United Nations of Beer

Beer Hops

by Jared Birbank
(Home Brew Delegate, Australia)

Home Brewing: what are hops?
By Home Brew Delegate, Jared Birbeck

Beer would taste a little different without hops. They play an important role in beer, but what are they and why are they important?

Simply put, hops add bitterness, aroma and flavour to beer. They add the bitterness to all beers which may or may not be perceptible, and in some styles such as American Pale Ale and India Pale Ale, they had the bulk of the flavour.

Amarillo Hop Pellets	Kent Golding Hops
Willamette Hop Pellets	Styrian Goldings Hops
Galena Pellet Hops	Hallertau Pellet Hops
Challenger Pellet Hops	Hersbrucker Pellet Hops

There are many people that brew their own beer at home, and some commercial brewers who think hops are the star of the show. In some cases they are, in some they play a supporting role and in others you wouldn't know they were there unless you were told.

Hops are the flower from the female hop plant. Within the flower, the flower contains compounds which add bitterness and essential oils which add flavour and aroma.

A lot of home brewers grow their own hops, but most brewers buy hops from local home brew shops. Depending on where you are and what is available, hops can be purchased as whole hops, plugs, pellets and extracts.

Whole hops are the hops flowers. They are pretty well left as they were when they came off the plant and so are the least modified. The downside is they can soak up a bit of wort when added.

Hop plugs are the whole hops compressed into hop plugs. Each plug has around half an ounce or 14 grams of hops. They are a good alternative to whole hops as there has been very little done to them. The only problem is breaking them up into smaller amounts than the half ounce amounts can be difficult.

Hop pellets are pellets made from the hops flower. The flowers are ground into a powder and compressed into a pellet. Pellets provide a great deal of control over the amounts you use as the pellets are quite small.

Hop extracts are often shunned by home brewers. There are two broad types; the first is a hop extract that adds only bitterness. The bitterness is extracted from the hop flower and the extract created. It is a very easy method to add bitterness to beer. The second type is an essence which will add aroma.

There are a number of different varieties of hops available for use in home brewing and each hop has its own characteristics that brewers seek to use.

Very broadly hops can be put into two categories: Those that are used to add aroma and flavour, aroma hops, and those that add bitterness, bittering hops. There are also varieties that have a dual purpose. That is, they are great bittering hops but also have desirable flavouring and aromatic qualities, such as Columbus.

The distinction between aroma and bittering is often done on the basis of the alpha acid content of the hop. Sounds complicated, but it's quite simple. The alpha acid is an indicator as to how much bitterness the hop will add.

For example, Columbus often has around 13% alpha acids and Saaz will have as low as 2%. This means we need to add a lot more of the Saaz to give the same bitterness. This makes Saaz very inefficient in bittering. However, aroma and flavour aren't affected by the alpha acid. When hops are sold they are generally sold with an indicator as to the alpha acid of the hop.

Importantly, if a hops is sold as an aroma hop you can still use it for bittering. In many cases, especially noble hops like Saaz and Hallertau, these hops add a very smooth bitterness and work very well for bittering. The only issue is you will need a lot of them. On the flip side, bittering hops often make good aroma and flavour contributions, but watch out: they add a lot of bitterness even at late stages of the boil.

Hops play an important role in beer, adding bitterness, flavour, aroma and importantly a preservative effect. If you choose your hops well you will easily be able to make great beer at home. Find out what the Alpha Acid is and play with the hops. You won't make a bad beer.

References

WikiPedia

BrewZone

Schmidling

CNN