Improving Alpha Acid Content

[Simps]

So this year I brewed my first home-grown hops beer. It was an amber-rye and turned out great except for 1 problem, it's not even close to as bitter as I was expecting. I realize there are many things that affect the bitterness of beer, and the first thing everyone is thinking is "What were your quantities and schedule" but that's not the point of my post.

I was wondering if there are specific growing conditions you can control to increase the ammount of alpha acids or altar the proportion of alpha to beta. I did a quick search on the forum and it didn't turn up any results so if there is an older post, I apologize and could you link it?

Otherwise I am wondering if anyone noticed from year to year anything they did that affected the bitterness of their hops. Observations on things like Soil pH, Sunlight, Watering, Fertilizing, hugging them every day or chanting naked at the turn of the solstice that might improve the bitterness. Thanks for reading.

 

[weirdboy]

OK so I guess my first question will be, did you properly dry out your hops, or adjust the weight of wet hops additions for the water content? Hops typically lose about 80% of their weight when dried so you need to adjust boil additions appropriately.

 

[weirdboy]

Also here's a link I found a while back when I was researching this for my own hops (still haven't planted yet, looking to do so this spring):

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/fg/fg79-e.pdf

 

[Simps]

Hey,

Thanks for the info. That guide will come in very handy this year. I did dry my hops and measure dry weight, however I noticed some ice in the bag which I think could indicate that they weren't dried enough.

I used all the hops I had from my harvest, and assumed they would be somewhere on the low side of the alpha content due to inexperience on my part with growing, harvesting, drying, first year plants, etc.

I don't doubt I over estimated their potential bitterness. Although, I used pellet hops for the main bittering component and that should have supplied about 12ibu's alone...and it tastes close to 12 to me. I had centennial and hallertau mixed up, (3/4 centennial I would estimate) and added 3-4x as much as the pellets throughout the boil. That being said I would expect centennial to contribute more than it appears to have.

On a completely unrelated note - They are very subtle and taste fresh with a hint of tangerine, delicious! I haven't noticed any grassyness many people complain about with homegrown. I will mention a friend of mine who grows his own hops - also in indiana- had an amazing pale that tasted like fresh tangerines! I wonder if the climate contributes to that flavor.

Thanks again.

 

[GVH_Dan]

Observations on things like Soil pH, Sunlight, Watering, Fertilizing, hugging them every day or chanting naked at the turn of the solstice that might improve the bitterness.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, maybe...and please don't.

Proper nutrients, soil types, proper timing on the application of nutrients, etc. all will help. But the two biggest things I often see is the aforementioned drying and early/late harvest.

As hops mature, one of the last things they do is create the alpha acids. We tested hops for many small scale growers this year and a lot of them jumped the gun and picked too early. This resulted in hops with alphas 1/2 or less than what is typical. On the other end of the spectrum, if you wait to long the alpha's can degrade. So hitting your harvest time just right is important.

Since you don't have the "grassy" taste means you probably dried them to less than 20% moisture content but if there is frost in the zip-loc bag, you may have wanted to dry a little farther. You're shooting for 8 to 10% for commercial hop pellets. In other words, if you are at 20% and you are weighing them out as if they are at 10%, you are only adding 3/4 of the amount of luplin that you think you were.

Last, hops do take 3 to 4 years to mature. Your alphas the first year are WAY lower than in year 4. So if these were young plants, don't sweat it too much. They will get better.

 

[Simps]

Thanks for the tips Dan. I read your posts on here quite a bit and can't thank you enough for your contribution. I didn't realize harvest time could play such a large role in alpha acid quality/quantity, but it makes a lot of sense.

If anything I harvested late. I think you are right on about new plants. I bet this is the majority of the issue, and I can't wait to see what happens in year 2.

I will definitely get more scientific this year. I know I neglected the details because they were new and I wasn't expecting much. I produced more than I planned, even if they are low in content, so I'm happy.