Shredding Hop Cones

I can't really help with the to shred of not to shred question. I just chuck them in, but really haven't paid much attention to how the hops look after the boil. Perhaps I should, though.

I would caution using 100% homegrown hops, however. The issue is that you have no idea what the AA% is. So most of us use the homegrown as aroma/flavor additions, and a commercial hop for the main bittering.

 

I personally have never heard of shredding whole hop cones. I have limited experience with brewing with whole hops; mostly just using my homegrown hops as wet hops to brew a Harvest Ale.

Maybe @Peter_Wolfe will have some input here.

He made mention in another thread that he preferred to brew with pellet hops since the Lupulin gland is ruptured during the pelletizing process:

“The lupulin gland rupture is the whole reason they're better to brew with, though. I view it as a positive, not a negative - the ruptured glands more readily share their goodies (that's my extremely technical take). As long as they're protected from O2 during storage, it's not a problem.”

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...ressive-shelf-life.288551/page-2#post-3624398

Cheers!

 

Conceptually what you stated there makes sense to me but I am not a hop expert so I am hesitant to say more than that.

Hopefully Peter Wolfe will chime in at some point and provide his input.

Another person who might have information to share is Bill Manley (@sierranevadabill) since Sierra Nevada solely brews with whole hops. Bill, do you guys 'shred' your hops when brewing Sierra Nevada beers to 'optimize' exposure of the lupulin gland?

Cheers!

 

Extraction of hop oils is less efficient with leaf hops than with pellets. That's the reason IBU calculators often have a bonus (IBU) factor when using pellets.

When I use leaf hops, I don't shred them. I just compensate for the lower efficiency by using more hops.

 

I know a bunch of people on jims beer kit forum put whole hops in the food processor and blitz them them use them as dry hops that way

also some put some in with some wort and turn them into a puree, then add it

They did mention they don't sink as well as pellets and best used in a bag for dry hopping.

 

Well, they should have yield more than if they were not shredded. But I can't say whether that would be more or less than pellets. It's such an unusual thing that I would hazard a guess it hasn't been studied quantitatively.

 

Dave (@telejunkie), have you ever heard of anybody shredding their whole hops to optimize exposure to lupulin glands?

Cheers!

Jack

 

Narrangansett/Falstaff used to put the whole hops they used to dry hop Ballantine Ale through a hammer mill, milling them"...to a consistency that was a cross between corn flakes and sawdust..." according to brewmaster Bill Anderson. I imagine it might have been a common method used by the few pre-craft era brewers still dry-hopping before the common use of pelletized hops.

 

Prof. Narziss talks a lot about brewers "milling" their hops. Sounded in the literature like a fairly widespread practice a few decades back.

 

And a pre-Pro example, from 1917 American Brewers' Review (pg. 162-3 for full article) by an R. Juerst :

"The author has obtained satisfactory results by employing ground hops for dry-hopping and even in the copper. The mill employed, driven by a 6 horsepower electric motor, and making 400 revolutions per minute, was capable of grinding 200 lbs. of hops per hour, whether in a moist condition or dry. The lupulin glands were thereby laid open and their contents spread over the disintegrated leaves of the hop-cones. The mill could be adjusted for coarse or fine grinding. Spindles, stems and leaves were all passed through the mill. While the spindles and stems act favorably upon the ale to be dry-hopped, it has been demonstrated, contrary to a belief widely entertained, that the seeds have no bitter flavor of the ale treated. It was found that by grinding hops in this way the quantity required can be reduced by more than 50 per cent. Ground hops added to ale in the storage vessel form a more compact deposit at the bottom than whole hops, and retain less than one third of the amount of beer absorbed by the latter."
​

(I knew I'd seen it discussed elsewhere )

 

In the article entitled “Developments in the Malting and Brewing Industries in Germany” by Dr. L. Narziss; April 1965:

“In some breweries hops are milled before use, thereby saving up to 10%, although occasionally the bitterness is not as fine.”

So, it appears that “some” German breweries in 1965 performed a milling process on the hops. He did quantify that milling resulting in a savings of 10% of the hop quantity. I am personally a bit concerned about the aspect of the bitterness being “not as fine”. Needless to say that for a commercial brewery, with an accounting staff, a 10% reduction on the cost of hops is significant but on the homebrewing scale I would not want to save 10% on my personal hop cost if there could be an impact on the quality of the beer.

Hopefully we will hear more from Peter, Bill and/or Dave on this topic.

Cheers!

 

Funny...I thought German beers in the 60s and 70s were the paragons of how to correctly hop.

 

German Pilsners of the 60s and 70s were more highly hopped then contemporary German Pilsners.

I have no idea where the word "paragon" comes from.

Cheers!

 

They had higher IBUs, yes....

That said, are you now concerned about Victory's (and other U.S. brewers') German-style beers' bitterness being "not as fine" as it could be?

 

Originally from Greek... parakonan, "to sharpen"