Anyone using isomerised hop extract for bittering?

[strange-steve]

I've been reading Scott Janish's new hop book, and there's a section where he discusses the pros and cons of using hop extract.

Some of the reported benefits over using hops are better foam stability, "significantly" increased mouthfeel and fullness of body, and obviously less boiler waste meaner slightly higher BHE.

On the other hand, extract seems to be less effective at preventing staling and so may not be ideal for aged beers. (I wonder would a combination of hops and extract give the best of both?)

Does anyone use it, looking for some real world experiences?

 

[dan125]

Very interested to hear it reportedly increases mouthfeel/body. Only ever tried the non-isomerised stuff myself so can't help much

 

[strange-steve]

Nobody? I could have sworn I saw a few people here use it.

 

[Hoddy]

Nope i havent been able to get hold of any to try it. I was talking to a commercial brewer a few weeks ago who was talking about how he uses it for flavour more rather than just bittering as you can use it to add a deep piney flavour and aroma to a beer and they use it in Punk IPA in exactly that way.

Anyone able to donate some i would be more than happy to experiment with it.

 

[Sadfield]

Was expecting all the NEIPA brewers to be chipping in here. The ability to dial in the IBUs post fermentation would be of a big advantage, I think.

Urghhhhhh...I used "dial in", sorry. I've been reading too many American articles.

 

[Hoddy]

Was expecting all the NEIPA brewers to be chipping in here. The ability to dial in the IBUs post fermentation would be of a big advantage, I think.

Urghhhhhh...I used "dial in", sorry. I've been reading too many American articles.

Being able to accurately calculate and deliver the IBU's in a NEIPA isnt that hard these days as nuch more is known and calculations are allot more sophisticated. The real difficulty is getting the perceived bitterness right and the balance with the body and alcohol. The benefits from this product is more around lower losses and higher efficiencies.

 

[Sadfield]

The real difficulty is getting the perceived bitterness right and the balance with the body and alcohol.

Yep, that's what I meant. Easier to balance by taste than predict in a recipe calculator.

 

[strange-steve]

Nope i havent been able to get hold of any to try it. I was talking to a commercial brewer a few weeks ago who was talking about how he uses it for flavour more rather than just bittering as you can use it to add a deep piney flavour and aroma to a beer and they use it in Punk IPA in exactly that way.

Anyone able to donate some i would be more than happy to experiment with it.

I'm guessing it's much more readily available in the US, in the book he describes numerous different types of extract (SFE, IKE, PIKE, RHO, Tetra, Hexa...) and the differences between them, and those aren't brand names but different varieties of extract. The only extract I've seen is the Ritchie's stuff which is available from a few HB stores or a generic unbranded version from HBC.

 

[Sadfield]

https://www.simplyhops.com/bittering-extracts

Not massively expensive, if anyone can be bothered with a group purchase.

 

[strange-steve]

https://www.simplyhops.com/bittering-extracts

Not massively expensive, if anyone can be bothered with a group purchase.

Ah that's the CO2 (SFE) non-isomerised extract which I'd love to get my hands on also for a few trials.

@dan125 where did you get yours from? Apparently the non-isomerised has the same benefits as mentioned in the OP, and perhaps even more so, particularly with regards to increased mouthfeel.

 

[Sadfield]

Ah that's the CO2 (SFE) non-isomerised extract which I'd love to get my hands on also for a few trials.

@dan125 where did you get yours from? Apparently the non-isomerised has the same benefits as mentioned in the OP, and perhaps even more so, particularly with regards to increased mouthfeel.

Did you scroll down, they have Isohop and Tetra Gold.

 

[strange-steve]

Did you scroll down

Nope
Good find

 

[bobukbrewer]

I add Brupaks varietal hop oils (citra and cascade) 3 to 5 drops per 750ml bottle. I did a with and without trial and at 3 months in bottle the hop oils were clear winners. I need to do more research though....

 

[BeerCat]

I have used the oil from MM before. I cannot remember how it kept but it produces a smooth bittering and you will end up with more beer. Although i had good results i found it much eaiser to weigh some hops and work out IBU's. The pre isomerised oil works fine after or before fermentation. Still on the fence with the aroma oils.

 

[dan125]

Ah that's the CO2 (SFE) non-isomerised extract which I'd love to get my hands on also for a few trials.

@dan125 where did you get yours from? Apparently the non-isomerised has the same benefits as mentioned in the OP, and perhaps even more so, particularly with regards to increased mouthfeel.

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/co2-hop-extract-15ml/

 

[dan125]

Should add though @strange-steve - its horrible thick gloopy stuff to work with, and has a tendency to coat the inside of the kettle rather than disolve into the beer IIRC. And like @BeerCat says its far easier to throw a few hops in. Think I used the extract once or twice and its been in the fridge ever since (not sure if it even needs to kept cold). Might revisit it though for the mouthfeel - does Mr Janish explain why its different to normal hops in this regard?

 

[peebee]

I used isomerised extract not long ago to rescue a beer that I'd forgotten to put the largest part of hops into. It was Ritchie's, which has been available for years (scratch that -"decades"!). When I was buying it (not long ago) there was only one other such extract available from UK sources. but that did at least provide a figure for IBUs. I figured out an IBU value for the Ritchie stuff by working backwards from some other info I managed to dig up, it was 10-20% higher than the alternative I found.

I couldn't say I noticed any "qualities" using it bought to the beer; other than it was successful at recovering an otherwise doomed brew (it was added post-fermentation, boiling in non-isomerised stuff was a non-starter). Therefore I can positively rate it, but only in a beer first-aid kit.