IsoHop in IIPA's?

[Fat Bastard]

It's really only an idea that is still in brain-fart stage for me right now, but I'm sure I've read something recently about using IsoHop in really bitter IIPA's to reduce grassiness due to the sheer amount of vegetable matter in the boil.

It was either in the "Hops" book or somehwere online, and it was one of the big-name IIPA's that they were using it in, something like Pliny the Elder or somesuch with the specific aim of reducing grassiness without losing bitternes.

Now, I've been brewing a big, very bitter Red IIPA (8.5%abv 105-125 IBU) that is very grassy early on, but settles down after a month or so in the keg to some nice aroma from the Amarillo & Simcoe. This is in no small part due to the 600 and something grammes of hops in what winds up as a 19l batch.

IsoHop is not something I've ever considered using before, but it may be a good thing in this case.

I've got some other ideas planned for this particular beer that might help reduce the amount of hops required to get the aroma I want, but I'm yet to finish my DIY hop-rocket!

Has anyone used Iso Hop for this purpose? I'd be interested to hear your results. The beer is a good one in it's own right, and has been well recieved in a couple of Xmas Lottos and club nights, but less so at the NSW comp. It's my achilles heel beer!

Cheers,

FB

 

[rehab]

This is definitely what Pliny the Elder & Younger do. They turn out well because of it. I would give it a crack for sure!

 

[Yob]

We dod a Pliny last swap, wasn't grassy at all and there was a metric fuckload of hops in it too, as well as the dry hop naturally...

 

[slcmorro]

Geez Yob, what would you know about hops? Pfft...

 

[manticle]

Hops are a very important ingredient in beer. The other very important ingredients are yeast, malt and water.

 

[Dan Pratt]

We have just ordered and awaiting arrival of 5 x hopshots from northern brewer USA. They say it will add 10ibu per ml and the bitterness is less edgey or harsh as hop hops added at 90 or 60min.

600g for 19lt batch....what were you additions for only 125ibu....must of been alot of late and dryhop?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Hops are a very important ingredient in beer. The other very important ingredients are yeast, malt and water.

Yes....but Carlton Draught is made from beer...

 

[Fat Bastard]

We have just ordered and awaiting arrival of 5 x hopshots from northern brewer USA. They say it will add 10ibu per ml and the bitterness is less edgey or harsh as hop hops added at 90 or 60min.

600g for 19lt batch....what were you additions for only 125ibu....must of been alot of late and dryhop?

Well, 19 litres is the finished volume, it's about 23 into the fermenter including a 2l unhopped starter, and over 25 in the kettle post boil. Dry hop is 200g of Amarillo, and over 230 of Amarillo & Simcoe added at various times from 10 minutes to whirlpool. I lose a lot to trub, and it's the only beer I have to rack to secondary after the dry hop because the hop trub is higher than the tap!

I've found filtering helps to reduce the grassiness as does time, but the hop aroma is not where I'd like it to be. It's kind of muddled too. The main bittering hop is Warrior, mostly because it's very high alpha and is also quite neutral in flavour.

I know I'll feel kind of dirty adding some potion out of a bottle for bittering, but I think it may give me what I need. As I said earlier, there is probably some other steps I can take as well, but this is a beer I've brewed many times, and I know what I want from it. Just looking for an edge to achieve that.

 

[SimonT]

This is what you want to grab if you do big IIPA's a bit, otherwise some of the syringes from the same site:

http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/product_p/extractco2cans.htm

Grab some syringes from your local chemist and fill them and freeze them for future brews. Keeps your hop trub down a bit due to less/no bittering hops, but harder to clean up. Sticky.

For fun, put the tiniest bit of it you can imagine on your tongue. Will redefine what you call 'bitter'.

I've used it in Pliny the Younger clones, Stone 'Enjoy By...' clones, and a Heady Topper clone. All of them have been great to my palate (and one I entered into a comp was a BOS winner).

Highly recommended!

 

[Yob]

If it's just bittering how much will you save? Not a great deal in the scheme of things

 

[Kranky]

There was a thread about this recently. I use isohop to help reduce losses to hops in really hoppy beers. It has something of cleaner taste than using actual hops.

I recently used 27ml in a double IPA that was tested at 62 ibu at the local uni. I really didn't have much idea how to use up to that point. The quantities of the beer were:

55L of wort pre boil
Added 27ml of isohop at start of 90 minute boil
45L of wort at end of boil
200g of hops at flamout
200g of hops @ 15 min whirlpool
Chilled after 30 min
Left hops in bag while wort settle for 30 min then into the fermenter
Triple dry hopped (used about 400g in total)
Ended up with 38L of beer @ 62 IBU

I would have used 40ml if I'd known how many ibu's the beer was going to end up, but now that I know I will. I'll try and get it tested too.

With this type of beer you lose a **** load to the hops so the isohop helps cut that down and I think gives a "cleaner" bittering.

And yeah, put some on your tongue. You won't do it twice lol.

 

[Fat Bastard]

Of course I'll put some on my tongue! I once drank a sip of hop tea and quite liked it, and I felt the 1000 IBU Mikeller thing wasn't as bitter as i expected!

What do I expect to gain? Less grass for one. The reduced hop trub is another, but I suspect that will only wind up being replaced with more late additions!

Does anyone know the mechanism by which the "grassiness" is released into your beer? Is it a function of time in the boil, or is it just an unavoidable aspect of large hop additions?