Longer lasting hop flavour and aroma

I really enjoy brewing (and almost more-so drinking) IPAs and would love to brew an 8%+ IIPA like the ones I have been fortunate to sample now we are getting a few kegs brought over from the US here and there. The problem is that my beers hop aroma and flavour seem to peak with the carbonation but then quickly fade, I hate to wait 2 weeks, enjoy a beer improve for a week or two then taste the decline every time from there, still great beers but its not as fun when your sharing a beer with someone and having them say how good it is to reply, "you should have tasted it last week!" Is there ANY ways to improve the life of the hop flavour and aroma in homebrew? What actually breaks down the compounds or whatever? Any ideas?

Lots of late additions and dry hop for 5-7 days before kegging or bottling. That should make a big difference.

Bull

Hop extract is an option too. Lagunitas uses it in their Hop Stoopid dipa.

bullinachinashop said:

Lots of late additions and dry hop for 5-7 days before kegging or bottling. That should make a big difference.

Bull

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How much are we talking here? This is the hop schedule for my last IPA (6.1%), all the additions were in the last 30mins.

15.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (30 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
15.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (30 min) Hops 13.5 IBU
15.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (15 min) Hops 7.7 IBU
15.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (15 min) Hops 7.1 IBU
15.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (10 min) Hops 5.8 IBU
15.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (10 min) Hops 5.3 IBU
15.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (5 min) Hops 4.8 IBU
15.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (5 min) Hops 4.4 IBU
20.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (0 min) Hops -
20.00 gm Pacific Gem [13.60%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -
20.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (0 min) Hops -
20.00 gm Southern Cross [14.80%] (Dry Hop 5 days) Hops -

Does storage effect the rate of degradation of the hop compounds? would cold storage help or is the process not effected by temperature?

Cold storage would help, and having them in vacuum sealed bags would be even better. Oxygen does not treat hops well in the long term.

Never heard of the hops you're using, so comparing them to IPAs made in the US might be a souce of variance.

I've seen some posts here that dry hopping cold in the keg for two weeks results in a much better hop experience. Haven't tried it yet, going to do it with next batch.

Hops will degrade pretty quickly if left warm and exposed in flavor, aroma and bittering properties.

Packaging them in foil, air tight bags and storing them in a freezer will extend their life and slow their degradation. Even properly packaged, you'll loose around 20% of their characteristics after 1 year.

Make sure you buy your hops from a supplier that has a high turnover and properly packages and stores them.

Good luck,

Bull

Another option to consider is keg hopping. Once you notice hop aroma starting to fade, pack about 3/4 ounce of your favorite aroma hop (leaf would be better, but pellet works as well) into a small sanitized muslin bag and drop it in the keg. It will almost certainly result in a few more "floaties" and such in your beer, but works as a nice little hop "recharge". Some might argue that over time, the hops could create an unpleasant grassy type flavor, but in my experience, as long as I keep the keg hop addition restrained and drink the beer in a reasonable time (if for some strange reason you are planning on aging your IIPA's in the keg for several months this might not work), you will be fine.

Edit: Obviously this advice is based on whether or not you keg your beer. I have heard of people dropping a hop cone in each beer at bottling, but I haven't done that so I can't speak as to how effective/wise that is. Seems like something that would be easy to try on a few beers next time, as long as you don't mind having a more cloudy beer.

phillipv said:

I have heard of people dropping a hop cone in each beer at bottling....

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A few have tried this, and it always results in gushers. Microtextures create a cascade of bubbles. Better to drop a whole hop cone on top of the the fresh poured brew as a garnish.

I am wondering where the flavors go if they are trapped in the bottle? do the yeast eat them, if so, you could filter the beer before dry hoping, then force carbonate.

Russian River requires all its retailers to refrigerate Pliney.