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Hops Utilization and Consistancy
Hey guys. Just started drinking a rebrew of Thirsty's Kodiak Brown Ale. Perfect for the season with strong coffee and nut overtones, and a really complex mix of Hop bittering and late addition aromas. The hop overtones especially are just killing me. The hops I used are home grown 2011 hops and seem to have really produced a nice brew. I was discussing the results with another brewer friend and got to talking about the problems that one of our local favorites is having with their stock IPA Trickster, by Black Raven Brewing, out of Redmond WA. It seems kind of like the spring and summer brews have not held up well, but this falls kegs seem to have snapped back into their fabulous norm. I rarely get consistency with my brews, but it pains me to see one of our best local pro's struggling with the same thing. Is it possible, especially with an IPA like Trickster, that the freshness of the hops them selves is what causes the consistency issues? It is an outstanding brew right now, but just wasn't right this summer. I vac pac and freeze my hops, but notice that I have to use quite a bit more as the year goes on to get the same kick, and even then the flavor and even the aromas lose depth. I find it difficult to believe that a pro would have the same issues, their brews seem to suggest that. Thoughts?
Of course they have inconsistent ingredients the same as a homebrewer. Usually a pro is brewing often enough to notice the subtleties and make appropriate adjustments. Whereas for a homebrewer this is usually more difficult due to the fact that we don't brew as often or use the same recipes as often. So changes in our raw ingredients are more difficult to account for. Even well established award winnig breweries still tweek their recipes form time to time as well.
Watch Mike Hale's (Hale’s Brewery) videos on Youtube. He makes no apology that his IPA's are lacking in the summer months and especially towards the end. He says he uses the hops as they become available and by the end of the "hop year" they have lost quite a bit of freshness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkEz68C_URo
Mike Hale talks about his IPA's at 7:58.
I don't know Daren, but I do know Mike makes some good beer.
Thanks GTF. Great description (and admission) on Mikes part. At least starts to explain what may have been going on with the Trickster IPA.
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