Sparged!

I mentioned I will talk about the brewing ingredients, I would like to start with my favorite ingredients; Hops.

Hops are a flower, closely related to marijuana, that are used for bittering, flavoring and aroma in beer. To attain each attribute, you need to add the hops at different times.

Any hops you buy will have a percentage on it. The percentage is the how much of Alpha Acid is in that particular bag of hops. The Alpha Acid is basically the bitterness of the hop, so the larger the percentage the more bitter the hop. This number is particularly important for your bittering hops (duh!), not so much for flavor/aroma hops.

For bittering, the hops need to be boiled in the wort for the full boil (60 minutes). This needs to be done because the resin that produces the bitterness is not water soluble. The act of boiling it changes it’s properties to one that is more conducive to water. Unfortunately, boiling hops for 60 minutes boils away both the flavor of hops and the aroma,(smell those hops in the boil? That means you won’t smell them in your beer.)

For flavoring, hops are usually added between the 30 and 45 minute mark of the boil, although this is really arbitrary. If you put the flavoring hops in the boil too early, you’ll boil away the flavor (and extract their bitterness, or part of it anyway). If you put them in too late, you’ll get more aroma than flavor from the hop.

Aroma hops are added usually within the last five minutes of the boil. They can also be “dry hopped”, or added in the secondary fermenter, to give extra aroma. This is a common practice for India Pale Ales.

Most commercial beers skip (or seemingly skip) the latter two elements, and just use hops for bittering.

There are many different kinds of hops, and each hop has it’s own element that makes it unique. For example, Cascades are an American hop that are known for their “citrusy” character.

So what happens when your recipe calls for hops that you just can’t get? That is when the beauty of home brewing comes into play, you improvise! You can find a hop that is similar in characteristic, or pick a hop and make the recipe your own! You can use the Joy of Home Brewing to see a list of hops and their characteristics (page 69-75, 3rd edition), or just search online.

Don’t be afraid to use new hops, you’ll never know when you’ll find a new love!

So you have an interest in brewing, huh? Of course you do, or you wouldn't be here. I'm sure you have so many questions, ... read on

Hello, and welcome to my new blog, Sparged!. This blog is my attempt to share information about the process of home brewing and everything ... read on