Tiantai brewtech supply various brewhouses.Hops is one important raw material for brew house. In the market, there are many kinds of hop products for beer brewing. Let’s learn more on hop products through this article.
The traditional method of adding hops is to add hops in the form of whole hops when wort is boiling, and the utilization rate of its effective components is low. At present, there are fewer and fewer breweries adding hops in this way, and instead, there are all kinds of hop products. Hop products have many advantages, such as high content of effective bitter component A-acid, less loss of A-acid when stored at low temperature without oxygen, convenient transportation and long-term storage, high utilization rate of effective components of hop, guaranteed beer quality, etc. The domestic production of hop products has increased rapidly, accounting for more than 80% of the global production of hop products. The main hop products are hop pollen, granule hop, hop extract and hop oil.
(1) Wine pollen and granule hops
① Wine pollen. In order to process wine pollen, the moisture of hops should be dried to 7% ~ 9%, and then crushed into 1 ~ 5mm powder. The crushed hops can be homogenized in the mixing tank before packaging. The A-acid content of common wine pollen is not much different from that of compressed flaky hops, but the A-acid content of enriched wine pollen can be as high as 10% (10% for fragrant hops and 14% for bitter hops). The bitter substance of wine pollen is better used than compressed flaky hops, saving 15% A-acid and easy to store.
Due to the low mass / volume ratio of wine pollen, the volume of wine pollen is not smaller than that of compressed whole hops, which is inconvenient to use and easy to lose. In recent years, wine pollen is often pressed into granules for use.
Granular hops is based on hops powder, adding about 20% bentonite, and then using granulator to process the powder hops into granules (granulation). The diameter of the granules is 2 ~ 8mm, and the length is about 15mm. The most common is the 90 type granule hops, only 10% of the miscellaneous flavor substances are removed, and the content of bitter substances is not very different from the original hops. However, A-acid can be enriched according to the requirements. For example, 45% impurities are removed from the 45 type granular hops, which increases the content of A-acid and narrows the fluctuation range.
Compared with compressed flaky hops, granular hops have smaller volume, can be vacuum packed, and are convenient for transportation and storage. The disadvantage is the loss of A-acid during granulation.
③ Isomeric granule hops. The A-acid in hops must be isomerized into iso-A acid during wort boiling to give beer bitterness. This transformation requires appropriate temperature, time and pH, and the isomerization rate is only about 33%. Meanwhile, with the extension of wort boiling time, the aroma components of hops are easy to volatilize. The isomeric particle hops is to isomerize a acid in hops under certain conditions, and the isomerization rate can reach about 55%. The utilization rate of bitter substances can be improved by using isomeric granule hops. All the indexes of the brewed beer are normal, and the flavor of hops is outstanding.
(2) Hops extract hops extract is to extract the bitter substance and oil of hops with organic solvent, then evaporate the organic solvent or extract with CO2, such as hexane extract, hot water extract, CO2 extract, etc. The total resin content of standard hops extract is about 35%, and the A-acid content is 18% ~ 25%; the total resin content of enriched hops extract is more than 85%, and the A-acid content is 30% ~ 40%; the total resin content of superior hops extract is about 55%, and the A-acid content is 18% ~ 25%.
The advantages of hops extract are that it can improve the utilization rate of a acid and save about 20% bitter substances; it can control the dosage accurately and ensure the consistency of bitter value of finished beer; it has small volume and low quality, and is convenient for transportation and storage. 25% ~ 30% of the world's hop production is processed into extract. At present, organic solvent extraction and CO2 extraction are mainly used in the production of hop extract.
Organic solvent hops extract. General polar and nonpolar organic solvents have better extraction effect on A-acid in hops, such as toluene, dichloromethane, trichloromethane, hexane, methanol, ethanol, etc., especially dichloromethane and hexane. After extraction, the solvent is evaporated and recovered, and the rest is dark green, viscous resin extract, which often contains most of hops oil. This part of the extract is about 25% of the mass of hops, which is called hops extract. The discharged hops grains are extracted by hot water to make hot water extract. Because this part of the extract contains more polyphenols, it is also called tannin extract. This part of the extract is still about 25% of the mass of hops. Although the trace residual solvent in hops extract will evaporate when wort is boiling, the toxicity of the solvent should still be paid attention to. The extraction process of hops extract is shown in Figure 1-1.
② CO2 hops extract. In recent years, due to people's doubts about the residual organic solvent in the extract extracted by organic solvent, the extraction of hop extract mostly adopts CO2 extraction method. CO2 extraction can be divided into liquid CO2 extraction and supercritical CO2 extraction. According to the different technology, it can be made into many kinds of products.
a. Standard CO2 hops extract. The standard type of CO2 hops extract is to concentrate all the effective components in hops by CO2 extraction technology. The use method and hops flavor are closer to the original hops, and its A-acid content is generally 40% ~ 60%.
b. Isomerized hop extract. The characteristic of isomerized hops extract is that it only contains isomers of A-acid, emulsifier and water, and does not contain polyphenols and hops essential oil. It has good solubility in beer. This hops extract is rarely used and sometimes used to adjust the bitter value of beer.
c. B-sour hops oil. B-Acid hop oil is a kind of liquid CO2 extraction of B-Acid and essential oil from hops. It contains 70% B-Acid and its derivatives and 20% hop essential oil (mainly phyllene, humulene, caryophyllene, etc.). B-Acid hops oil can also be used to improve the flavor of bitter hops and replace part of hops or standard hops extract.
In addition to the above hop products, there are a variety of hop products used to improve the taste of beer for brew houses, so as to change the situation of single beer flavor and further improve the quality of beer for brewery house.If you want to start your own brew house, feel free to contact us to get brewhouse quote.
Request A Quote