| Hops are the spice of beer, contributing bitterness, aroma and
flavor to the finished brew. In order to extract the bitterness from the hop, the hop must
be boiled which causes the bittering resins to isomerize or go into solution. This boiling
usually lasts for one hour. All unhopped malt should be hopped in order to balance the
sweet flavor of the malt. A good reference point for hop use is approximately two ounces
per 5 gallon batch. On further batches you may fine tune your beer according to your
personal taste. The flavor and aroma comes from oils which are
volatile and so are quickly boiled off. These flavors and aroma are best preserved if
added late at the very end of the boil. These are called finishing hops. The hops are all
rated in terms of the Alpha Acid content. The higher this number the more potent the
bittering potential. The lower numbers usually reflect good aromatic varieties.
Hops come in several forms, primarily pellets, whole flowers and plugs. The
pellets provide a more constant freshness and increased bittering potential, while the
flowers are easily strained. The plugs are packaged in nitrogen purged foil bags to ensure
freshness, and are basically whole flowers compressed, not shredded, into plugs. Our stock
varies with the season so please check availability when ordering. Flowers are packaged in
vacuum sealed oxygen/light barrier bags to preserve freshness. |
