What are hops?

In the sensory evaluation of many liquors, when the bottle is shaken, it will be found that the liquor will foam up, which is commonly known as “hops”, so is the foam produced when the beer is just poured out hops? In fact, “hops” is a raw material that plays an important role in the world of beer.

Hops in the narrow sense of the word refers to the herbaceous perennial plant Snake Hemp of the family Cannabaceae, while hops in the common sense of the word refers to the dried mature female flowers of this plant and its processed products.

Difference between flake and pellet hops

The use of hops and hops pellets is basically the same, hops are fresher than hops pellets, but occupy a large area and are easy to oxidize, 1kg of hops is equivalent to 0.85~0.9kg of hops pellets (10% of the leaf stalks and other magazines need to be removed in the process of processing hops into hops pellets).

Why add hops to beer?

1. To give beer a refreshing aroma, bitterness and preservative power.

The aroma of hops and the freshness of malt give beer a subtle flavor. Beer, coffee and tea all win with aroma and bitterness, which is what makes these beverages so appealing. Hops itself is a natural preservative, which gives beer a special flavor while extending its shelf life.

2. Forming excellent beer foam

Beer foam is a complex of isorhizone in hops and foaming protein from malt. Excellent hops and malt, can brew a white, delicate, rich and long-lasting beer foam.

3, in favor of wort clarification

In the wort boiling process, due to the addition of hops, the wort in the protein complex can be analyzed, thus playing a role in clarifying the wort, brewing a pure beer.

4. The strong hop flavor balances the natural sweetness of the wort and stimulates the appetite.

The original beer because of the addition of honey or date palms, the flavor is relatively sweet, but such beer is not very thirst-quenching, which is mixed with hops brewed beer throughout the Middle Ages is very popular reason.

Storage of hops

I: low temperature, temperature affects the aging of hops (it is recommended to store at a temperature of no more than 4 ° C, around 0 degrees is best, it is not recommended to lower temperatures, firstly, it is a waste of energy, and secondly, at sub-zero, some of the water in the hops freezes, and after high temperatures, it will be dispersed)

Two: avoid light (because light will change the aroma in the hops)

Third: isolation from oxygen (the solution is to evacuate the vacuum, and the second is to flush nitrogen or carbon dioxide) Oxygen will accelerate the aging of the hops, and the aging hops will emit the smell of “stinky socks”.