Then Where and When of Hopping
Timing hops additions is more than just a one-size-fits-all-hops proposition. Dick Cantwell discusses the finer points of getting intended flavors by carefully experimenting with the nuances of your recipe design.
Timing hops additions is more than just a one-size-fits-all-hops proposition. Dick Cantwell discusses the finer points of getting intended flavors by carefully experimenting with the nuances of your recipe design.
Brewers are well aware that the timing of hopping, in the kettle, whirlpool, fermentor, or conditioning vessel (including the keg or cask) is of essential importance to the hops character and overall effect it has on any beer.
I even recall the efforts of a particular brewer friend of mine several years ago who, in an effort to maximize the effect of late hopping, placed a single hop cone in each bottle of his IPA; however sound the principle may have been, the outcome was not felicitous (another brewer friend of mine, who we figured out later had judged this beer, wrote in his comments: “Bad brewer, bad!”). We know that certain hops varieties are most appropriately used for bittering. Others show their colors best (as literally demonstrated by spectroscopic examination) as later additions, where aroma compounds are kept from the destructive rigors of the boil and live on to rise from the glass.
A few basic considerations ought to be made when deciding when and in what combination hops are added to the process when brewing these many-layered beers. Once you know a bit about the flavor-active compounds found in the essential oils of hops, it’s worth recognizing that certain ones will not perceptibly survive the heat and activity of the boil, whereas others will undergo biotransformation during fermentation. Dry hopping or the use of oils can provide the compelling kiss that best combines the hops character with the additional ingredients of your eclectic IPA.
Furthermore, the flavors and aromas unlocked by a late hot-side addition (in the whirlpool, for example), along with nominal attendant bitterness, can be just the thing when crafting any IPA and can provide escort to steeped teas, herbs, and the other materials of broader invention.
Several years ago, dry hopping was usually only briefly referenced, an afterthought of a pound or two added to the fermentor at knockout or a bag hastily stuffed and secured by a keg’s bung.
Today, as we all know, it’s become something of a vertical industry, with not only hops varieties and specific hops products identified as particularly prized for late cold-side additions but also specialized equipment of varying design available to the committed dry hopper. It is really this attention—one might even call it obsession—that has allowed nuances of flavor and aroma resident in hops to be unlocked, free to combine with the essential elements of fruits, herbs, and all the rest, that justifies the development of these hybrid beers. It is partly conceptual, perhaps dictated by geographic or cultural association.
It is partly chemical, the makeup of a particular hops variety and how it is deconstructed by the sensibilities of the brewer and the palate of the beer drinker. And it is partly combinational, the layering that takes place not just from the contribution of hops, but from the combination of hops with other ingredients.
There is a lot, in short, to think about when deciding when to add which hop to an eclectic IPA. Practically speaking, it can be useful to combine various elements roughly in proportion, just to see if what you’re thinking about is something you like. A dollop of this and a sprig of that, possibly cold and possibly steeped, can give you some idea of how things will play.
You might also try rubbing a pinch of hops pellets with whatever other dry materials you’re considering. Or there’s adding a dash of a particular juice mix or zested peel to a glass of finished beer. Try adding an herb under review to hot and cold liquid, to wort or beer, at any stage in the process to get a sort of unscientific and subjective preview of where the considered material should be added. Some stalwarts do well on the hot side, as we’ve outlined; others grudgingly unfold in fermentation, conditioning, or later, much the same way hops do.