re: Homebrewing Thread: Volume II

Anybody order from hops direct? They have some really good deals. It seems like you are buying directly from the growers.

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Anybody order from hops direct?

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I've ordered from them several times.

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Has anyone tried to experiment with dry hop temperatures?

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All I have is anecdotal experience to suggest that it may or may not have any effect. however, there is empirical evidence to suggest that it does.

This article by Scott Janish describes the relationship between hop oil extraction and temperature. I just ordered his book The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor for Father's Day!

I find it confusing trying to stay on top of all of the info about brewing NEIPAs. There's a 304 page Homebrew Talk thread started in 2016 titled "Northeast" style IPA that repeatedly contradicts itself & everything we were originally told about brewing this style. I brewed my first NEIPA using this now irrelevant info.

For example, we were told that biotranformation hop additions are necessary to get unique hop flavors & help create the hazy appearance of the beer. Now the philosophy is that yeast drive off otherwise useful compounds & biotrans is a waste of hops. The new hopping method is to "soft crash" to put the yeast in a dormant state so that the hops are efficiently utilized & the hop oil compounds stay in the beer. One possible reason for this paradigm shift is that even though all yeast & hops biotrasform, they do not all create the same desirable results.

There also seems to be a move towards omitting boil hops from the process. Unless of course the additional bittering is needed to support a specific flavor profile you are trying to achieve. For example, if you are trying to get El Dorado to express pineapple and need a bitter background to reinforce the sharpness associated with fresh pineapple, you would bitter with a hop like columbus to compliment it.

Lastly, (and I'm not sure if this is just my observation but) dry hopping duration has changed. Previously, post-biotrans hop additions would occur seven and four days out from kegging/ canning. This allowed for maximum hop oil extraction. New evidence suggests that undesirable flavors are also extracted. The new process is to skip biotrans, (mentioned earlier) and add dry hops when beer is 2-3 points away from terminal gravity. If using pellet or cone you would want to remove the hop debris after 48 hours. Alternatively, you could use cryo, lupulin powder, or hop oil extract to reduce hop matter contact. The second hop addition comes 24-48 hours later. Then bottle/ keg after another 48 hours. The longest the vegetal hop material stays on the beer is four days.

It's worth mentioning that these changes could also be the result of eliminating unnecessary steps in the process to create a less laborious & more economical beer as well as the byproduct of needing to get the beer to market quicker because of its susceptibility to "spoilage".

There is a lot to consume & digest when it comes to NEIPAs. I recently listened to a BeerSmith podcast from 2018 where Randy Mosher was dismissing the sustainability of the beer style. He claimed it was too costly to produce & consumers wouldn't respond favorably to the increased expense. Boy was he wrong. I'm seeing some breweries have even moved away from labeling beer "NEIPA", "New England IPA" or "hazy" now. They are simply calling them IPA or Double IPA.

I personally cannot think, of another beer style, since the WC IPA, that has had this much of an impact on the beer industry. There has even been a significant international response. It's not uncommon or unusual to see breweries in Europe, South America, & South Pacific offering a hazy NE style beer. Even International homebrewers are trying to reproduce it.

You are correct, they may be labeled Hazy IPA or Juicy IPA, instead of NEIPA or New England IPA.

The only exception that sticks out to me is Hazy Jane from Brewdog out of Scotland. But then again, this beer was brewed in the U.S.

We were in Edinburgh in November 2017 & I tried to drink every pint of hazy IPA I came across on draught or in bottle. One thing they all had in common was the lack of in your face hop flavor & aroma that we associate with this style here in the States. They were all very similar to the way you described the ones you had in Croatia & Italy.

This may be due to their limited access to new world hops or a desire to use what's local to produce the beers.

Yeah I was speaking more to Croatia and the small area of Italy that I visited. I caught a small beer fest I rovinj and visited a craft beer bar in Dubrovnik and most options were from local craft breweries. The much bigger craft beer bar in Venice had stuff from all over and the beer production quality was much better.

Btw has anyone had a heady topper? I would love to try it and Pliny, but obviously those don't make it this way. For those of you who have tried it, how does it compare to the juice bombs around now?

It's day three of fermentation on my citra and sabro APA. Should I do my 1 oz citra and 2oz sabro now for biotransformation or wait later?

Served my cream ale this weekend.



Thought it turned out nice. Definitely has a nice creamy mouthfeel. Very light and summery. Does have a slight harshness to it, not as smooth as I would have liked. The one thing I noted during the process was that I got lazy and tired and pitched my yeast at about 80 degrees instead of waiting for it to get down to 65-70. Not sure if that's the reason for a little bit of my perceived burn... Altogether still I will enjoy it. Perfect for this time of year, and combined cost for the whole batch was about $22. A good beer for some of my BMC drinking family and friends.

Which migraine med? From what I understand a lot of the migraine meds only give a couple more headache free days at best. A lot of the side effects and cost may not be worth that, but I guess that depends on your personal situation and how debilitating they are. Hope you feel better either way