hop

For those out there that may have noticed, I've been a bit quiet while Tom has been doing the heaving lifting here at Lug Wrench for the past four to six months.  The main driver behind the reduction in participation is that the family and I purchased a new home back in April and have been moving, organizing, updating, and just about everything else you do when you get into a new house - but unfortunately not brewing or blogging.  My apologies.

With the new house, however, comes new surprises.  The new house is that it is a lot bigger and it has a lot more land than our prior residence.  And with the land comes a lot more trees, shrubs, and, well...nature.  I'm still finding new plantings around the property, but the other day I happened upon a surprise that tickled the homebrew in me.  Down at the foot of driveway, bordering between our property and the neighboring farm, I thought I saw a hop leaf amongth the overgrowth.  Clearing out the underbrush, sure enough, a mature hop plant was uncovered - or at least I am 90% sure it is a hop plant.  It has the leaf and bine structure are almost obvious to anyone who has grown or been around hop plants.  So I'm (hopefully) correct - you be the judge....

View of the overgrowth from a far...

Close up of the leaves and bines...

So I am pretty stoked if it turns out to be a new hop plant - I've already placed a stake in the ground and run some twine from the stake to the top of the wooden post that can be seen in the first image.  The real mystery (other than what varietal this plant is) will be whether the plant can produce cones or not (i.e. is it a male or female plant).  Just playing the odds, it is most likely female as there are few male plants in circulation.  But only time will tell.  And how did it get there?  Who knows.  My only guess is that someone must have purchased this plant at some point and planted it and had no idea how to care for it.  

Ultimately, my plan is to waitit out and let the bines grow skyward through the summer and hope some cones materialize (fingers crossed).  If not, then I just leave the plant as is let it do its thing.  But if it does produce cones, that's when the real fun begins - attempting to determine the varietal.

I'll report back later in the summer after the growth has progressed.  In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions or watch-outs as I investigate this little horticultural surprise, please leave a comment.

Slainte!

-JW

"A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure."

-Czech Proverb

Poll: Have you grown hops at home?

Similar to what has been done for all our prior blog polls, this takes a moment to memorialize the results we received on the most recent blog poll.  The reader's responses to the question "Have you ever tried growing your own hops at home?" are presented below.

Total Votes: 20

There is little to discuss with this one - hops are on everyone's mind.  Only 10% of the responders did not have an interest growing their own hops.  Everyone else is either interested or already put some rhizomes in the ground.  And interestingly enough, anyone who decided to plant hops planted more than one.

Tom and I are both backyard hops growers.  While Tom has been at it more years than I have, my two hop plants are entering their second year.  I did get a handful of hop cones last year, but I'm looking forward to see what the plants yield this fall.

We'd love to know what you think of the results and how they can be interpreted.  And if you are reading this, we've put up our next poll, which awaits your response.

Slainte!

-JW


"Beer may cause you to digress - and lead a happier life."
-Michael Jackson

Growing Your Own Brewing Ingredients

With those of us in the North East shrugging off what we hope to be the last of winter’s icy grasp, at this time of year, thoughts almost immediately turn to getting outdoors.  At our house, this typically includes the annual planning sessions for what vegetables or herbs to plant in the garden.  What do we want to attempt to grow that might, with a little luck, wind up on the kitchen table?

This year, I began wondering what I could grow that I might be able to feature in a future homebrewed beer.  I think I have this impulse every year, but the thought had enough momentum in my mind that I'll likely act on it.  Hops are the obvious answer.  I’m sure if you polled a collection of homebrewers, the majority of them have or at least have tried growing their own hop cones.  I’m certainly guilty after planting a Sterling and Centennial plant last season.  But for this year, I wanted to try looking for something different.

After a little searching, I decided to pick up a copy of John Peragine’s “The Complete Guide to Growing Your Own Hops, Barley, and Brewing Herbs”  It seemed to cover exactly what I was looking for.  Plus, I’ve heard good things about the book, and at almost 300 pages, its packed with a lot of information.  So what the hell, right?

I’ll report back after the book arrives and I get the chance to thumb through it for ideas.  In the meantime, if anyone has the book or at least flipped through it, I would love to hear your thoughts.  Alternatively, if there are other books or references any readers might be able to point me to on growing beer ingredients (beyond just hops), I would greatly appreciate it.

Slainte!

-JW

"I drink with impunity ... or anyone else who invites me."

-W. C. Fields

Results from Single Hop Beer Experiment: Round 2

Back in January, we posted the set-up for a Single Hop Beer Experiment, wherein each brewer brews the same American pale ale, but with a different hop variety.  After suggesting the concept to my local area homebrew club (Rhode Island Fermentation Technicians), Round 1 of the experiment took place in the February/March timeframe.  During Round 1, the following hops were used:
Williamette, US Goldings Northern Brewer, Cascade, Amarillo, Centennial, and Summit.

The Single Hop Experiment was so enjoyable to the club that a second round was planned with brewers picking new hops to utilize.  As he did before, fellow clubmember Tom H. took notes from the tasting and posted the results on his blog, “And Another Thing…”. Tom H.’s summary notes are reproduced below.

It should be noted that the first round had a number of classic American hops, a large number of which were fairly low in alpha acids. This round included some lesser known hops and alpha acids were generally higher than the last round. As before, we decided to taste these in ascending order of alpha acid strength, to reduce any risk of blowing out our taste buds. Here are the tasting notes from the June 2010 RIFT meeting.

Sterling
Very clean, with spice and clove in the nose. It contributed to a "malty nose". This was thought to be good in Belgians and Wits.

Mt. Rainier
Notes of clove, anise, licorice, and a minty flavor.

Premient
Strong complex nose. Metallic, grassiness, lemon citrus, grapefruit. Would be good in a copper ale.

Centennial
This is a brew from the first round, brought back for comparison. Citrus, lemon, dry grapefruit, smooth, piney.

Sorachi Ace
Phenolic, cat urine, pine sol. Raw hop, green hop. Smooth bitterness. This was a bit of a surprise, as we did not detect any of the "lemon" character that this hop is supposed to have. It is also a surprise after tasting Brooklyn's Brewery's Saison that features this hop and has a completely different character. This is a hop that needs to be carefully integrated into a brew.

Chinook
Papaya, fruit. Strong nose of grapefruit. Bready, yeasty. Classic American "Big C" hop for bittering.

Simcoe
Piney, papaya. Tangy, fruity, smoother than Summit. Similar to Roxy Rolles.

CTZ
The Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus offspring. Ok, John cheated a little bit here, deviating from the base recipe to make a darker, maltier, better integrated Pale Ale. That being said...
Flavors: Candy cigarettes, neutral, clean, malty, earthy. Very tasty.

While many of these hops were not the prototypical hops most people brew with, being able to taste and experience each of their flavors was a great learning experience.  I'd have to say that I was the most impressed with Chinook (which I wouldn't have expected walking in to the tasting) and plan to use it in the future.

Have any other clubs out there tried similar experiments? If so, please post a comment and let us know your club's experience and what, if anything, could be done to improve upon the event.

Slainte!

-JW


"The mouth of a perfectly happy man is filled with beer."
-Egyptian Proverb

Homegrown Hop Problem - Any Suggestions?

This post is less of a about publishing information than it is a request for information from the readers. Over the past couple weeks, a strange issue has crept up in my attempts to grown hops. If you have any ideas, or suggestions that might be able to help, please post it here as a comment or shoot me an email.

Back in late April, I planted two hop rhizomes in the backyard just for the fun of it – one Sterling and one Centennial.  Not wanting to plant the hops directly in the ground, I elected to plant the rhizomes in containers (following advice from a BYO magazine article).  Within a month after planting, the Sterling plant broke through the surface and began to rapidly climb (the Centennial taking an additional month before making an appearance). However, about 2-3 weeks ago, I’ve noticed that the upper leaves of the Sterling plant have started to become sparse and developed a curled up or wilted appearance. I have no idea what is causing this and I've been scratching my head as I search for potential fixes for the problem.  Below are a couple photos of the plant.

First Year Sterling Hop Plant – Notice how the lower section looks lush and healthy, while the upper portion is wilting and sparse.

Close up of the upper leaves of the Sterling hop plant.

The plants are watered regularly, is in the sun for 8+ hours a day, and the soil is ideal (mixture of potting soil and compost).

Wilt disease – a microbial disease that attacks the plant’s vascular system – is one possibility that was suggested by a coworker who is a bit of a horticultural expert. If it is indeed wilt disease, the only solution I have is to pull the plant and destroy it or risk the disease from spreading to other plants in the garden. Not an ideal solution.

Has anyone else seen this before in their hop plants? What else could be afflicting the plant? I am obviously not enthusiastic about tearing the plant out and starting over, so any suggestions, hypotheses, or ideas are certainly welcome.

Slainte!

-JW

"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

-Dave Barry

Results from Single Hop Beer Experiment #1

A month or two ago, my local homebrew club, the Rhode Island Fermentation Technicians (RIFT) decided to undertake a Single Hop Beer Experiment. As described in an earlier post on this blog, this exercise asks each brewer to brew the same American pale ale recipe, but each with a different single hop.  Volunteers got to choose which hop variety they wanted to use on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Not surprisingly, Centennial, Amarillo, and Cascade were the first hops to be 'signed out'.

By having only a single hop in each beer, the resulting brew exhibits the characteristic aroma and flavor of the selected hop variety.  It provided an excellent tasting opportunity, as tasting them side-by-side is a great way to judge the similarities and differences of each variety.

For the RIFT Single Hop Beer event, seven volunteers brewed beers with seven different hop varieties, with the beers being tasted during the February club meeting.  Fellow clubmember Tom H. took notes from the tasting and posted the results on his blog, “And Another Thing…”. Tom H.’s summary notes are reproduced below.

Willamette - "Inoffensive"
Bitterness: Not discernable
Flavor: Like flowers
Aroma: No real aroma
Overall: Session beer

US Goldings - "Tea- Like"
Bitterness: Not discernable
Flavor: Tea-like flavors
Aroma: Tea and floral aromas
Overall: Another good session beer

Northern Brewer - "Evil"
(What can I say Jeff? You weren't here and made us work!)
Bitterness: Some bitterness, the most so far.
Flavor: Crisp
Aroma: Minty
Overall: Tastes like an Anchor Steam

Cascade - "American"
Bitterness: The bitterness pops up in the finish
Flavor: Oranges, some Ivory soap in the finish
Aroma: Caramel (this ale was darker than the others), Cascade
Overall: Well integrated, balanced, what you think an American Ale should taste like

Amarillo - "Citrusy"
Bitterness: Clean bitter finish
Flavor: Grapefruit, some Orange, Tropical Fruits, Mangoes
Aroma: Subtle
Overall: First 'hop forward' beer of the bunch, a little more carbonated, nice

Centennial - "Coppery"
Bitterness: Smooth
Flavor: Subtle evergreen, earthy, piney,
Aroma: Malty, subtle
Overall: Nicely integrated, copper ale type notes

Summit - "Wow"
Bitterness: Pronounced bitterness
Flavor: Strong Piney Flavor
Aroma: Big Piney nose,
Overall: Bordering on IPA, hop forward taste with a big hoppy finish.

As Tom H. eludes to in his notes, I was unfortunately not able to attend the tasting, as I was out of town on business. However, I did receive a bottle of each single hop beer and I was able to work through them after the meeting (tough job, eh?). All the beers came out very drinkable, each having its own unique hop character (as indicated above). The beer that stood out the most different was the Summit hopped beer. Summit has this garlic/onion/herbal quality that shines through fairly strong in the beer along with its bitterness (great beer to try cooking with!). This results in a very unique tasting experience that sets the beer apart from all the other more ‘traditional’ hop flavors.
 
Overall, the Single Hop Beer Experiment was a great success amongst the participants (brewers and tasters).  While it is inevitable that there will be flavor contributions from each brewer's personal brewing process and therefore the flavor differences cannot be attributed totally to the hop varieties, it was still very clear the hops made a remarkable difference in each beer.  In addition to allowing tasters to target their palates with these hop flavors, it was just plain enjoyable to taste the entire flight – we will definitely return to the concept and do it again in the future.

Have any other clubs out there tried similar experiments?  If so, please post a comment and let us know your club's experience and what, if anything, could be done to improve upon the event.
 
Slainte!
 
-JW
 
 
“Ah, beer. The cause and solution to all of life’s problems”
-Homer Simpson

Single Hop Beer Experiment

Hops. They are ubiquitous with beer. Beer geeks rally around these resiny cones - it’s almost a source of pride to those in the craft beer culture. There seems to be a continuous ‘Arms War’ between prototypical American brewers – who can stuff more hops in their beers. Who’s beer can punch you in the face more with hop presence when you crack open a bottle or pull a draft.

I came to the conclusion the other day that I’m actually really quite bad at identifying one hop variety from another. Sure, the citrus hops are easily discernable from non-citrus hops (i.e. nobles), but if I taste or smell an unknown beer, its like throwing darts at a board to pick out the variety – I know which wall to aim for, but otherwise I should just close my eyes and hope for the best.

This train of thought cumulated in organizing a Single Hop Beer Experiment with my local homebrew club (RIFT). The concept is simple: gather a bunch of volunteer brewers and have everyone brew the same American Pale Ale recipe, but everyone use a different, single hop variety. When complete, go through a flight of all the beers side-by-side. The results will be (at least I hope) a good opportunity for our club members to pick out and identify the different flavor and aroma contributions of the different hops. (To make the tasting even more useful, consider having a hop summary sheet on hand tasters to reference - or if your group is really into it, use full data sheets).


The particular challenge of this project is to make sure each beer is similar, with the only difference being the hop different hop variety used. This means the same malt bill, the same yeast, the same fermentation profile, etc. It also means normalizing each beer to have similar bitterness levels (a challenge given the varying alpha acids in the varieties).

In combating the different alpha values, we devised an APA recipe having four hop additions: at 60 minute, 15 minute, 1 minute, and a Dry Hop. The flavor addition (15m), aroma addition (1m), and dry hop are kept the same across all beers (i.e. 0.5 oz, 0.5 oz, and 1 oz respectively). The only the bittering addition (60m) is adjusted, allowing the bittering level to be controlled without impacting the flavor and aroma contributions. (The flavor and aroma additions do add a few IBU based on the alpha acid, but this is compensated for when computing the bittering addition.)

To make it as simple as possible for our volunteer brewers, all the IBU calculations were computed ahead of time (for a 4-15 alpha acid range) and the recipe/instructions listed below was distributed for our club's event (the RIFT Single Hop Beer Pale Ale Experiment). I should point out that the APA recipe is based on Jamil Zainasheff’s APA recipe from Brewing Classic Styles.

As of this posting, the following hop varieties have been 'volunteered for' and are being used in the different beers: Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade, Williamette, Northern Brewer, Saaz, Summit, and Mt. Hood.

RIFT Single Hop Beer Experiment
American Pale Ale

Targets / Assumptions:
OG: 1.056
FG: 1.013
IBU: ~35
Color 6 SRM
ABV: 5.7%
Boil: 60 minutes

Hopping Schedule [1]:
Note: Only the 60 minute addition should be adjusted based on your varietal’s alpha acid. The 15 minute, 1 minute, and dry hop should remain as stated below.

60 Minute Addition: Varies [2] (see table below)
15 Minute Addition: 0.5 oz
1 Minute Addition: 0.5 oz

Dry Hop: 1.0 oz Dry hop should be added to primary fermenter after fermentation has started to slow (4-7 days). Leave hops in the beer until it's racked out for bottling or kegging.

Yeast: WLP001, Wyeast 1056, or Safale US-05 (use a starter if needed)

Fermentation: Primary Fermentation at 67° F for 10-18 days

Carbonate: 2 – 2.5 volumes

Reference Notes:
[1] - Recipe designed to leave 6 gallons of wort in kettle at end of boil. Adjust pre-boil volume based on your system.
[2] - All-Grain recipe calculated with a 75% brewhouse efficiency. Adjust as needed for your system.
[3] - All hops are assumed to be pellet hops. Adjust accordingly if you use whole cone hops.
[4] - IBUs calculated using the Rager formula (assumes boil volume is 7 gallons).

Looking at the entire endeavor, a few pitfalls can be identified in the project’s concept. These ‘watch-outs’ are listed below in the chance anyone reading this post takes any guidance or inspiration for their own event.

• Hops used by homebrewers can vary in alpha acid content from what is labeled on the package (whether from age, crop variations, poor handling, etc). All the beer recipe programs have functions to model alpha acid degradation, but it mostly just a guess and a crap-shoot.
• Everyone’s system results in different hop utilization efficiencies. Put faith in your brewers that they have a feel for their systems and let them compensate where they think they may need to.
• Malt character in the beers may vary based on the individual’s mashing and fermentation equipment and/or process. The above recipe is hop-forward and tries to keep the malt characteristics in the background – the hope is the hop varieties’ character will overshadow malt character variations, allowing tasters focus on the contributions from the specific hop.

Lastly, if anyone is interested in it, I’ve linked below an image of the instruction/recipe hand-out as a single page (click to get the larger version). If you would like a MS Word version of this document, please just shoot me an email.


The results from the first Single Hop Beer Experiment done by the Rhode Island Fermentation Technicians can be found here.  Additionally, the results from second round of Single Hop Beer Experiments can be found here. 

If you have any suggestions on how to make this project better, or have other ideas on exploring different hop varieties, please let us know!

-JW


"Brewers enjoy working to make beer as much as drinking beer instead of working."
-Harold Rudolph