New England IPA

Good idea- next time I get some Heady.

 

Would have to check for sure, but first top of the head reaction is that the difference between inhale and exhale may play a role here. Olfaction has two different components that have two different sensitivity profiles for aromas and it may matter which gets activated first, retro nasal or ortho nasal.

 

That's a possibility , but it wouldn't affect the impact of the yeast and solids, which was also an issue.

 

I'll sacrifice a heady for science let me know haha

 

You also don't have the same ingredients that Vinnie does. No home brewer can get the quality of hops that he does. Also almost no other small brewer. Most small brewers actually get the bigger blended lots that are left over after the bigger craft brewers come to Yakima to pick out the best lots to fill up their contracts. Hops vary widely every year and you'll never make Pliny without the hops that Vinnie selects.

 

This is true. Homebrewers are the bottom feeders in the supply chain for malt and hops.

 

You guys want to back up these statements? Obviously the hops can vary but why would the quality be any different from the same lot? As for the malt, aren't they the exact same 55# sacks that everyone gets?

 

Much as with winemakers, I understand that some brewers have the ability to visit the fields and hand select hops. I seriously doubt that RR gets the same hops as home brewers in quality.

 

I have bought some dodgy sacks of malt. Where do you think shipment that get rejected go? Mid sized breweries can reject a shipment of malt if the malt analysis sheet doesn't look right, or they do tests in the lab and it doesn't perform. Malt varies from lot to lot. A local industry guy said where do you think the rejects go?

As for hops, the Brewers go to the PNW and make selections from Brewers cuts arranged on the table. There are stories from one farmer that a brewer blindly picks one field of Cascade hops over the other fields, year after year. So the big Brewers with big contracts get the cram of the crop.

 

Vinnie Cilurzo is indeed a ‘connected’ man and he has contracts with selected hops farms like Perrault farms. I have read in past interviews that Vinnie even chooses which hills from the farm that he wants his hops from. It certainly pays to have an established business relationship with hop farmers.

Here is an interesting read on this topic:http://www.brewbound.com/news/seeking-simcoe-navigating-a-changing-hops-market

Cheers!

 

This is the first I have heard of that bit about the malt rejections, it makes sense but I am genuinely curious. Where did you hear about this practice? Maybe I'll contact the suppliers to get more info.
As for the hops I am well aware of the selection process, I have read "for the love of hops" where its talked about, even referencing Ron from Victory Brewing (my local brewery) and his process. But the quality of the hops we are getting is still high, we might just not have the exact strengths of essential oils/aroma than the selections they pick, probably based on the differing field conditions or even the phenotypical expressions of the particular bine. But even then if the difference was that much you would taste the difference in between batches of these beers over time, which isn't as much of an issue. They are usually close enough, and the hops we use are also close enough.

 

Its quite a common practice for malt, for example you can set the acceptable level of beta glucans within your contracts and if their malt analysis shows a level higher than you have contracted for you can reject an entire batch of malt and be replenished with new.

 

I was talking to a local guy about the high amount of chaff in a bag of malt from the LHBS. His reply was above, that is all I've really got. In some ways it makes a little sense, Homebrewers don't have labs to check the malt performance. A brewery might reject for a number of reasons, but the home brewer might just say my efficiency is a little low.

If you are a Homebrewers or a shop owner, do you ask for he analysts sheets?

 

I believe that every bag is coded with a number where you can look it up on the maltsters website usually, but I haven't had reason to inspect my malt that closely. Maybe I'll take the time to check it out as I keep expanding my knowledge and processes, been considering putting a little bit of a lab together anyways. I am definitely curious if this is normal practice or not, but it definitely makes sense. Thanks for the input.

 

They can, and they do. I was on a tour of Goschie Farms last year when Ken Grossman rolled up with a bunch of SN brewers and proceeded to sample various bales.

 

Thanks for the offer, but my brother hooks me up a couple of times a year. I'll keep this thread in mind the next time he does, and post back.

 

I'll just say that I do some hop selection for a regional brewery and am familiar with how hop brokers work. Actually just spent a couple days in Yakima with the YCH guys and got to check out the little line where they break up 44# boxes into homebrew packs. It's actually a really high-tech and efficient machine that I think gives comparable packaging quality to the original pellet packer for brewers.

It's not always that some lots are not as good, just different. There is a lot of inferior stuff that comes in from the fields every year. Brewers that can select for their contracts pick what they want, and then the brokers have to figure out how to blend the rest for the rest of the small brewers and homebrew supply. Inevitably, those inferior lots have to get blended into bigger lots for those accounts. All the hops have to get consumed unless there are serious quality issues. It all starts a the top: the bigger your contract, the more priority you have to get the hops you want. It's a pretty cut-throat business sometimes.

 

In honor of my NE IPA-reppin' fiend, @chipawayboy, I offer you this hazy delight. Straight from the far reaches of the great Northea...no, wait, check that, this is from the antithesis of -- Scottsdale, Arizona! Fate's Summer Session IPA, soft bitterness, nose for days, redolent of melon, tropical fruit, and light dankness. Seems the NE doesn't have a corner on the hazy hops after all (Love your passion for the hops, Chip -- couldn't help but think of you when I took this!)

 

Should have taken a picture...next time I will.
I recently had an IPA that looked like this.....Think Tank #6 from Kern River.

 

Great read. Thanks!