Schell's Frost Hop Sampler Pack

Can't wait for this.

 

Sounds amazing.

 

Can anyone explain to me what qualities fresh-flash frozen hole cone hops should impart? Kind of like a fresh hopped beer frozen, but still not dried, so you get more of the green resiny flavor like a fresh hop? Curious, as I've never heard of this.

 

Based on my very limited understanding, the hops should have similar/same qualities of a wet/fresh hop. They were picked, frozen, and shipped to the US.

Maybe @bergbrew can explain further or correct anything I may have mis-stated.

 

Awesome!!

 

Yeah, that's pretty accurate.

So long story, not so short. For the past couple of years we (along with many others) have done a fresh hop beer around harvest time. It's probably the most stressful beer we make, as you never know if the weather will cooperate for harvest, so the brewing schedule is kind of in flux. You think you're getting your hops on Tuesday, and then it rains Monday and they can't harvest until Thursday (or they move the date up to avoid the rain). It just creates a lot of headaches from a production standpoint.

The other issue is this: we make lagers. Not all the time, but most of the time. The hops selected for the fresh hop harvest aren't necessarily what I would choose to make a Pils. Sure, we used Cascade this year (and Citra/Mosaic previous years), but Chinook Pils anyone? Or Simcoe? They aren't hops I particularly like, and I can't see using them in a Pils.

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention: the hops are overnighted to us. Because with fresh hops, you need to use them quickly or they begin to mold/deteriorate.

Fast forward to about a year ago, a German hop merchant visited talking about the different hops he had, and kind of in passing he mentioned they were flash-freezing fresh hops. I think my response was "Oh, that's nice...wait, back the truck up here. You're doing what?"

He described the process which is basically this: the hops are harvested, shipped in refrigerated trucks to a freezing facility, and then brought down to -19C. They'd been doing this for a year or so, and had some favorable results in Germany and Japan.

My first question, of course, was "why hasn't any one else ever thought of this?" Because quite honestly, it seems like a pretty simple solution, Here's the kicker: their processing center is by Lake Constance, which has a lot of fruit orchards. They flash freeze *a lot* of fruit, and that pays for the facility. To do this for simply hops, which are harvested 2 weeks out of the year would be idiotic (or whatever the German word for "you're being stupid" is).

That's basically the nuts and bolts. The hops are flash-frozen, then shipped to us in a freezer container. We took shipment, and then moved them into a frozen warehouse until we were ready to use them. Luckily, it's winter in MN, so when I called them up it was cold outside-all the state is a deep freeze! We bagged the frozen hops and threw them in the whirlpool.

The idea behind the series was old school vs. new school. Two classic German hops vs two new varieties. Hallertau Mittlefruh, Tettnang Tettnanger, Mandarina Bavaria, and Huell Melon. I didn't want to bore you with all being pilsners (actually, I did want to bore you, but cooler heads prevailed) so we made a Helles, Export, Kolsch, and Pils. All golden German beer styles whose malt bills wouldn't interfere too much with the hops.

If you made it this far in the post, you deserve a beer.

 

As it happens, I'm drinking a Schell's Baltic Porter! Very excited for this!

 

Is the Baltic porter only available in the brewers stash mix pack?

 

Yes. It's really nice! It's worth a purchase for sure.

 

This could be the next brewey/consumer craze. Good bye sours and Blood Orange beers

 

The Prost and Brewer's Stash packs are awesome. I like the idea of 2 great regular beers and 2 limited beers. They have all been solid. Really looking forward to this one. Add the Tropical Stout and CABA to the mix - hitting home runs.

 

Will the yeast strains of all the different beers be the same or different?

EDIT: It should be noted this is the best lager brewery in the country.

 

Helles, Export, and pils likely same yeast but kolsch would not.

 

correct, @bergbrew confirmed on Twitter that all but the kölsch use the same yeast

 

Thank You!

 

Breakside in Portland has done this with fresh hop IPAs in the past. It's a pretty cool technique. Freeze them with liquid nitrogen and then "shatter" them open.

 

Is this out yet? If so, where have u guys seen it?