Hop Vibrancy/Hop Intensity

[Crusader-Rob]

Hi Everyone. On the back of our dear judges at the SOBA NHC2013, I want to take on board their comments, for hops. This comment was mainly made on my 2 american entries.

American Amber(Although there were other things wrong with it too.)

and my American Pale Ale (Which was under-carbed, as its literally only 2 week bottled.) When its fully carbed I'll be interested to see the difference.

But any ways onto my main question:

How do I get Hop Vibrancy/Intensity?

My APA recipe was as follows: 

4.4kg Glafield Pale

1kg Gladfields Vienna

0.24kg Gladfields Light Crystal

20 Mins: 15g Centennial, 15g amarillo

10 mins: 30g amarillo, 30g Centennial

0mins: 30g amarillo, 30g centennial

Dry Hop: 24g Citra, 16g Amarillo

WLP001 pitched. 

OG: 1055

FG: 1012

[Paul Fraser]

What was the water profile??

[Crusader-Rob]

I haven't done a huge amount with water, but i chucked 7g of sulfate into the mash to help bring it out.

[Tilt]

A few things I've done to improve hop vibrancy in my beers, in no particular order:

• make sure the hops are fresh and well stored
• serve the beer fresh
• add some acid malt to the grist (around 2%)
• prevent splashing/oxidation late in the ferment and at kegging/bottling
• use a small amount (10-20g) of Nelson Sauvin or Galaxy late in the boil to accentuate the other hops
• pay attention to your water - get hold of the local profile and adjust salts using a calculator
• don't be afraid to use more hops late
• do a hop steep/whirlpool addition at 80 degrees for 5 minutes. 

[Ralph]

0 minute additions, left in for 20 minutes after turning the flame off before chilling. You can bump the amount of 0 min additions up to get more hop intensity. I often don't even bother with 20 min or 10 min additions and put bittering (60min) and 0 min (hot whirl pooled for up to 20 min) + dry hop.

Also watch which yeast you are using as some yeasts react differently with the different hop compounds. I would have thought 001 was ok though?

To get the hop flavour to "pop" have the carbonation high. More CO2 fizzing out the top of the beer carries more of the hop volitiles to the nose. Make sure the carb is at 2.7 or higher.

[Ralph]

Also... here is something you might find interesting. The West Coast IPA Comp in Wgtn recently... I entered 2 beers. Both from the same brew. 1 bottle was bottle conditioned and the other I had force carbonated in a keg and then bottled.

The bottle conditioned beer I somehow got the carbonation a bit low. This beer bombed on the judging. About 12 or 13 from memory. The force carbonated beer got 2nd in the competition with a score up in the 40s somewhere...

I did the 2 different methods after reading about bottle conditioned beers holding hop flavours for longer... but it really reinforced to me how important hitting the carbonation right is!

[Crusader-Rob]

Yeah carbonation sounds pretty key, along with hop freshness. i freeze my hops in airtight ziplock bags. and squeeze as much air out as possible. thats the best I can do with out buying a vacuum sealer. lol.

So for APA/IPA, you'd recommend around 2.7 volumes?

I've been trying to carb to around 2.5 which is as recommended, but you'd go higher? 

Interesting how acid malt makes things better too, that part of my little test next week for clarity. pH levels affecting the proteins, which struggle to drop out.

[Ralph]

yep. APA/IPA if you are trying to get the hops to 'pop' then bump the CO2 up. 2.7 is a good start but I think you could even go a little further...

[Crusader-Rob]

cheers guys. Great advice so far.

Keep it coming.

[Peter Smith]

maybe its just me BUT everyone I know who kegs there IPAs AND adds a dry hop to the keg.... and drinks it fresh , they beer tastes AWESOMELY hoppy   does even the 3 weeks in the bottle not smash down some of the hop effect?   

not saying this is easy when entering a competition, just that most keg beers at homebrewers or fresh at a pub taste a lot better then the same beer out of a bottle.   Even the Epic beers on tap in Auckland seem to have a vibrancy that I cant detect when in a bottle.

[Crusader-Rob]

the theory is that beer off any tap. speights included tastes better than when from a bottle.

I'd tend to agree. The other theory (which zane seems to have crushed) is that bottled beer ages better. This is probaqbly true for malt focused beers. I also read that hop aroma is absorbed by the crown seals

[Paul Fraser]

I tried both if those versions of your beer Zane and they tasted like 2 different beers.