OnTap Magazine

almost all of the time, that’s because of the hops. Hops contain chemical compounds called alpha acids that release bitterness into the unfermented beer (called wort) when boiled. The longer that hops are boiled for, the more alpha acids are released and the more bitter a beer will be. Increasing the amount of hops used in the boil, as well as the type of hops used in the boil will also add to the bitterness of the finished product. If only it were that simple though. While bitterness is the primary flavour component that hops can add to beer, it’s not the only flavour component. In addition to alpha acids, hops are rich in a variety of essential oils that can add a variety of flavours to one's beer. Depending on the hop varietal used, beers can exhibit citrus, tropical fruit, or stone fruit flavours, or even stranger hop flavours like garlic, earthy or spicy notes. The essential oils required to extract flavour from hops are relatively fragile and will boil away after more than 30 minutes. For this reason, brewers tend to add flavour hops to their boiling wort at around 30 minutes before the end of their boil. HOPPY OR BITTER? Hops also add aroma. The same essential oils that provide flavour to our brews will also add a huge variety of aromas. These will quite often overlap with the flavours the hops impart. For example the hop varietal Amarillo has distinctive orange and grapefruit notes both in terms of its taste and its smell.When it comes tomaximising the aroma of a beer, brewers add aroma hops as late as possible to the boil. To an even greater extent than for flavouring, hop essential oils that are responsible for aroma boil off very quickly, so brewers need to minimise the time these oils spend in contact with hot wort. In the last couple of decades, a technique called dry hopping has come to the fore. This is where brewers add aromatic hops to the cool, already-fermenting beer, as opposed to the traditional method of adding hops to the boiling unfermented wort before it is cooled. If you see on a beer label that it says “dry hopped,” you should be expecting tons of aroma. If you’ve ever hung out with a craft beer enthusiast, you’ll have heard the term “hoppy”. In some ways this term is fairly self explanatory - the beer is made with lots of hops. But in other ways the term “hoppy” can be a little misleading. A hoppy beer is a beer that has plenty of hop flavour and hop aroma. There are hoppy beers that have rather low bitterness and bitter beers that wouldn’t really be considered hoppy. A New England IPA, for example, will usually have extreme hop aroma, high hop flavour and fairly low bitterness. Compare this to a Czech Pilsner that will have a comparatively subdued hop flavour and aroma, but a distinct bitterness. If you’re interested in exploring the world of hops, the best place to start is probably a good old-fashioned pale ale. They’re quite widely available in South Africa these days and there are some really good examples being produced by some of the country’s biggest and most consistent breweries. A pale ale is a great way to experience facets of hops besides the bitterness, without being bombarded with the sensory assault that some of the more extreme beer styles would offer. Who knows you - like so many others - might end up falling in love with hops and never look back. The single most defining ingredient of what makes a beer a beer THE 400 BREWING COMPANY HYDRA AMERICAN AMBER ALE Nuts & bolts Batch Size: 20 litres Boil Time: 60 min Efficiency: 75% Target OG: 1.054 Target FG: 1.010 Target ABV: 5.8% Target IBUs: 31 Mash ingredie ts 3.81 kg American pale le m lt 0.50 kg A erican caramel/crystal 60L 0.21 kg Melanoidin malt 0.21 kg American caramel/crystal 15L 0.03 kg American black alt Boil ingredients 25 g Cascade [7% AA] @ 30 min 25 g Cascade [7% AA] @ 10 min 25 g Cascade [7% AA] @ 5 min Brewer tips Mash in at 65°C and hold for 60 minutes. Ferment at 18°C with a neutral ale yeast like Fermentis - Safale US-05.