Sorachi Ace for bittering

[Ayerate]

I've done quite a bit of searching, but haven't found any real clear answers on how Sorachi Ace performs used purely as a bittering hop. Pretty much everything I find talks about using it in saisons, or hefe's, or as late additions or dry hops, or how it tastes like lemon/dill/garlic/cat pee.

Has anyone actually used it JUST for bittering (60+ minutes in the boil) something clean like a lager or cream ale, and if so, what was your impression?

A lot of conventional wisdom says the aromatics of a particular hop don't matter when you use it early in the boil, but there are a lot of contradictory sources to that as well (ie, if it really didn't matter, why doesn't every beer use magnum or whatever for the 60 minute addition?)

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I've done quite a bit of searching, but haven't found any real clear answers on how Sorachi Ace performs used purely as a bittering hop.

Well that's because it's one of the most expensive and hard-to-get hops of all, and if you just want bitterness you can buy alpha at half the price using other varieties. It's like using a Ferrari for the school run.

conventional wisdom says the aromatics of a particular hop don't matter when you use it early in the boil, but there are a lot of contradictory sources to that as well (ie, if it really didn't matter, why doesn't every beer use magnum or whatever for the 60 minute addition?)

"Aromatics" implies things in the aroma, which by definition are volatile and will boil off in the copper. The bittering compounds are different and far "tougher". There do seem to be some differences, but they're not great and people are fairly evenly split as to whether they prefer a smooth bitterness or the rougher bitterness of something like Target, so there's no obvious definition of "good" bitterness. So to a large extent in the commercial world almost every beer does "use magnum or whatever" if by that you mean the cheapest locally available source of alpha.

Homebrewers are less price-sensitive than commercial brewers, and are more likely to end up with odd leftovers of packets of hops which are fine for bittering even if they've lost some of their aromatics and so aren't at their best for eg dry-hopping. Last year was not great for bittering hops, so there's been some speculation that some unfashionable aroma hops will end up being used for bittering - I suspect you'll be the only one using Sorachi Ace though!!

 

[Ayerate]

Well that's because it's one of the most expensive and hard-to-get hops of all, and if you just want bitterness you can buy alpha at half the price using other varieties. It's like using a Ferrari for the school run.

I suspect you'll be the only one using Sorachi Ace though!!

I mean, I can't speak to its expense or hard to get-ness, as my LHBS has had over a dozen pound bags marked down to $15 CAD taking up half their hop fridge for months. It had the highest alpha content of anything they carried, and I did a quick check on my phone and saw it described as "lemony" for its flavour and grabbed a pack. Cut to a few weeks later I do some more in depth research before trying to find a recipe to use it in and it seems to be very divisive.

I'm currently brewing a cream ale as we speak that I was planning to use a modest bittering charge of sorachi ace for 90 minutes to get around 15 IBU. I started having second thoughts and wanted to try and get some more insight, but now I'm just going ahead with it. It's 8 g for 90 minutes, so how much aromatics are really going to make it in to the final product anyway?

 

[jekeane]

I have not used sorachi for bittering. I would be surprised if you noticed much flavor contribution from 15ibu of any bittering hop. That being said Sorachi is one of the more distinct hops.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I mean, I can't speak to its expense or hard to get-ness, as my LHBS has had over a dozen pound bags marked down to $15 CAD taking up half their hop fridge for months. It had the highest alpha content of anything they carried, and I did a quick check on my phone and saw it described as "lemony" for its flavour and grabbed a pack. Cut to a few weeks later I do some more in depth research before trying to find a recipe to use it in and it seems to be very divisive.

Heh - sounds like the LHBS got a bit carried away with their ordering, I think perhaps it has a higher reputation among commercial brewers than homebrewers. Certainly among the commercial brewers I know, boxes of Sorachi Ace are some of the "whaliest" hops around, they're like gold-dust.

Personally, I'd keep it for late/dry additions, but that's just me - certianly you're not going to get what it's about from a small bittering charge.

It's 8 g for 90 minutes, so how much aromatics are really really going to make it in to the final product anyway?

I'll repeat - aromatics are volatile, get boiled off quickly and are detected by your nose.
Bittering compounds are not volatile, don't get boiled off, and are detected by your tongue.

When people talk of variations in bittering, they're talking more about the difference between smooth and harsh bittering rather than the "flavour" of the bittering hops. But yep, you're not really going to tell the difference from 8g in 5 gallons.