# Tetrahops



## dr K (27/7/08)

I notice a lot lot of reference on this forum to Tetrahops, apparently they are what the "megaswillionaires" use in their beers.
Can anyone tell me:

Why they are used (apparently almost exclusively in some cases)?
What they are?
What is specifically wrong with them?

K


----------



## PostModern (28/7/08)

dr K said:


> I notice a lot lot of reference on this forum to Tetrahops, apparently they are what the "megaswillionaires" use in their beers.
> Can anyone tell me:
> 
> Why they are used (apparently almost exclusively in some cases)?
> ...



Why? Because they can be used to accurately dose a beer with a precise measure of alpha acids.

What are they? Extract of hop.

What is wrong? They are just alpha acid, so they don't add anything else to the beer but bitterness. Nothing wrong with them per se, but of they are the only bit of a hop going into a beer, there is something missing from the beer.


----------



## glennheinzel (28/7/08)

The easy questions to answer are - What is it and why use it? 
www.yakimachief.com/hopproducts/YC-Tetra_Info.pdf
Basically it is an easy to handle liquid (as opposed to using floweres/pellets) which can help safeguard against skunking (when used by itself), it can aid head retention, it can improve long term flavour stability and it gives a sharper bitterness (so you can use less).

The last question will draw this out to a 10 page debate so I'll let someone else answer it.


----------



## jjeffrey (28/7/08)

Tetra hops are hops or extracts of hops that have been treated so that the alpha acids are slightly different chemically. Tetra hops are so named because of the tetra iso alpha acids in the hops (usually the alpha acids isomerised in the same process to enable them to be added after the boil for fine bittering control). Tetra iso alpha acids do not have the group on the molecule which is effected by UV light to give the light-struck flavour effect. The big breweries use them because green or white bottles do not block UV light like brown bottles do (10% and 5% block, compared to about 90% for brown bottles). If Carlton Cold or Boags or Cascade used plain old hops for bittering, they would skunk real quick (5 minutes in the sun would do it, or several days in a fridge lit by a fluro tube). Basically, it's a means of having a product in a marketable package that has a reasonable shelf life.

These hops are used purely for bittering. There is no perceptable difference in the "harshness" of the bitterness, according to a very large amount of studies done by many different organisations. A great technological advance in hops if you ask me. There is nothing wrong with them.


----------

