'Hoppy' beer without exploding bottles and too much alcohol

Although hops were previously thought to be inert ingredients, recent evidence suggests they contain biologically active compounds that restart the fermentation process and alter the final composition of beer. Thomas Shellhammer and Kaylyn Kirkpatrick wanted to identify the source of these changes.

The researchers dry-hopped a commercial beer and showed this boosted its carbon dioxide (CO2) and alcohol content, while lowering its carbohydrate content. They found that the activity of starch-degrading enzymes associated with hops—including amyloglucosidase, α-amylase, β-amylase and dextrinase—altered the composition of carbohydrates in the beer, shifting the balance to more fermentable sugars and thus increasing the alcohol content.

phys.org - 'Hoppy' beer without exploding bottles and too much alcohol.

Fully attenuated and packaged commercial lager beer was dry-hopped at a rate of 10 g hops/L beer with pelletized Cascade hops, dosed with 106 cells/mL of ale yeast, and incubated at 20 °C. Real extract of the treated beer declined significantly within several days with a reduction of 1 °P (% w/w) after 5 days and then slowly to a total reduction of approximately 2 °P after 40 days. When fully fermented, this was equivalent to the production of an additional 4.75% (v/v) of CO2 and an additional 1.3% (v/v) of alcohol. The refermentation of beer driven by dry-hopping was attributed to the low but persistent activities of several starch degrading enzymes present in Cascade hops including amyloglucosidase, α-amylase, β-amylase, and limit dextrinase. The effect of hop-derived enzymes on beer was time, temperature, and dose-dependent. Characterizing bioactive enzymes in hops will help hop suppliers and brewers to address the unexpected quality and safety issues surrounding hopping practices in beer.

pubs.acs.org - Evidence of Dextrin Hydrolyzing Enzymes in Cascade Hops (Humulus lupulus).

Now I am convinced that phys.org is punking me! I had a feeling it might have been happening before but chalked it up to mere coincidence; a curiosity of happenstance where the Meta manifest into the realm of the living. Universe has a sense of humor, it seems! I would ponder and wax poetically about black holes and how they might be the center where all matter in the galaxy is magically entangled and resonates with the equivalent of earth's Schumann resonance then, a few days to a week later, an article would pop up magically and appear on phys.org where an actual, real physicist has a theory stating the same.

This one takes the cake!

First, there are not enough face palms to go around on this one! Not even the one where Picard and Number One are face palming at the same time!! I almost do not know where to begin. At least phys.org had the beer making process correct: starches in barley are converted sugars during the mashing process. The resulting liquid is at that stage called "wort". It is sticky, hot, and not a lot of flavor. That is where hops come in. Each style of beer uses different varieties of hops, at different stages of boiling the wort. That is because hops release their oils into the wort depending how long they are in contact with the liquid. The wort is cooled down to fermentation temperatures and yeast is added. The sweet, bitter liquid is, at the moment of pitching, technically "beer."

The yeast is allowed to ferment out the beer until the desired remaining sugar level. The flat, warm beer, is drawn off the yeast. Yeast will cannibalize each other if there is no food available which will give off flavors to the beer. The remaining yeast floating around run out of flood and sink to bottom of the secondary fermenter. To make beer, draw off the beer from the yeast sediment and force carbonate (bottles or kegs).

In the secondary fermentation tank, whole hops can be added to impart more hoppy goodness. Flat beer that has not been carbonated. This is called "dry hopping" and it adds hop aroma and some bitterness depending on how long it sits. Since this is a fermenter, any more CO2 escapes through an air lock. Dry hopping does not increase alcohol content. Unless there are anaerobic bacteria on the buds themselves the alcohol content is not going to shoot through the roof. Which, if you read the abstract, you will notice they added yeast back to the bottled beer!!

As a homebrewer, one of the very first things you try is to make crappy beer better by adding hops to it. Pop the top off Bud Light, add hops, and the thing fizzes and foams everywhere. No hoppy flavors are added. And no, you did not just "dry hop" your beer.

EPIC FAIL

10g of hop Cascade pellets! Oh, my!! Smh. Per 5 gallon (~3.8L), you would add a quarter ounce (~28/4 = 7) so about 7g depending on how hoppy you want it. 10g/L is good one!! *laughs out loud*

I have to ask, "how much did you get paid to do this so called research?" You could have saved your money, asked me, given me half your salary and I would have told you what happens. Then you get a paper published and I got me some beer and pizza money!!

What a waste of good, off the shelf, lager!



Any homebrewers out there?? I hope you enjoy the laugh as much as I do!! Both the headline and the "research"!!

I bet you won't like I am going to say but I hate bubbly beer. I will take a cold bubble less beer any day. I hate burping and I am not able to drink as much with all those bubbles.

Another think coming...

Ain't nothing wrong with a high alcohol by volume IPA! 6-9% ABV is about a "normal" IPA range. Lagers are around 3-5% ABV. So adding back 1.3% to 3% is like not even hitting the normal range of IPA.

Heck, "ice" beers are around 5% ABV themselves!

Googles says Spacedust is 8.2% and I drink that regularly. I consider that rather strong and limit myself to only a couple.

On another note, when dry hopping a beer it already has alcohol that inhibit any microbes. It is also the magic substance extracting the hop oils!

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I don't have time for beer, at least in terms of the buzz i'm looking for, so i just drink Scotch or Whiskey.

But, I have wanted to try out home brewing, and I will have time for it this winter. So, I think it's safe to say, you may find a few u2us heading your way when i do take on that labor of love.

I enjoyed the OP...

a reply to: watchandwait410


Nah, I don't judge people's tastes when it comes to beer. Any more!

Go to a beer festival or two and see the broad spectrum of tastes! One person's fruit beer favorite vs. another person's sour beer favorite?? I have been in that discussion before and have given up passing judgement. So you like cask conditioned beer, it is all good!

a reply to: BestinShow


I always forget to check my u2us!!!

A word of warning to all wanting to homebrew: I hope you like washing dishes! Here is a good example.

The main wort boiling pot gets a wash before using it. After the chilled wort is transferred to the primary fermenter the boiling kettle is washed and dried. Each pot used (a typical set up is 3 pots: hot water tank, mash tun, boiling kettle) gets the treatment to keep them clean. Then you have sterilization of the fermenters (primary and secondary). Nobody really tells you this when you first start! Oh, and the bottle washing!! How I ever kept at it, I will never know!!

Good luck! Charlie Papazian is your friend!!

Relax! Have a homebrew!

It’s actually coming out that dry hopping can create another round of fermentation. It’s subtle and often does not add to the ABV but often times does cause unwanted diacetyle.

The idea is that there are natural yeast, oxygen and sugars in the hops and if you have not completely dropped your yeast and/or centrifuged/filtered than your hops will cause a slight restart in fermentation.. which leads to diacetly precursor... and with not enough yeast and or dormant yeast due to wether you have racked to another vessel or at least dropped your trub your yeast will not clean up precursor and once your packaged beer is warmed up you will have noticeable diacetlye and possibly overcarbonation.

www.mbaa.com...

It’s something I have been tweaking at work and have been reading a lot about lately.

Dry hop during high Krausen while yeast is still active and it should clean it all up.. a lot of brewers dump their yeast first and they have no way to clean up the diacetyle. And when you are packaging and sending it off and you don’t control how it is treated and what temp it is stored at your once clean beer can come out of the Can/bottle/can tasting like hoppy popcorn.


Other possible solutions include filter your beer prior to dry hopping and really watching your ph.
I’m not an expert, but I am a professional.

But you’re right, if you’re mortgage isn’t depending on it ...relax, don’t worry, have a home brew.



a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Issue with something so subjective is that everyone is an expert.

had someone say to me that the brewing industry basically started in the US and that the US makes all the best beers. Its like... woah wait a sec, if you are talking about super hoppy beer that everyone passes off as being amazing because its pickling your insides, then sure... why not. But also there is Beer brewing culture around the world many centuries older than aforementioned country.

Seems to me in the last 10 or so years mega hoppy beers have become a bit of a fad, kind of like how you know that most of the people who claim to be 'into' their beers, had only just got into drinking beer.

Popularity will shift and change and its mostly about drinking what you like, rather than some kind assumed status of drinking something you think makes you special.

Seems to me that going overboard on the hops is the easiest way to penetrate this market currently in the realm of 'hipster beer' with the younger people. Sort of that "Oh i don't drink mass produced lager because it tastes horrid, i only drink X beer now' Which, in my opinion is also horrid but yeah, sure go ahead lol.

I am a man of simple tastes, and would take a classic british style smooth or a wheat ale.

And no, its not warm beer, you Americans and this myth... its kind of telling that you guys (and gals) like to drink very very cold beer, since the colder something is the less you can taste. No wonder you have to ram so much hops in. 8-12 degrees C will do me just fine any lower and its just stupid.

a reply to: ErosA433


OK. But what about the "experiment" and published paper? Or the fear inducing headline, "exploding bottles" and "high alcohol" content?

Any thoughts?

I thought it was rather funny. And both the "haha" and "strange" way. My beer brewing buddy called me out of the blue a few days ago. I was thinking about brewing a batch so "dry hopping" was one possible option.



@SteamyJeans, cool you work in the industry! Sometimes it is just hurrying the process to turn around tank time. I have not noticed in local brewer's dry hopped IPA. It is also cask conditioned so it gets the luxury of sitting around a bit longer.

What do you think of taking off the shelf carbonated lager, adding hop pellets at a ridiculous rate, and yeast, and saying, "Look! Dry hopping increases alcohol content"! I mean, c'mon. That is just silly!

I've been brewing lactic acid bacteria from Tibicos for a while now. Some times the lids bulge from the 2nd fermentation after the culture is removed. Sometimes alcohol content rises. It depends on the sugar and mineral source the microbes feed off, and the duration of the ferment.

A good batch tastes like sprite or grapefruit soda. A bad batch tastes like pickles or sweaty feet. Variables of contaminating fermenters from dirty equipment, dead colonies, environmental bacteria etc

I'm not going to pretend the beer industry isn't on top of these things, like this article seems to say. I'm pretty sure theyve known all about it since forever.

I'm more curious why PBR tastes better in a can while most beers taste better in a bottle, why people pretend skunky beer is bad when any pot smoker would prefer it, and why people who like bitter beer would even admit that, with studies stating psychopathic tendencies are accompanied by a tolerance for bitter flavors.

i am a ex us navy sailor and love Filipino San Miguel

Filipino San Miguel is a very low hops beer.

but the San Miguel sold in the US is not the same as the the beer sold in the Philippines.

i have tasted both in the same setting thanks to a Navy friend that brought back a few bottles and we tasted both at the same time.

a reply to: TEOTWAWKIAIFF

Boy,do I need new glasses,I thought your title said,Happy Beer Without Exploding Bottles...

I really do believe that I am being punked by this website! Kind of a "nerd targeting" or... "nerd stalking"!!!

Check out this brilliant study that has just been published about beer...

phys.org, May 8, 2019 - Mystery of texture of Guinness beer: Inclination angle of a pint glass is key to solution.

First off, there is no "mystery" to solve! Secondly, all beers should be properly poured! Thirdly, there is no such thing as "pseudo-Guinness" which thoroughly invalidates the study.

All good beer, made with barley, hops, water, and yeast, all benefit from a clean glass to drink from. Yes, seems counter-intuitive but the bubbles in Guinness flow down first, then rise not because of some "act of god(s)" but because it is not CO2 in the beer but N2 (it moves more slowly to the surface). Again, no study needed. No PhD required. No reason to spend a crap load of money for a published paper on a known phenomena!!!

Again...