Wet hop season 2017--the most wonderful time of the year!

Says you, (and me too) but that's not how many beers are marketed.

 

To be honest, I only saw 1 "fresh/wet hop" beer last year and that was Founders Harvest (which is amazing). while 2 years ago I saw a ton: Founders Harvest, Lagunitas, Sixpoint, etc.

i'm hoping to see more this year but I do notice a different flavor to them

 

And the Marketing department never fudges the truth, do they?

 

In a study the decrease in the amount of essential oils during the hop kilning (drying) process was over 35%. I decrease of over 1/3rd is not very minimal.

Cheers!

“EFFECT OF RIPENESS AND DRYING OF HOPS ON THE ESSENTIAL OIL

By G. A. Howard, M.Sc, Ph.D., and C. A. Slater, Ph.D., A.R.C.S., F.R.I.C.

(Brewing Industry Research Foundation, Nutfield, Surrey)

Received 6th December, 1957.

Cheers!

 

Care to post a more recent study that involves newer drying techniques?

 

Dozens of PNW examples exist for FH versions of core lineup beers, and side-by-side comparisons are one of my favorite aspects of the season. Some are better, some are worse. Some are hard to distinguish from the regular version, but in many cases (I'd say "most" but I don't keep count) the differences qualify as "significant" to me. From experience, I contend that the drying process does drive off volatile flavor and aroma compounds more than minimally.

Another aspect up for debate, but IMO a beer does not need to use 100% fresh/wet hops to be a "fresh hop beer." Often, brewers will use dried hops for predictable bittering levels or for kettle performance, and reserve fresh hops for later additions or dry-hopping. Too much vegetable matter in the boil or for too long can indeed have unpleasant results.

 

Useful information and I appreciate your efforts and report.

But notice that it's not just Sierra Nevada's definition when hop Growers draw the same distinction.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/mag/14547/as-fresh-hop-beers-multiply-so-does-experimentation/

Furthermore, notice Sierra Nevada was using the distinction and brewing both Wet Hop and Fresh Hop beers before many of those breweries you polled were even in business. (And it's not unheard of that brewers don't necessarily know the history of their own profession. )

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/hell-wet-hopping-beer/

Note the date this beer was entered into the database.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/140/6549/

Finally, just as I personally restrict my usage of lambic and gueuze to refer to beers brewed in a particular region of Belgium, as do, apparently, a minority of US brewers who do Spontaneous Fermentation beers, I'll continue to honor the distinction between Wet Hops and Fresh Hops and treat them as meaning two different things.

As for when the kilned hops are no long fresh, we've been down this path a year ago and neither of us has changed our views since then.

 

Born Yesterday, Founders Harvest, Mic Dropped!

 

To which drying techniques are you referring? I follow a lot of the larger hop farms on social media, and when my feed was brimming with harvest photos, the facilities all appear to use a similar technique: a big ass floor with air circulation on the sides and underneath where cones are spread out in a bed 1-3' deep; 140-ish degree air is blown through the bed and workers with moisture readers and snow shoes go into the beds and take measurements periodically.

 

Interesting.

Would you happen to know how many of those dozens of fresh hopped beers that have a core-lineup analogue were not 100% wet hopped? IMO, relying on dried hops for everything except for whirlpool and cold-side additions is kinda cheating. Unless those are the only hops you're using, of course.

 

This is the study that he cited.

Are hops dried like this on modern hop farms?

Drying of hops.—The samples, contained in cylindrical metal jacket, were dried by passing stream of electrically-heated air through them at constant and controlled speed. The temperature of the bed of hops was kept constant by an electric relay system. The drying temperature ranged from 110° to 150° F., the gas-flow rate from to 14 linear ft. per min. through the bed, and the drying times from 0*5 to 15 hr. On two occasions carbon dioxide was used in place of air as the drying gas. The results are all very similar and individual results are therefore not quoted.

 

From what I can find, Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale was labelled as a "fresh hop" beer until 2007. Even if we go back to the 2001 entry date for the listing you referenced above, PNW brewing matches up pretty well. Bert Grant was reportedly making a fresh hop beer in 1996 or 1997, and the first Oregon fresh hop beer is reported to be Bridgeport in 2002.

 

The process seems the same (passing warm-hot dry air through the cones to decrease moisture level. The cylindrical metal jacket is presumably to create a closed environment for accurate measurement of the sample. I don't think that cylinder would cause the data to skew from what happens on a larger scale on the drying floor, but I guess I'm open to the possibility that the experiment doesn't replicate the regular conditions 100%.

 

Plus, the results were not obtained with newer, more accurate equipment, like HPLC. I'm not saying that the results would be different, but what I am saying is that the level of accuracy of this one particular experiment is in question for various reasons.

 

I don't know, but I'd estimate close to zero of the fresh hop versions used only fresh hops. To you that may sound like cheating, to me the brewer figured out how to best showcase the featured ingredient. I think over time and trial, brewers have learned that a beer with 100% fresh hops is not the best/most delicious end product.

If someone tells me a certain beer is a "Mosaic-bomb" I'd expect it to succeed or fail based on how well I could discern Mosaic hop characteristics, and wouldn't feel cheated if I learned the brewery used a different hop for bittering or even alongside the Mosaics to accentuate certain flavors. If a 100% fresh hop beer tastes vegetal and composty, I'd consider that beer a failure. If a beer with fresh hops used only on the cold-side smelled and tasted full of that grassy, fruitcup-like element I associate with fresh hops, I'd consider it a successful fresh hop beer.

 

I'd agree.

Agreed again.

Like you said, you've got to know how to use your ingredient(s).

 

Love that beer, SO tasty!

 

I'm still waiting.

 

I was actually considering starting a thread about this thought. After our most recent release in Tombstone, we got some incredible reviews and then one guy on social media started a rant about wet hops being gimmicks. I’ve never heard that before and am curious why he (and now you) think that’s the case. Mind sharing what makes you think it is just a marketing ploy?

 

Surly Wet