One of my HBS closed his doors a while back and was giving away outdated Mandarina Bavaria pellet hops. I took six 1-oz packs, opened one and boom!....cheese. Interestingly, Scott Janish writes about cheesy hops in The New IPA, suggesting using them at the right time can have a useful, even preferred outcome; “the cheesy smelling short chain acids……are key precursors to desirable fruity esters”. “….these esters derived from the cheesy compounds have been described as intensely sweet, estery, fruity and pineapple-like.” It was observed that the fruity esters accumulated late into fermentation. Using them as a late addition (flameout) and letting the temp rise after primary fermentation is nearly complete will enhance the fruity esters. He wondered if this, in addition to benefiting the souring process, might be one of the reasons Lambic brewers use aged hops. Curious if any of y’all have deliberately used aged, tired old hops with the intent to get the fruity esters, and what the process and outcome was.
I recall a thread about an old hops sale that talked about cheese smell, so I found it and did a search of the thread to find posts where that word was used. I didn't look thru these to discover if anyone says they used cheesy hops, but maybe a quick browse will get you some info. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/114109054/?q=Cheese&t=post&o=date&c[thread]=572282
I’ve used some straight Parmesan Swiss Mosaic. On a couple occasions. Honestly, I thought that they would carry over, But from the couple times, no cheese. Luck or just not enough added. A very undesirable smell out of the bag. Something I wouldn’t seek out on purpose. However if there’s some actual science behind it. I’m interested.
Thanks for that. There were definitely a lot of 'cheesy' references in that thread (deserved or not). I ordered from the 47hops 'fire sale' and didn't get any off-aromas or flavors when brewing with the hops I've used to date. Before posting this I opened a pack of Willamette from that sale (dated as 2016 crop) from my freezer and surprisingly it smells great (cheese-less). Depending on the desired outcome this might bear revisiting.
"Very undesirable" is accurate in describing my initial reaction to my Mandarina Bavaria freebies. I'm talking cheese X 2. Going only by the writings by Janish I wouldn't expect cheese to come through in a brew. But using them in whirlpool and letting the ferm temp rise after primary fermentation is nearly complete (as per The New IPA, pp 75 - 76), not only would you not get cheese, but you would get sweet fruit/pineapple. Sounds worth of add'l study.
Never had the cheese, but have used tired old homegrown hops. Gotta use a lot more than normal with OK beer resulting, not great.
