Identifying Hops

I can probably pick out only Citra, Moasic /simcoe, and centennial hop only brews. The others not so much even though I know what I like, most are obviously blends.

 

Step 1: go to a homebrew shop
Step 2: buy some different varieties of hops (whole and/or pellets)
Step 3: boil some water, put hops in
Step 4: drink the hop tea and take note. You can also add some honey to make it taste better
Step 5: remember what you tasted and extrapolate to beer

 

actually hop teas aren't the best choice, either. On the other side of this equation last summer, my father -in -law's neighbor was growing a hop from a brewery but forgot which strain it was. We were offered it and wanted to identify it. We made a hop tea with it, to get some of the larger characteristics of it, but we also had to use some plant identification. We id'd it as centennial. but, I'm not sure that's the best way.

Instead, just buy some DME, make 1 gallon each of some apa with ~1 oz of hops for 60 min boil + 1 oz at flameout of some hops you don't know well. (obv. skip the ones you do know). That's more fun :-)

 

One way to learn the individual hops without homebrewing is to buy some Light beer (Bud Light , Coors Light, Miller Lite, etc.) and dry hop them with various single varieties of hops. Obtaining beer with twist off and re-sealable tops is a ‘plus’ since you won’t need a capper then.

You can read about it here: http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html

Cheers!

 

I can identify a handful, definitely not a lot. I think homebrewing and hands on experience with the different hop varieties makes a huge difference in identification.

 

Once there are multiple hops being used even the pros may have trouble identifying all that's in there. Mostly you can either find information about hops used on the brewery web site, in some of the forums here, or just guess.

 

I find Mosaic,Citra,Sorachi Ace pretty easy to tell..others not so much.

 

I'm excited by this thread and where craft brewing is headed. Previously a wine nut and able to identify not only varietals but also terroir I am so psyched to see craft beer enthusiasts going down this road!!

 

yes, definitely even the pros will have trouble. With all the new hop varieties around and being developed or grown in weird places, you're going to have a tough time. I say the later point because chinook hops grown in the pac northwest will taste differently from chinook hops grown in the great lakes region. Hops get some terroir. Some brewers will tell you what hops they use and where they are grown. Lakefront IPA is brewed with Wisconsin grown Chinook and Cascade. Finding a Pac northwest grown chinook hop IPA should be easier, but I can't find one quickly with the google. I knew from memory about lakefront (and confirmed it). You might be able to develop your nose to those qualities, too. Year to year, hops will change character as well. How a brewer utilizes hops changes what the essential oils are (which is where the real flavor contribution is from not the alpha acid content, IBU calculaiton).

 

I've been working with hops and hop aroma almost daily for 5 years now; I still have a hard time picking out all the varieties whenever there's more than 2 in a beer. Once you get to 3 varieties, it's almost goes like, "Okay, there's Centennial, Citra....and....uh....hmm...something else."

Hop teas were never that helpful for me; in my opinion they don't end up as a good representation of the hop aroma in beer. I'm not sure if it's because of the lack of EtOH changing the solvent properties in the tea, or the lack of active yeast biotransformation, but a tea has never captured it well for me. What was really helpful was making a ton of SMaSH beers. I shoot for 35 BUs in a 100% 3.5 SRM 2-row 12.0P wort, almost all of it from late hopping/hop bursting with another pound/bbl as a dry hop addition (chico yeast@66F). Making single hop beers like this is obviously way more work than making a hop tea, but it really let's you learn a hop inside and out, plus you have some delicious beer to drink.

Interestingly, making SMaSH beers is also a great way to learn terroir from region to region. An Oregon Cascade is a little different than a Washington Cascade.

 

Hops will indeed vary depending on the crop year, which farm the hops are grown, the timing of the harvest (e.g., late harvest vs. early harvest), etc. Many of these factors are detailed in the book For the Love of Hops by Stan Hieronymus.

Victory Brewing had an interesting tasting of Tettnang hops from different areas (the terroir effect) and varying harvests (later harvest vs. earlier harvest): http://lewbryson.blogspot.com/2012/02/victory-brings-you-hop-terroir.html

Cheers!

 

For me, mosaic is one of the easier varieties to recognize in beer. When beers are multi-hopped, some of the others don't necessarily stand out as much to me. Here's a good resource to help: https://www.hopunion.com/aroma-wheel/

Cheers!

 

great article, thanks! I agree, pilsners are a great choice for smash because that's largely the style, anyway. We did a pils smash with wakatu hops. But, not always the most practical for a homebrewer.

 

Great article - Guess I know what I'm doing this weekend!

 

Do you have any idea which hop varieties will be part of your 'experiment'?

Cheers!

 

I found the dry hopping light beers thing a bit overpowering and vegetal, but I guess that's kinda the point. We also used some cheap as hell beer I haven't seen since, so that may influence things.

The best option I've found is just to brew a SMaSH beer with different hops. I did a farmhouse blend IPA for some reason, and did 60-15-5-0-Dry additions. Really helped me coordinate my palate and, bonus, learn how to make a recipe replicable.

But yeah. Single hop beers from local breweries are also a great option.

 

Probably some that I am less familiar with, which is to say anything OTHER than Citra, Simcoe, Centennial and Amarillo. I'd like to go a slightly different direction though and get a little more scientific in discerning the varietals a little at a time per class without overwhelming myself. So that being said, maybe split American hops between high Alpha acid and low Alpha acid; work on defining and understanding nuances of English (Fuggles and Golding) hops, and do the same thing with German hops (Saaz, Hallertau, Spalt and Tettnang). I can see myself doing this type of experiment once or twice, so I can further focus on just American high alphas later on if I wish. Fro now I see value in developing a better sense for a wider range of hop. Of course this will all depend on what the homebrew shop has, so I'll check back in once I've done the whole experiment.

 

Hah, that'd be my list as well for the most readily identifiable hops. I'd add cascade and galaxy to that list as well.

For germans, saaz is probably the MOST recognizeable hop out there, you might be able to omit that one.

 

oh and that lemon pledge hop from japan that was all the rage a few years ago, that one's obvious although I have forgoten the name. You probably all know what I'm talking about though.