Can't master the bitterness of craft beer?

Many people who brew craft beer don't know how to control the bitterness of craft beer, so the craft beer that has been changed to bitterness is not bitter, but the craft beer that should not be bitter is very bitter. If you still can't grasp the bitterness of craft beer, then you must know the next thing!

The word bitterness appeared in the 1950s and 1960s. At that time, this industry standard played a very important role, and even now we continue to use it.

But the definition of bitterness has become blurred by now, because other components in hops besides isomerized alpha-acids now also contribute to bitterness.

Source of bitterness

What can now bring bitterness to hops are: α-acids, isomeric α-acids, humulone (oxidized α-acids), chirudone (oxidized β-acids), hop polyphenols and other hop components.

The alpha-acids are 10% of the bitterness of the iso-alpha-acids, and the luciferone is 66% of the bitterness of the iso-alpha-acids, so we can do an experiment.

Effect of dry casting on the bitterness of craft beer

Century hops with a humulone concentration of 0.35% were used in two craft beers with different degrees of bitterness for 5 days of dry casting with 0, 200g, 400g, and 800g of hops respectively. After comparison, it can be concluded that:

(1) As the amount of dry hops increased, the amount of humulone increased accordingly.

(2) Regardless of the initial bitterness, the use efficiency of humulone was almost the same.

(3) The concentration of isomeric α-acids with low bitterness decreased by 13%, and the concentration of isomeric α-acids with high bitterness decreased by 37%.

(4) Bitterness showed opposite performance in different craft beers. The craft beer with low bitterness increased bitterness through dry casting, but the craft beer with high bitterness decreased.

With the increase of dry hop amount and time, isomeric α-acid concentration decreased and α-acid increased, so it was concluded that dry hop amount and time and bitterness were negatively correlated.

However, if we take humulone into the calculation, the overall bitterness after dry casting is lower than that before dry casting, but humulone still brings bitterness.

Of course, the pH value of craft beer will also affect the bitterness. When the pH value rises, the bitterness of craft beer will also increase sensorially.