What effect do hops have on beer?

What are hops and what do they do to beer?

Hops are what makes beer taste wonderful!

At their most basic form, hops are the cone-shaped flower of the plant known as 'Humulus lupulus'. 

Hops may be added to the beer wort to impart a bitterness which balances the sweet malt flavour of beer.

Hops can be used to create a variety of tastes and to offer unique aromas which enhance the drinking experience. 

Beer makers of the last millennium recognized that hops were a crucial element of brewing good beer. It was the Germans who were amongst the first beer makers to recognize their needs. So much so, it became the law that only hops could be used in beer as opposed to another beer flavoring such as anise (aniseed), heather and rosewood. 

The beauty of the hops plant is that its varieties give different qualities to the beer, meaning there are so many opportunities for making brewing discoveries.

The climate and location of where the hops are grown help determine these qualities but most importantly, the alpha or beta acids of the hop cause the greatest contribution. 

Hops also offer the ability to act as a stability agent, preventing spoilage of the beer (hence Indian Pale Ales shipped to India from Great Britain were heavily hopped). Its properties allow the beer yeast to thrive over any other potential contaminants.

It also helps with head retention and acts as a natural clarifier agent.

Hops also contain oils which add to the flavour. Hops can be added at different points in the brewing process and the differing temperatures will also have an effect on those oils and flavour. 

A concept of a Jedi Knight brewing beer inside the belly of a giant worm

Hop associations with certain kinds of beers 

Certain kinds of hops are commonly associated with particular styles of beer or beer from certain regions.

Here's some common examples: 

• Pilsner beers have become nearly synonymous with the four popular 'noble hops' being the varieties of hop called Terrnanger, Spalt, Hallertauer and Saaz. Saaz hops in particular are associated with the brewing of lagers, most for the aroma that has become associated with the beer. Pilsner beers are known to traditionally come from the Czech Republic.
• The English Golding hop has become the signature hops of English ale. The Fuggle hop is another popular hop used for ale. 
• America has become a home for hop production and many new varieties from old favorites have been developed. American hops are recognized and appreciated all around the world for the bold, and often intense flavors they impart to beer. American hops are often described as being citrus-like, however that's a most rudimentary description.

Hops in pellet form

What form do hops come in for brewing?

Hops are traditionally distributed as pellets, plugs or whole leaf but they now can come in cyro hop form.

What hops should I use in my beer brewing? 

It of course depends on what kind of beer you are trying to make. If you are making beer clones or following recipes, you probably want to follow what other brewers have found to work well. 

Here's a list of some common hops that are often used by home brewers and ones I have used myself:

• Cascade: This is an extremely popular American hop. Known for its floral hop trait, it is often liked to a grapefruit. Cascade is known as a versatile hop variety that is popular for bittering, finishing and dry hopping of pale ale and American-style beers.
• Czech Saaz: as mentioned a popular hop for pilsner and lager style beers. Saaz offers a delicate, mild floral aroma.
• Green Bullet offers a traditional bittering quality and hop flavour. A Kauri-like giant of the New Zealand brewing industry this hop is closely associated with the world renowned Steinlager beer. Green bullets is best considered a bittering variety typically lager beers.
• Motueka Hops: Hey, I'm a Kiwi so why not promote a second Kiwi hops? The Moteuka hops comes from the region it is grown in, being the top of the South Island of New Zealand. Very suitable for more traditional style lagers, especially the increasingly popular Bohemian Pilsener
• Golding hops are good for bittering, finishing and dry hopping a range of ales

If you are a beginner brewer looking to use hops for the first time, we feel confident enough from our experience with using these hops that you won't go wrong -  as long as you match them to your intended style of beer.

We have a fond memory of a brew which used both cascade and green bullet hops to make a loosely approximate version of Steinlager.

It was a fine brew!

And so from that, you can take that it is OK to add different hops together to get different flavours and aromas!

When do I add hops to my beer?

Typically the beer wort is boiled with hops before it is cooled down to begin the fermentation process. The timings of when to add the hops in the boil can be critical as the different timings can cause the hops to work differently on the beer.

If you are making your own wort (as is, not using a beer kit) then it's best practice to follow a tried and true recipe, at least as you start out.

You can of course become more adventurous when you have a bit of confidence in your beer making skills!

If you're at that point you'll want to understand that the process is sometimes known as the “hop schedule”. A hop schedule will list the length of time that the hops should be in the boil, not the amount of time you should wait to add the hops.

This allows you to make your timings correctly. The rough guide is the longer you boil the hops, the more bitterness they will impart. The shorter you boil them, the more flavour will be added.

If you are using a simple beer kit, you have two choices when to add hops. You may add them when you bring all the ingredients of the kit together, or you can add them near the end of the fermentation process. The choice is yours, and in our experience, there doesn't appear to be much of a difference in the end result. 

Where can I buy quality hops?

Your local brewshop will typically have a wide selection but there are online stores everywhere, we recommend NZ's Brewshop but internationally you'll have some good luck buying on Amazon.

Extra for Experts:

• How to dry hop your beer
• How to add hops to the beer kit's wort
• Where to buy beer hops online
• Add oak chips to flavour beer
• Using Lupulin powder for brewing

Leave a Comment cascade, green bullet, hops, saaz

How Cryo hops & 'lupulin powder' can replace the need for traditional hop pellets

How lupulin 'Cryo Hops' are changing the beer brewing industry 

The concept of making beer hasn't changed much in several hundred years but the methods recently have. While hops have been used for many a year, one company in America might have found a way for a genuine step change in hop use with their innovation of collecting lupulin powder.

You might already know that lupulin is the part of the hops that brewers utilised to make beers hoppy as that's where the good alpha acids for brewing come from.

In case you didn't know, the alpha acids are converted into bitter iso-alpha acids during the brewing process, and essential oils and are what give beers their varying hoppy qualities.

YCH Hops, a grower-owned hop supplier based in Washington, America has created a new process where the lupulin is extracted from the hops and is collected in powder form and marketed as Cryo Hops.

You might well ask, what's the point of this?

Efficiency gains in making beer are the short answer.

Beer hops are often made into pellets form for distribution and preservation. The process of making the pellets actually breaks down the acids and oils meaning the effect on the beer requires more hops than one perhaps needs. Enter lupulin powder which has a superior percentage of 'herbs and spices' over hop pellets meaning that less quantity is required.

Ekuanot hops are quite popular

YCH boasts that their product "offers twice the resin content of traditional whole-leaf and hop pellet products" which basically means you only need to use half as much.

YCH Hops initially started to market their powdered 'Cryo Hops' with the brand name "LupuLN2" to commercial brewers in America.  The reviews are in and breweries switching as result.

How is lupulin powder made into cryo hops?

The powder extraction process is simple in concept. The collected hops are subjected to cold temperatures inside a nitrogen atmosphere. This limits any oxidation of the sensitive resins and oils in the hop. The hops are 'chilled and milled' and the lupulin is forced from the lupulin gland.

The little guy has not been forgotten though - a small home brewer, you can buy the powder from Amazon!

How to use Cryo Hops

It's dead simple - you can simply dry hop the Cryo hops as you would with your ordinary pellet hops. You don't even need to make a hop tea!

What variety of cryo hops are there?

YCH Hops have produced Mosaic, Ekuanot, Citra, Simcoe and Cascade versions of LupuLN2. 

The benefits of using Cryo Hops

You can see the appeal for commercial brewers - less volume means better storage and transportation costs.

The other benefit of the powder is that their use in place of traditional hops means less 'green material' is left in the beer, improving clarity by reducing sedimentation and better beer brightness.

You can see why home brewers who don't have commercial means of clearing beer will love using the powder!

I haven't found any information how long the powder can be used before it loses its potency.
Given the apparent early success of lupulin powder with the American brewers that have used it, we expect that its popularity will slowly begin to spread across the Continent and then the rest of brewing communities the world over - provided it's sold at a cost-effective price relative to the economics of using traditional hop pellets it should do well - indeed the prices on Amazon seem pretty fair.

Leave a Comment cryo hops, ekuanot, hops, lupulin, lupulin powder, lupuLN2

The 3 best ways to add hops to your beer

When do I add hops to my beer wort?

This hops guide is focused on making beer using a kit rather than by doing a boil (when hops are usually added during the boil).

It is dead easy to add hops to your wort.

All you have to do is throw those precious green bullets of bliss into your drum once you have mixed all your ingredients together.

This is called dry hopping and it is easy as pitching yeast.

Many brewers add the hops a few days before bottling, once fermentation is complete.

Boom, you have done your beer a wonderful service by adding a magical green plant that will help give your beer a more discerning and bitter beer taste.

In this context, you are using hops for flavor and not so much for bittering purposes which happens during the boil.

But that's the easy way out to adding hops to your beer kit brew.

There are some other methods that you might wish to try which will add character and flavor to your beer.

The 'wait 5 days after fermentation method' 

Some beer brewers insist that you will get a better bang for your buck if you add the hops in 5 or so days after your beer has begun fermenting.

From what I can figure out, the rationale is that the 'aromatic oils' that can be lost in the popular boiling process of beer are retained in the beer.

The dry hopping method does not add any bitterness to the beer itself. So if you're after a really bitter beer, you'll need a kit that has been designed with that in mind or you could try making a hops tea that removes the bitterness from the hops and then add the tea to your wort.

This method of adding hops to your beer will give your beer a nice hoppy aroma which will surely add to your drinking experience.

Dry hopping works fairly well with IPA style beers.

The negative of simply adding dry hops into your wort is that it does increase the likelihood of there being sediment in your beer but with a good pouring technique and refrigeration before said poor, you'll be OK.

To try and counter that from occurring, you may wish to consider:

Placing hops in muslin bags to reduce sediment

The other method of adding hops to your fermenter is adding the hops secured inside in a muslin cloth bag.

We are not kidding.

If you wrap your hops up into a muslin cloth, the idea is that the sediment stays in the bag, but all the flavors get out and into your beer, meaning that you will have a clearer beer.

There are some arguments that this technique will actually hamper the effect of the hops as they kind of need 'room to breathe' and infuse the beer with their magical bitterness and IBU.

If you feel this is a fair point then I suggest you consider the:

The 'Hop Tea' technique to add bitterness to beer

That's right, before you make beer, you are going to make a cup of hop tea.

Put the hops in the muslin bag (or tie up a square of it) and then boil it for several minutes. The hop pellets will quickly disintegrate.

This is normal.

During the boil, have a good smell and enjoy the aromas. That's the deliciousness you want to impart into your beer.

When you've boiled the hops for long enough, turn the pan off but leave everything right where it is.

At this time, you'll also have prepared you wort, so now put everything you've boiled - the whole muslin bag and the bittered tea that you've made. It will be a green mess, like the Hulk puked up or something.

The idea here is that the great hops aromas and oils have been removed from bullets and will mix easily with your brew. You're throwing in the muslin bag for good measure.

The bag itself will not have any effect on the beer or fermentation process, it can be disposed of on beer bottling day.

The key thing is to not overthink things. Sure you could use a hop chart and worry about boiling times but really, if you a starting out, just relax.

If you are using a starter kit, or have done a few brews, what you are wanting to do is make a good, first up time beer and not worry too much.

Using extra hops already shows you are ahead of the curve, just get them into the fermenter and sit back and wait for the hops magic to happen until you are ready to bottle your beer.

Now you've got a nice brew ready, sit back, grab a glass of healthy Kombucha and watch some Star Wars!

Leave a Comment beer brewing, bittering, hops

The impact of dry hoping on yeast metabolism

Dry hopping is a technique used in brewing beer where hops are added to the beer during or after fermentation, rather than during the boiling process. This technique is used to enhance the aroma and flavor of the beer without adding bitterness.

While dry hopping does not have a direct impact on yeast metabolism, it can affect the yeast's ability to ferment sugars and produce alcohol. Hops contain compounds known as hop oils, which are composed of various terpenes and other volatile compounds. These compounds can inhibit yeast growth and fermentation if they are present in high concentrations.

One of the main terpenes found in hop oils is myrcene, which has been shown to have antimicrobial properties that can inhibit the growth of yeast and other microorganisms. In addition to inhibiting yeast growth, hop oils can also affect yeast metabolism by altering the yeast's gene expression.

Dry hop into beer wort like a Jedi Knight

Recent research has shown that dry hopping can induce stress responses in yeast, which can lead to changes in gene expression and metabolism. Specifically, dry hopping has been shown to increase the expression of genes involved in oxidative stress response and energy metabolism.

In one study, researchers found that dry hopping with high concentrations of hops (greater than 2 g/L) resulted in a decrease in yeast cell viability and an increase in oxidative stress markers. However, at lower concentrations of hops (less than 1 g/L), there was no significant effect on yeast viability or oxidative stress.

Overall, while dry hopping does not directly impact yeast metabolism, it can indirectly affect yeast growth, fermentation, and gene expression through the presence of hop oils. 

Brewers must carefully control the amount of hops added during dry hopping to ensure that the beer's flavor and aroma are enhanced without negatively impacting yeast metabolism.

How does a home brewer address this issue?

There are several steps that can be taken to help address the stress on yeast during dry hopping:

• Use a high-quality yeast strain: Using a healthy and robust yeast strain that is well-suited for the specific beer style can help ensure that the yeast can handle the stress of dry hopping.
• Control the hop dose: The concentration of hop compounds in the beer can have a significant impact on yeast metabolism and health. Careful control of the hop dose can help reduce the stress on the yeast and minimize the risk of off-flavors and aromas. This is fancy way to say do not over hop your beer!
• Monitor fermentation temperature: Yeast metabolism can be influenced by temperature, and higher temperatures can increase the risk of yeast stress. Maintaining a stable and appropriate fermentation temperature can help reduce the stress on the yeast during dry hopping.
• Use yeast nutrients: Yeast nutrients, such as yeast hulls or zinc, can be added to the wort to help improve yeast health and performance during fermentation.
• Add hops in stages: Rather than adding all of the hops at once, adding them in stages can help reduce the overall stress on the yeast. This can be achieved by dividing the dry hop addition into multiple smaller additions, which can be added over several days. 

All this is well and good but our personal experience suggests that one can make pretty good beers when dry hopping so I personally do not worry about the effects of dry hopping on my own beer!

Leave a Comment hops, yeast

Kinds of hops grown in New Zealand

While they are bloody everywhere, hops are not a native plant to New Zealand. 

They were originally brought over from the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America by settlers during the early 19th century. The settlers, mainly those of Southern English and German descent, introduced hops in order to brew beer on the new land. 

The hop varieties that were grown at that time were the 'traditional' kind namely Fuggle, Golding, and Spalt. These varieties were well-suited to the climate of New Zealand and quickly established themselves in the country's hop-growing regions. 

One hundred and 50-odd years later New Zealand is known for producing high-quality hops that are sought after by brewers around the world - but there's not much fuggle in sight.

Some of the most contemporarily grown hops in New Zealand include:

• Nelson Sauvin - This hop is known for its unique white wine-like aroma, and is often used in saisons, Belgian-style ales, and other white wine-inspired beers.
• Riwaka - Riwaka is a hop variety that is known for its intense and unique aroma, which can include notes of passion fruit and citrus. It's often used in IPAs and other hop-forward beers. [Note one of the best beers I ever brewed was a lager with Riwaka hops and used Golden Syrup for the sugar]
• Pacific Jade - Pacific Jade is a hop variety with a clean, crisp, and distinctive aroma that can include notes of black pepper, lime, and other citrus. It's often used in lagers, pilsners, and other light-bodied beers.
• Motueka - Motueka is a hop variety that is known for its intense and complex aroma, which can include notes of lime, tropical fruit, and other citrus. It's often used in IPAs, saisons, and other hop-forward beers.
• Wakatu - Wakatu is a hop variety that is known for its unique and complex aroma, which can include notes of lime, passion fruit, and other tropical fruit. It's often used in IPAs, saisons, and other hop-forward beers.

These hops are generally known for their unique and intense aromas, and they are highly sought after by craft brewers around the world. They are known to be a perfect fit for the new world beer style and they can bring a unique and fruity flavor to the beer.

Pacific Jade is one of the more sought-after hops. 

Pacific Jade is a hop variety that was developed in New Zealand by the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research (previously known as HortResearch), which is a Crown Research Institute that conducts research on horticulture, food, and bio-protection. The hop variety was developed through a breeding program that aimed to create new hop varieties that were well-suited to the country's growing conditions and that had unique and desirable aroma profiles.

Pacific Jade was one of the hop varieties developed in the program and it was released in 2004. The hop is known for its clean, crisp, and distinctive aroma that can include notes of black pepper, lime, and other citrus. 

It is a 'dual purpose' hop that can be used for bittering and aroma, and it's often used in lagers, pilsners, and other light-bodied beers. Its alpha acid levels are moderate, usually around 12% making it a good choice for beers that need a moderate amount of bitterness.

Nowadays, Pacific Jade is widely used by craft breweries in New Zealand and around the world, and it is considered one of the best hops grown in New Zealand.

Here are some beer styles that Pacific Jade hops are particularly well-suited for:

• Lagers - Pacific Jade's clean and crisp aroma profile makes it a great choice for lagers. Its relatively low alpha acid content means it will provide a moderate bittering, which is suitable for this style of beer.
• Pilsners - Pacific Jade's delicate and refined aroma profile makes it a great choice for pilsners. The hop's notes of floral and herbal can complement the crisp and clean taste of the pilsner.
• American-style Ales - Pacific Jade's unique aroma profile can bring a unique and fruity flavor to American-style ales, making it a good choice for pale ales and IPAs that want to add a distinct character to the beer.
• Belgian-style Ales - Pacific Jade's complex aroma profile can provide a unique and fruity character to Belgian-style ales, making it a good choice for beers such as Saisons, Tripels and Dubbels.
• Ciders - Pacific Jade's unique aroma profile can provide a unique and fruity flavor to Ciders. Its notes of black pepper and lime can complement the crisp and clean taste of the cider.

Where are hops grown in New Zealand?

The majority of the hops grown in New Zealand are grown in the Nelson region, which is considered the hop growing capital of the country. The region has a long history of hop cultivation, dating back to the 1800s, and today it's home to many of the country's leading hop growers and processors.

The Tasman region is another important hop growing area in New Zealand, with a number of small and medium-sized growers producing a wide variety of hop varieties. The region is known for its clean and green environment, which is ideal for growing high-quality hops.

The Waikato and Hawke's Bay regions are also becoming increasingly important in hop cultivation, as more growers and processors are starting to establish themselves in these regions.

Steinlager

It would perhaps be remiss of us to not discuss Steinlager, one of New Zealand's greatest ever brews. 

Does it use NZ hops? 

Probably not:

The hops used in the production of Steinlager are not specified by the brewery, Lion Nathan, but it is likely that they use traditional European hop varieties such as Saaz or Hallertau, which are known for their clean, crisp, and subtle aroma, and are often used in lagers and pilsners.

These hops are chosen for their subtle and delicate aroma profile, which complements the crisp, clean taste of lagers like Steinlager. They are also used for bittering which gives the beer a balanced flavor, and for their low alpha acid which means less bitter taste for the drinker.

As far as we are concerned, it's one of the greatest beers ever brewed!

Leave a Comment hops

↠ What is dry hopping (and how you do it)

How to 'dry hop' homebrew beer 

Simply speaking, dry hopping is when the brewer adds hops in pellet form to the fermenter after the wort has been readied.

The brewer is, of course, using hops to improve the aroma of the beer and to add some bitterness to the brew (bitterness is best produced by the boiling of hops though). 

This ‘dry’ practice is often done later in the fermentation cycle of the beer. The thinking behind adding the hops later is that the hops aroma is more likely to stay with the beer brew through to the bottling process.

This is because the bubbling process and emission of carbon dioxide via the airlock allows the aromas to escape.

Bearing in mind that one should leave one’s beer to sit quietly for a couple of weeks before brewing to ensure that the yeast has had a chance to do its thing, this is a great opportunity for the oils and bitterness of the hops to also transfuse into the beer.

It’s for that reason that dry hopping is a popular practice.

That said, we’ve thrown extra hops into our brews at the start of the fermentation process and haven’t experienced any taste disasters.

Beware the sediment factor

A point you might like to consider is that dry hopping can increase the chances and amount of sediment settling in your bottled beer. You may wish to think about placing the hops in a nylon mesh bag or muslin wrap.

Shortly before bottling your beer, remove the muslin back of hops with a sterilized instrument and you’ll be fine. 

I’ve read some brewers raise concerns that this method may reduce the chances of the hops being exposed to the beer. If you do share those concerns, you may want to make a tea of your hops!

If you are worried about infecting your beer with hops, don’t worry about it – indeed hops have been found to assist yeast with fermentation by having an anti-microbe effect on any nasties in beer!

But what hops are good for dry hoping? 

The classic hops choices for brewing are popular for dry hopping: Cascade, Crystal, Fuggle, Saaz, Willamette, Golding, Hallertau, and Tettnanger. You can of course dry hop with whatever variety you wish! It’s your beer, you can make it any way you want. 

We would encourage you to match the kind of hops to the kind of beer you are making. E.g. Goldings hops are a popular choice for ale brewers.

How much hops to add to the fermented wort drum?

The question of how much hops should be used when dry hopping is fairly easy to answer. 

Anywhere between 30 – 60 grams is considered normal, however, you can add as much or as little or as you want. It's all about taste and experimentation to find your personal preference.

If you double that 60 grams to 120 you will be more likely to get a very strong hop aroma from your beer.

Any greater amount and you will probably suffer diminishing returns (and hops are expensive!).

Did you know you can grow your own hops?

Leave a Comment beer brewing, dry hopping, hops

What is the German Beer Purity Law (and is it still obeyed)?

What are the German Beer Purity Laws?

Have you ever been drinking a commercially brewer German beer, been bored with the conversation and decided to read the bottle label? 

Did you spy the wording 'brewed according to the German Beer Purity Law'? 

Did you wonder what the law meant? 

If you thought it meant your beer was brewed by beautiful virgins with long blonde hair, you're probably on the wrong website.

The German (read that as Bavarian) beer purity laws showed just how serious they were (and still) are about brewing their beer. Introduced by Bavarian officials in 1516,  the 'Reinheitsgebot' (as it eventually became known 300 years later) was designed to try and control price competition in the marketplace. 

German economists, not understanding the complex dynamic of market pricing required that only barely could be used in beer brewing so as to not increase the price of other products that could be used to make bread, namely rye and wheat.

The Germans are so serious about their beer they made a stamp!

The key rule of the law is the ingredients:

According to the Bavarian law, the only ingredients that could be used in the production of beer were water, barley and hops. 

And that's it. Note that yeast is not mentioned. This came much later in the 19th century when it was realised that yeast was pretty vital when making beer! 

Anti-competitive motives

The 'Reinheitsgebot law' also made rules about the price that beer could be sold as in the bars. This pricing strategy was intended to reduced competition for the ingredients that went into bread being rye and wheat. 

By making the law, the effect was to exclude beer from the wider German states that may have contained other ingredients thus helping reduce competition and allowing local Bavarian beer producers to continue as they were. 

To keep in line with the beer law, making pilsner beers became the order of the day, thus laying the foundation for Germany's proud history of making pilsner.

As a public health measure

It’s often claimed that the beer purity law was the first food safety legislation in the world. This is because the law prevented brewers from adding ingredients that could be considered unhealthy such as rushes, roots, mushrooms, and animal products.

The mushrooms could have some severe consequences for the drinker as the point of imbibing was to a) enjoy a beer and b) enjoy the effect of alcohol and not experience a hallucinogenic experience caused by the mushrooms!

It’s mused that the original intent of the law did not really entertain health concerns but its focus was ensuring profits for local Bavarian brewers by keeping out, competitive beer makers. 

So is the beer purity law still observed? 

This law was taken very seriously and was observed for 300 years. Eventually, it spread across the whole of Germany.

Yeast was later added to the law when it was identified how vital it was in the beer-making process.

When Bavaria entered the German Unification of 1871, it was a condition of their entry that the beer law was carried through. Not even rulers such as Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich dared change the way beer was made.

Even in the more modern era, the law is still strictly applied and this had led to various court cases taken by brewers who want to try new ingredients and brewing processes. 

This has led to several products being made that are beers but cannot have the word 'bier' on their label and also variations on malt and production techniques may be used. 

Faced with the reality of international trading obligations, Germany allows the importation of beer that does not comply with the local legislation, however, local brewers must still observe the requirements. 

They are, however, less stringent than they used to be!

Feel good marketing

The reality of the modern world is that there is no reason to have a beer purity law - local and international competition sort all that out, especially when there is a greater supply of products like wheat and rye around the world - so the consumption of beer doesn't affect the price of bread! 

Instead, a passionate beer fraternity still follow the methods for reasons of tradition and more arguably, for a competitive marketing benefit!

Nowadays, beer brands like Heineken use the reference to the purity law as a means to identify with quality and to align their beer with good bear making ideals - thus giving comfort to the beer drinker they are drinking a quality product. 

It's quite a good tactic given that beer is a global product and traded freely around the world. 

German beer can be held out as being brewed in a certain way and without ingredients that the health (!) conscious beer drinker may be keen to avoid. 

Leave a Comment barley, hops, malt, pilsner, purity law, reinheitsgebot, water

↠ Making beer wort

Guide to make really good beer wort for home brewing

When I first started making beer I was totally confused by the word 'wort' that I kept seeing everywhere. 

"Cool your wort quickly!" the internet said. 

Um what?

Well know I know, it's clear that 'beer wort' is the starting point for making beer. It is the amber liquid extracted from malted barley.

In the most basic sense, you can describe the wort as unfermented beer.

Beer makers use the wort as the basis to which start the beer. 

Think of the wort as the base contents of the potion in a witch's cauldron.

As the witch adds 'eye of newt' and other goodies to her potion, the beer maker does the same by adding flavourings and hops to the wort to prepare a solution ready for fermenting. Like a painter needs a well prepared canvas, the wort is the same building block for making great beer. 

So basically then, the wort is just flat beer. 

It's kind of true....

Kinda 

Like making a cake, if you don't use the correct ingredients in the right proportions your cake fails, a wort needs to be properly prepared.

If you are making beer using a beer kit, then your wort is easily made simply by adding the content of the can to the required volume of hot water.

Boom, you have wort. 

You then add to your beer potion, hops, and sugars such as dextrose or a beer enhancer. 

If you're boiling your own wort, it's more complicated. You the one who is in charge of making sure you have all the ingredients and that you boil the hops at the right timings - this is crucial if you are trying for a specific kind of bitterness  - so make sure you have the right gas burner to get your wort to a hot temperature. 

Mashing is required to turn the grains into sugars. The grains a mixed with malt and hot water for an hour or so in a mash tun. When the liquid is ready, it is 'sparged' from the mash and ready to be boiled. 

This is to extract the bittering, flavour and aroma from hops. This is critical if you want your beer to have the characteristics of beer!

The bittering hops are usually boiled in the wort for approximately one hour to one and a half hours. This long boil extracts resins from the hops which provides the bittering.

Near the end of the boil, flavouring hops can be added. Then, if you're fully on your beer brewing game, finishing hops are added last. This part of the wort boil extracts the oils which provide flavour and aroma.

Chill out, man

Once your wort is boiled it's now time to sparge the wort - that means to drain it from the grain mash.

and everything has gone to plan, the wort is chilled very quickly using a wort chiller.

Due to the temperature requirements of yeast, it needs to be at a temperature which will allow it to thrive. If you put your yeast into the extremely hot boiled wort, you will kill the yeast and get flat beer.

It might taste nice but there won't be any alcohol in it either!

Brewers have a tough enough time trying to work out if their beer has fermented properly, so make sure you get that part of your beer brewing right!

Here's some New Zealand classic beer clone wort recipes you might like:

• Steinlager Clone
• Panhead Supercharger Clone

Image credit to Alan Levine via Creative Commons Licence

Leave a Comment hops, making beer, wort

Review of William Warn's 'Bohemian' Pilsner beer kit

I decided to try the Williams Warn Bohemian Pilsner at the suggestion of a keen home brewer.

Williams Warn’s version of a traditional Bohemian Pilsner is touted as having “a rich, complex maltiness and a crisp finish”.

So that’s the challenge for this home brewer, can I produce this beer as described?

What is a bohemian pilsner?

There are basically two kinds of pilsners, the German and Bohemian. The difference between the two is often the  geographicsource of their ingredients.

Bohemian brews are said to have a more malty character that the German version and so I guess that's why WilliamsWarn is mentioning it in their product description.

Let’s talk about the actual kit

The kit includes a 3.75 pound can of pre-hopped Premium Bohemian Pilsner liquid malt extract, designed by Ian Williams and crafted at Lion Brewery in New Zealand. 

Lion Nathan is of course famous for producing it’s own world conquering beer, Steinlager.

I combined the beer kit with WilliamsWarn’s own DME pack which I think from memory was 1250 grams or about 3 pounds.

The yeast was the Fermentis Saflager W34/70 lager yeast which is a popular brewing yeast for lagers that originated from where else but Germany.  

Brewing the Warns William kit

The brewing was a pretty standard affair following the usual beer brewing practices, the only thing of note was I added some cascade hops. I should more properly use a noble hops such as sazz but the cascade was all I had!

I suspect this combination may give me a potentially fruity taste which could contradict the intended crisp taste that’s sought but we’ll see.

Let’s talk about the yeast

The first thing I noticed about the yeast packet was that it had approximately twice the amount of yeast of any other beer kit that I’ve ever used.

So I was not surprised when less than two hours after pitching the yeast I walked back into the man shed and heard the barrel happily bubbling away quite strongly.

I looked into the yeast a bit further and learned that the Williams Warn claims 'When you pitch these yeasts into your wort, you’ll see activity within hours.'

So their claims were true and that totally gives me confidence that this beer kit comes from a brewer who actually knows what they are talking about.

Good stuff.

The brew carried on bubbling very strongly  for three full days at a pretty good rate and then it slowly wound down.

Into the bottle goes the brown liquid

Bottling day came 6 days later.

The beer smelt and tasted good. 

I bottled into a variety of 750 and 500 mls bottles.  

I also tried to use as little sugar as possible as I’m quite conscious that I’ve had a few too many gushers of late.

That’s just a waste of beer and money eh?

So what's the verdict on the beer?

I conditioned for two weeks and hand a wee taste test. The pilsner proved to be quite a tasty drop. It had a nicely balanced body and left a great after taste.

Despite the addition of cascade hops, their effect was quite minimal. I perhaps should added more?

Being a pilsner it was drunk nice and cold, which is just what you need for some summer drinking. 

It also gave good head, which is always pleasing... 

How did the beer compare to Williams Warn's description? Did it have “a rich, complex maltiness and a crisp finish” as touted by the brand?

Kind of!

The beer certainly did have a malt taste that I would not expect of a pilsner but that could be the effect of too many years drinking mass produced pilsners.

As for a crisp finish, I would not describe my brew as having one, none-the-less it was a very drinkable beer. 

And what of the beer's look?

Indeed, I made a fine, deep golden beer.

I would happily brew this beer again! It's probably quite a good kit to boil and then do a hops boil with.

If you want more than my word for this beer kit, check out the reviews for it on Amazon.

Leave a Comment beer kit, beer kit review, bohemian pilsner, cascade, hops, how to brew with a beer kit, williamswarn

How make a hops tea for home brewing?

How to make a hops tea for brewing with a beer kit

Sometimes when making homebrew, beer makers also like to make a cup of hop tea!

Why would we do this?

The idea here is that the great hops aromas and oils have been removed from the bullets due to the boiling and will then mix more easily with your wort brew. You are not making a tea to drink but rather simply trying to better extract the oil from the hop bud or pellet.

This means you have extracted more of the hops from the bullet than you would if you simply dry hopped them.

How to make a hops tea for homebrewing

Put the hops in a muslin bag (or tie up a square of it) and then boil it for several minutes in water.

During the boil, have a good smell and enjoy the aromas as it wafts around your kitchen.

That's the deliciousness you want to impart into your beer.

We love using Cascade hops as we think they give the best smell in the world! It's also damn fine hops for making beer with, particularly pilsners and lagers.

When you've boiled the hops for long enough, turn the pan off but leave everything right where it is to cool.

Try not to let anything get into the pot as everything that's in there is going into your beer wort. I say this with experience as I did this the other month - made the tea over the stove with the back door open late at night and somehow a moth managed to land it.

 

Too bad, I made a hops and moth tea!

You have probably already prepared your wort, so now put everything you've boiled - the whole muslin bag and the tea that you've made into the primary fermenter.

You are good to go on and now pitch your yeast - as long as the wort is at the correct temperature.

You can also drink your own hops tea too!

It's done slightly differently to the above method for beer - you let the hops steep as you would any other tea and then drink when cool enough. It's not for us though, too bitter!

Leave a Comment hops, how to make a hop tea

↠ Tips on how to properly brew a good lager

How to easily make a great lager home brew

You might have heard that it's hard to home brew a good lager.

You might have heard beer kit lagers can be unforgiving beers to make and any mistakes will ruin the beer.

It's almost ironic that the world's most popular beer style is apparently too hard to make.

But, is this really the case?

What if I told you it was easy to make a great tasting kit lager brew?

Would you believe me?

The proof is in the tasting of course. Let me show you the secrets and tips of making a delicious lager from a beer kit.

I've made some great lagers and I look back fondly on the batch I called 'J' and just how good it came out. I was basically trying to make a Steinlager clone and it was truly superb.

If this backyard brewer can easily make a great lasting lager, you can too.

Are you ready for the secret of easily making a good lager?

Stop reading all the online nonsense and JUST BREW IT.

That's all you have to do. It's that easy a tip.

JUST BREW IT.

But just in case you think I'm pulling your leg, here's some tricks and tips for brewing lagers (and hard seltzer brews too).

Don't rush in like a school boy

The key to making a good lager is patience.

Even if you think fermentation is complete, let your lager beer rest a few more days longer in the fermenter.

It's a chemical process after all. 

It's very common for lagers to exhibit sulfur-like characters during fermentation (hence part of the rationale for people saying lagers are hard to brew).

Leaving your beer to sit for a bit longer will allow such characteristics to fade and largely disappear - which leaves you with a great tasting and smelling lager.

In the cold, cold night

In conjunction with time, lagers need the cold to condition and mature.

It's a lesson the Nordic people discovered long ago - they put their beer in cold caves over the winter and found they came out well ... lagered!

Indeed, the word lager actually means storeroom or warehouse so you can see how the cave thing / naming of the style happened.

Ideally, once you have bottled your lager, leave it in a warmish place to carbonate for a few days. If it's TOO cold at this stage, you won't get bubbles in your beer!

Once carbonation takes place, feel free to put your beer bottles in the garden shed for a few weeks where it's nice an cold.

For this reason, it's often considered good timing to make your lager near the end of autumn or the start of winter.

Keeping your lager cold will result in the production of fewer esters and fusel alcohols, giving your beer a better taste balance.

Expert brewers often refrigerate their lager.

Consider using well known lager yeasts 

It's a trait of lager that certain yeasts tend to suit being lagered. Your larger kit will come with a standard yeast - if you're feeling adventurous, you might want to order the Lager Yeast WL833 - it's a popular yeast for lager brewing.

Match your hops to well known lager hops

Saaz hops, in particular, are associated with the brewing of lagers as well as the classic German hop, Hallertauer . We've discovered New Zealand derived Green Bullet hop is also very handy.

Read more on good hop matches to beer.

You need to be  super vigilant with your sanitization

Ales are more forgiving than lagers, it's true.

The taste of an ale can overpower some of the niggles of brewing like unwanted smells.

So, to avoid these happen to your lager beer, the best cure is prevention.

That means being meticulously clean during the brew and ensuring your equipment is sanitized.

The tip here? Sanitize, sanitize and sanitize.

Remember what the word lager means! 

It means basically to store.

So once you have bottled your beer, leave it to store for as long as you can.

Maybe even over the whole of winter, in a cold place.

At a minimum three weeks but it could be worth leaving your lager alone for a couple of months.

Summary - how to easily brew a lager:

• Leave your brew to ferment a little longer than you would and ale
• Select a tried and true lager yeast
• Match with appropriate hops
• Watch your temperatures, especially post bottling for carbonation and conditioning.

So these have been a few basic tips that will help you easily make a fine tasting lager beer.

Forget the hysteria that it's hard to make a lager and JUST DO IT!

Leave a Comment green bullet, hallertauer, home brew, hops, lager, saaz

Tips on how to easily grow your own hops

How to cheaply use hops for brewing

Have you ever thought, gosh, "I'm sick of paying so much for hops!  I wish there was a cheaper way?"

There is.

And it so so very easy.

You can grow your own hops!

Even if your green thumb is decidedly lacking in green, you can cultivate your own hops in your own garden.

Using fresh hops in your homebrewing efforts is an awesome feeling and adds to that sense of 'master of your own beer brewing destiny' that many beer makers seek.

It's also fairly organic if that's what you're into.

Here's our guide to growing hops:

Where can I get hops plants from?

Hops grow best from root-like cuttings which are known as rhizomes. Rhizomes can be purchased online but home brewers that grow their own share with each other, or sell them cheaply. A great way to source these contacts is on social media groups such as Facebook and beer forums.

There's plenty available to purchase on Amazon too.

You can always try growing hops from seed, though this is not considered as easy as using a rhizome.

What is the best season to plant hops in?

Hops may be grown in any moderate climate if given proper maintenance and care but the best to plant the rhizome is during spring to allow for the plant to take advantage of the summer growing period.

Where should I plant my hops rhizome?

Hops plants are best served by being planted in a sunny location. A site exposed to many hours of sun in the day is ideal. 

The hop vines (known as bines) grow upright at quite a rate so they will need something like a trellis to climb up.

Tall poles can be used together with strong string or twine are often used to support the growing bines.

Hops grow at a fast rate and really take advantage of the soil's properties - being nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium.

Home growers can choose to use commercial products that add these elements or by making manure compost.

If you can convince some Lady Bugs to hang around your hops plants.

How to harvest hops from the bine

So if you've planted in spring, you'll be harvesting in summer. While it depends on where you live, autumn will likely be too late.  So hops can take 4 - 6 months in the growing cycle to be ready for harvesting. 

Lupulin powder in the hop

A hop that is ready to be picked will feel dry to the touch, be somewhat 'stringy' and have a strong hop smell. The lupulin powder will be left on the fingers. 

If you open the hop cone up, it should release the powder if it is matured properly.  It will be a warm yellow - goldish colour. 

I heard hops plants have male and female versions?

Yes, it's true.

Just like kiwifruit.

Male and female flowers of the hop plant usually develop on separate plants.

Because viable seeds are unwanted for brewing beer, only female plants are grown in hop commercial fields, thus preventing pollination.

It's not time to light up

Light is the natural enemy of hops. Hop cones are susceptible to breaking down due to the effects of the sun and light from the first moment they are harvested. You should do your best to avoid light exposure as much as possible so store hops in a dark place.

Hops that has broken down due to light exposure can impart off flavours into the beer.

Experience has shown that hop makers have about 24 hours to begin to process hops before it begins to break down like a vegetable naturally wood. The keenest brewers get their hops into a kiln and dried asap. 

Homebrewers can actually dry their hops in an ordinary fruit dehydrator.

You can also leave them to dry on a mesh screen in an airy location (with little light). I've read that some people have been known to dry their hops in the oven using a low heat.

Tips on storing fresh hops

It turns out that turns out freezing hops is actually a popular trick with beer brewers!

Quite simply:

• take your dried beer hops and place them in a zip-lock bag. 
• remove the excess air and then seal. 
• grab a Sharpie pen and write on the name of the hops on the bag so you don't forget and then place in the freezer until required.

If you want to go all 'professional' you could use a vacuum sealer to remove all the air.

In such cases, you might not need to freeze the hops if the sealing has been done properly, but it wouldn't hurt.

How to use fresh hops with your beer

You've probably heard of dry hopping right?

That's when you add hops in pellet form to the wort. So if you ever wondered what wet hopping is, it's adding fresh hops to your beer.

And in this case, it's fresh hops you've grown yourself.

Wet hops can be used anywhere in the brewing process, including as a boil addition, whirlpool addition or for dry hopping.

What are some good varieties of hops to grow?

There are all kinds of hop varieties that one can choose from. We recommend these two for simplicities' sake:

Cascade is a very popular choice of hops. This is an extremely popular American hop. Known for it's floral hop trait, it is often likened to a grapefruit. Cascade is known as a versatile hop variety that is popular for bittering, finishing and dry hopping of pale ale and American style beers. It produces a good yield and is considered fairly resistant to diseases.

The rhizomes can be ordered from Amazon.

Fuggle is another popular hop. It has a classic English aroma and provides a well balanced bitterness which makes it a great choice for English and American-Style Ales. It's described as being mild and pleasant, spicy, soft, woody, with some fruit tones.

Basically, it will depend on where you live, what's popular and how easy it is to obtain. Many specialty hoops delivery websites have popped up as the demand for hops plants has grown. Kiwis could try Wild About Hops while many rhizomes can be found on Amazon.

Some hops are protected by intellectual property rights so cannot be grown by those who do not have permission to do so. For this reason, hop plants that are in the public domain are fairly popular with hops growers.

How much wet hops to use with a brew?

This can be a bit of a tricky measurement because fresh hops are called wet hops for a reason - they are made mostly of water - and that can mean all the tables and measurements go out the window if you are trying to work out the exact alpha acid rating for your hops.

That said a general rule has been established - use anywhere between 6 - 10 times the amount of dry hops you would normally use.

Generally speaking, you are using fresh hops to promote aroma and flavor additions to your brew. If you are trying to add bitterness, store brought hops where you can identify their bittering qualities could be the way to go.

Beware the creeping vine of hops!

Hops have a tendency to grow quite rampantly when placed in good growing conditions. They tend to spread and take up every inch of soil that's open to them. That's why many growers recommend that after the final harvest of the hops cones, the plant should be cut back to about three feet and then left to grow back. A good time to do this is at the beginning of winter.

A further trick is to plant your hops 'above ground' that is to say in a container of some kind such as a tub or old kitchen sink so as to help contain the plant's movements across your garden.

Extra hops tips for Experts:

• How to dry hop your beer
• How to add hops to the beer kit's wort
• Where to buy beer hops online
• Using beer hops for home brewing

And so, armed with the comprehensive knowledge of hop cultivation, you stand on the cusp of a new era in your homebrewing adventures. From sourcing the ideal rhizomes to understanding the subtle art of wet hopping, your garden is not just a space for flora—it’s a brewing laboratory awaiting its first experiment. 

While the act of planting and nurturing may appear humble, each step is a critical addition to a tapestry that culminates in a personalized, homegrown flavor profile. As you contemplate the sun dipping below the horizon, you might find yourself envisioning those verdant bines ascending skyward, their cones ripening in a dance of nature and craft. Don't forget, however, that the humble hop plant, so often overshadowed by its more vocal counterparts—yeast, malt, and water—is now offering its fragrant bounty solely to you. 

These hops are yours in every sense: an embodiment of your soil, your care, and your vision for that perfect brew. And as you take that first sip of your own homegrown, freshly brewed beer, you'll realize that hops aren't just a purchased ingredient; they're a manifestation of your brewing ethos. Here, in this garden of aromatic delight, you're not just a brewer. You are a cultivator of experiences, a farmer of flavor, and indeed, the true master of your beer-brewing destiny.

Leave a Comment brewing beer guide, dry hopping, hops, how to grow hops, wet hopping