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Re-Thinking Bitterness in Dry Hopped Beers

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That article was all over the place.
Dry hopping reduces kettle IBUs, but dry hopping increases IBUs, but the bitterness perception doesn't match up with the current IBU metricization methodology...

Woof.

For the sake of sanity I'm going to pretend that article was never written...

Cheers! ;)
 
I think the general message was that bitterness in general is largely a perceptual measure and that our existing methods for measuring and estimating bitterness don’t really have an appreciable correlation to the massively dry-hopped NEIPAs. I imagine it would behoove the industry to develop a better metric which aligned with the sensory perception of the finished beers.

The one fascinating element in the article is that dry hops have diastatic power — I had always assumed that the CO2 production observed following dry hopping was the existing CO2 coming out of solution due to the increase in nucleation sites. I had no idea that dry hops effectively contribute to fermentation. Even now, I have a finished IPA (S.G. 1.012) sitting on 3 oz of dry hops and continuing to ferment.
 
That article is actually pretty accurate, and they didn't even get around to talking about bitterness perception via humulinones or polyphenols.
 
@specharka Yeah, I got the "perception" thing from this article too.

I like hop flavors and aromas, but not harshness or bitterness. With CO2 based hop extracts (only) during the boil, whirlpool hop additions after FO (under 180F) followed by dry hopping in the fermenter, I can achieve the hoppy but non-bitter taste profiles I enjoy with an IPA. I have no idea what the industries' IBU rating would be for my beer based on actual hop usage, but I would imagine sort of low even though my taste buds tell me differently (perception). Again, I think the articles' focus on perception was interesting.

Also interesting is that dry hop additions may promote continuing fermentation given we feel the beer has met FG. I plan to evaluate this in the future as it is most interesting. Thanks for sharing.
 
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It seems there are enough sugars in hops to cause its own fermentation.
So, use enough of them in an otherwise "done" brew and the fermentation can be obvious.
I had no idea...

Cheers!
 
The one fascinating element in the article is that dry hops have diastatic power

That's something that has been known about for ages - Ron Pattinson has dug up research on this from the 1890s. But it's never been a particular issue until people started such massive dry hops, and varieties like Mosaic seem particularly prone to it.
 
It seems there are enough sugars in hops to cause its own fermentation.
So, use enough of them in an otherwise "done" brew and the fermentation can be obvious.
I had no idea...

Cheers!
There is no sugar in hops. Hops have enzymes on the surface that do cut longer sugars and starches into smaller ones, hence they can help providing more fermentables by cutting unfermentables into fermentables.
 
There is no sugar in hops. Hops have enzymes on the surface that do cut longer sugars and starches into smaller ones, hence they can help providing more fermentables by cutting unfermentables into fermentables.

Not quite true - there is a bit of fermentable material in hops, but it's mostly the effect of the enzymes chopping up long-chain carbohydrates from the malt.
 
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