Hopping Experiment - Poll time

Voted for dry hop quantities. While kegging vs bottling might be more relevant for a lot of people, I feel like the results will be predictable and the exact details won't do a lot to alter the general consensus: IPAs are better kegged than bottled.

Dry hop quantity, on the other hand, to me is more of an unknown, and I'd be more interested to see the results. How much of an effect does it really have? When do we get into diminishing returns?

I'd also be interested to see an experiment on fermentation vs traditional dry hop timing.

 

That's pretty much exactly what I'm thinking.

 

Which one do you think will be of more use to the students in the class? Dry hopping is something everyone can do and change up very easily, whereas keg vs bottle is a little more limited to those that are looking into kegging over bottling more than anything else...so as a college educator myself, I'd go for the dry hopping experiment because it will be usable by more of your students immediately and therefore should have a bigger impact on them than kegging vs bottling. At the same time, I think that experimenting with biotransformation hopping vs traditional dry hopping is more "cutting edge" as far as hops go, compared to just different hop amounts, and might be of more use for both advanced and beginner homebrewers. I would personally stick to a clean IPA instead of a NE IPA, to keep the variables at a minimum and give your experiment more validity...and because most homebrewers in general brew clean (i.e. chico yeast) IPAs more than NE IPAs overall (and because the NE IPA fad is slowly fading as we speak).

 

Dave, I voted the hop quantity experiment.

I know this is not something that you personally could do but I would love to read where somebody does something to ‘replicate’ the curves that were posted by @Grimm_Artisanal_Ales of



https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...les-september-2016.446523/page-2#post-5005750

Cheers!

 

What makes you say that?

Cheers!

 

At least in homebrewing, it seems that many homebrewers have already experimented with NE IPAs and are back on the clean IPA train, including myself. After all of the hype about NE IPAs, I've heard a lot of homebrewers mention lately that they have had their fill of the milkshake style and dont really make too many of them anymore. I have brewed enough NE IPAs to realize that it isnt my preferred way to brew an IPA and I much prefer a juicy west coast IPA. My experience is only a snapshot of those I interact with, but it seems to me that many homebrewers are over the NE IPA fad.

 

As @DrMindbender state, so have I started to move away from that NE style. It does not keep as long in a bottle, vs a clearer less hopped IPA or dipa. I believe the style will stay around be like all new things they get old and then there's something else new.

 

If you are correct in this assessment it sure has been a short fad.

I homebrewed my first (and only so far) "NE" IPA a few months ago (a clone of Trillium Galaxy Fort Point Pale Ale). I enjoyed drinking that batch and I might make it again.

My next IPA will be an 'experiment'. I will brew a 'regular' IPA but instead of using US-05 I will instead use S-04 (the yeast strain that I used for my "NE" IPA). Maybe this beer will be a hybrid? Hmm?

Cheers!

 

I think it was destined to be a short fad because of how polarizing NE IPAs are compared to other IPA styles. In my experience, there are more people that dont like NE IPAs compared to any other style of IPA, so that leads me to believe that the numbers of folks that really like them are less overall (at least percentage wise) compared to other IPA styles as well, making it more susceptible to being fad-ish compared to other IPA styles.

I've subbed 04 for 05 many times in the past few years...I still like my 05 vs 04 IPAs personally

 

The 'challenge' here is that the fans of the so called "NE" IPA (one BA coined the term "crhazies") are extremely enthusiastic about these sorts of beers so you hear (and read) a lot about their love of these beers. It sure makes it look like lots of folks love this sort of beer. I can relate that from a commercial beer perspective that the fans of Tired Hands hazy hoppy beers will wait for hours in line to buy beers that are very highly priced. They charged $22 for a 4-pack of 16 ounce cans of their brand Mago Tago last week and that beer was sold out in just a couple of hours.

How would you characterize the qualities of the S-04 versions vs. the US-05 versions? What are the distinguishing features?

Cheers!

 

Dave, the larger issue as regards the above curves is how well "NE"IPAs hold up as packaged beers (i.e., canned beers in the case of Grimm Artisanal Ales). Beyond the limited time you have at the moment, you do not have the ability to can beers like the folks at Grimm Artisanal Ales do.

I was discussing this more like I am 'planting a seed' for potential future activities. Maybe someday in the future you might be speaking to another commercial brewery that cans their beers (e.g., Tree House, Trillium, Bissel Brothers,..) and as part of that conversation you could inquire whether they have scientifically assessed (or will assess) the dry hop timeline of their beers.

Cheers!

Jack

 

Back on track, I voted kegging vs bottling. Brulosophy has been blowing "common brewing practices" away lately, this may wind up being the same...

 

I voted kegging vs. bottling as well. Ever since I started kegging last year, I've noticed a huge difference in hop freshness vs. bottling.

 

Sounds like an excellent experiment and I look forward to the results. Will there be a write-up on here, or in BYO?

thx

(BTW, NEIPAs are FAR from over. As tele mentioned, just check out the lines and trade demands for those beers.)

 

Voted for dry hop quantities. I've always had issues w/ dry hopping, so maybe this will help me out.

 

Are you using leaf or pellets.