Question about hop oils, extracts, concentrates.

To my knowledge they typically only impart bitterness and are mostly used at FWH or as soon as the boil has begun. Again, that's to my knowledge.

 

I am personally not aware of any extract (or other product) available to homebrewers that provide hop flavor/aroma.

Sierra Nevada does use a product to provide hop aroma/flavor to their beer Hop Hunter:

“Hop Hunter IPA harnesses the complex flavors of just-picked hops through an all-new method of steam distilling wet hops before they even leave the fields. This revolutionary technique captures and intensifies the natural flavors, creating a unique and intensely aromatic beer. Our custom process gathers pure hop oil which, when combined with traditional whole-cone hops in the brew kettle, makes for an incredible IPA experience.”

Cheers!

 

When we talk about extracts, it is typically for bitterness, but they can be used for flavor. They just rarely are. Typically, extracts are made with super critical CO2. Oils are typically steam distilled and used for flavor and aroma. Other advanced hop products like hexa-hydro-iso-alpha acids are extracts that are used for other purposes... In that case, head retention, and it increases IBU's by about 2.

Oils can be purchased in 50g cans for about $300. Some homebrewers will split the cost of a can and divy it up. Then to use it, they dillute a few grams in 750 ml of high proof ethanol (Everclear) and then add 50 ml of the ethanol/oil solution to a 5 gallon batch.

 

I also think that its mainly Magnum that's used in many extracts, so its a bittering hop to begin with and not really used as a taste/aroma hop. I've used them late in the boil with other hops, but haven't noticed them showing up really in the nose, but have noticed that the hoppy taste drops off faster in the beer compared to a brew that just uses real hops.

 

I've seen cascade, EKG and Nelson Sauvin aroma oils for sale in HBS here, but I don't know anyone who has used them . Also Brewferm do hop aroma oils called "Citrussy" "Flowery" and "Hoppy" etc

 

You can buy different products, but they are expensive, and packaged for 30-50 barrel breweries.

 

There are many different products out there that range in use from bittering, foam enhancement/stabilization, flavor, aroma etc. and it has to do with what portion of the hop extract that is utilized. CO2 seems to be the primary method of extraction used and a few years ago it was explained to me that they could strip everything out of the hops with the CO2 and then distill off the essential oils. More recently I've learned that as the CO2 technology has advanced, there are additional ways to separate out more and different fractions by additional means. Here are some examples of products other than bitter compounds: http://themaltmiller.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=25, www.hoptech.com/collections/hop-oils-extracts/aroma-hops, http://www.charlesfaram.co.uk/aroma-hopburst/, https://www.amazon.com/Kalsec-Solutions-Hopical-Advanced-Extract/dp/B00VKL8R3A

 

I have looked at the Kalsec ones, but do you think those will be shelf stable? Good for 10-20 bbls, so it would take me a while to use one.

 

The tech sheets are located at http://www.kalsec.com/products/hop-extracts/craft-brew-solutions-1/. Each one seems to have a different shelf life, Trop Hopical < 6 months, Bitter Blaster < 18 months.

 

All that information should be found on the suppliers website. Generally, the concentrated products I've seen are stated to have shelf life of over a year when stored under refrigeration. The ready to use products may be less due to their formulations.

 

http://appellationbeer.com/blog/hop-extracts-available-at-amazon/ article about the Kalsec brand by Stan Hieronymus

 

That is where I first learned of those products.

Fun fact, Matt Brynildson worked at Kalsec as a hop chemist after Kalamazoo college, before he went pro.