Hopping Regiment with Brettanomyces

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by hoptualBrew, Jul 12, 2014.

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  1. hoptualBrew

    hoptualBrew Initiate (0) May 29, 2011 Florida

    Reading through Tonsmeire's book American Sour Beers & read something interesting that I have noticed in my 100% Brett beers.

    "Even when you cannot directly sense the hop bitterness or aromatics in the finished beer they are not without impact. Some strains of Brettanomyces possess an enzyme (beta-glucosidase) capable of liberating aromatic molecules from hop compounds called glycosides. More research is required to determine exactly which Brettanomyces strains, hop varieties, and compounds are involved, but a few studies with tantalizing results have already been published".

    Most all of my Brett beers, I ferment with Trois and have noticed this phenomenon quite some time ago. I am not sure if Trois is one of those strains that possess the enzyme beta-glucosidase though. But to compensate for this change of expected hop character in these beers I have been not adding any hops to the BK except for hop extract for bittering purposes. I then wait until primary fermentation is over and add 1/2 of my dry hop additions to the primary via pellet hops for the # of days (usually 4-5) prior to kegging. The other 1/2 of my dry hops go into C02 purged cold conditioning keg via leaf hops and muslin bag affixed with fishing line for the 5-7 days while cold conditioning. Results have been much better. I felt as if I were wasting hops by adding them as late additions or FO additions in the kettle. My thought process is by adding after or close to FG and in the cold keg, yeast activity is minimal to none and the impact of these chemically altering processes are minimal to none.

    Wanted to see if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon and adjusted accordingly. Thanks to @OldSock for his research and phenomenal book, I have a better understanding of what is happening.
     
    #1 hoptualBrew, Jul 12, 2014
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  2. scurvy311

    scurvy311 Savant (1,135) Dec 3, 2005 Louisiana

    In the May-June 2014 edition of BYO, there was an article title Brewing an All-Brett IPA by Derek Dellinger. The article referenced "...Brett is notorious for rearranging flavor compounds, and hops don't always come out the other end of the fermentation tasting like you remember...Brett overwrites much of the flavor of high-impact flavor hops..." His recommendation was to also push hops to the dry hop phase where much of the Brett has flocculated out.

    It seems you two are in agreement. I have my first all-brett IPA in the pipeline for the spring.
     
    #2 scurvy311, Jul 12, 2014
  3. hoptualBrew

    hoptualBrew Initiate (0) May 29, 2011 Florida

    I read Derek's blog as well over at Bear Flavored Ales & is always a great read. I was really taken back by the difference in skipping BK flavor + aroma additions and pushing them to dry hop only.
     
    #3 hoptualBrew, Jul 12, 2014
  4. Beerswimmer

    Beerswimmer Initiate (0) Mar 4, 2013 Texas

    I thought Trois actually increased the hop bitterness???
     
    #4 Beerswimmer, Jul 13, 2014
  5. OldSock

    OldSock Maven (1,418) Apr 3, 2005 District of Columbia

    Apparently there are good studies going on now, so the publisher axed most of what I had written on glycosides. Here is a taste:

    "The amount of glycosides in hops varies widely by varietal, but the only extensive research into the actual amounts is the proprietary information contained in studies by Miller Brewing. Miller Brewing treated an extraction of hops with β-glucosidase (an enzyme that some strains of Brett produce) and subsequently used a gas chromatograph to detect “benzaldehyde (almond, maraschino cherry), vanillin (vanilla), raspberry ketone, geraniol (floral, rose), linalool (floral), phenylacetaldehyde (honey, floral), and many other primary alcohols, ketones, and aldehydes which are also aromatic.” Methyl salicylate (wintergreen, minty, spicy) is another aglycone which has been shown to be released by the enzymatic action of Brett."

    I could certainly increase bitterness perception by leaving a very dry beer, but like all other fermentations the measured IBUs will be lower after fermentation than they were before.
     
    #5 OldSock, Jul 14, 2014
  6. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,635) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Stan Hieronymus refers to bio transformations that the yeast perform on hop compounds. Surfing the net I have read that Linalool has been measured to increase during fermentation, and that is for brewers yeast.
     
    #6 hopfenunmaltz, Jul 14, 2014
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