Maintaining that aroma.

[Braufather]

I know a lot of us have lamented on the beautifull but far too short lived hop aroma from some of our brews, where for a week it’s amazing and better than anything available commercially but after that week it’s all but gone.

Generally my beers are ready at week 5 or 6, and from there whilst malt foward beers get better, I have about a week to enjoy the hop bombs before they fade off.

Any ideas how to preserve that aroma for longer?

If at peak hop aroma, conditioned and carbonated beers were transferred to purged bottles with a beer gun, purged and capped, would those bottles hold aroma better than a keg that loses aroma over time with each poor? Or would it not make a difference?

Could you bottle the fully conditioned and carbonated beer from the keg via a hop rocket?

I’m not sure if the beers become unbalanced after the aroma disappears, or if its just a case knowing what you are missing, but it certainly means a beer loses its edge.

Professional bottled beer and canned keeps its aroma so there must be a solution here.

Thoughts People?

 

[dad_of_jon]

Any ideas how to preserve that aroma for longer?

Much to Mrs DoJ's annoyance I am able to keep that 'Aroma' going especially after drinking a weissbeir. In fact I can often 'toot' a tune

 

[Clint]

Have a look on Hazelwood Brewery brewday thread...he's doing some mash hopping.

 

[chillipickle]

If at peak hop aroma, conditioned and carbonated beers were transferred to purged bottles with a beer gun, purged and capped, would those bottles hold aroma better than a keg that loses aroma over time with each poor? Or would it not make a difference?

Not sure why you are losing aroma from your kegs?
I mostly brew hoppy/neipa beers, the armoa/taste is still pretty good down to the last drop.Closed transfers certainly help, 10 to 14 days and beer is fully carbed and at it's peak.
If it manages to last a month in the keg it's still fresh.

Once you have transfered to the keg give it a few purges to remove any o2 that may have got in the keg, that will help some.

 

[Braufather]

If it manages to last a month in the keg it's still fresh.

I generally don’t start drinking to week 5 or 6, the aroma seems to last until a big session where quite a few pints have been drawn. This could be week 5,6 or 7, but after that whilst the flavour is still strong the aromahas lost its punch.

 

[Braufather]

Much to Mrs DoJ's annoyance I am able to keep that 'Aroma' going especially after drinking a weissbeir. In fact I can often 'toot' a tune

Different kind of aroma that though eh!

 

[chillipickle]

That might be your solution, drink fresh!!
Once in the keg, i leave the co2 on for the duration of the keg, by day 7 it is pretty much fully carbed.Any thing after day 10 in the keg and its good to go.

 

[Make us a brew luv]

Hi everybody

I'm new here but was literally wondering the same last night whilst drinking a hazy Jane.
A few things I thought about were:
-Hop choice, perhaps something with a more pungent long lasting aroma. The hazy Jane for example is really fruity and quite peppery. Maybe there is something in that.
- I'm also pretty sure robinsons put leaf hops in the keg whe u buy a barrel fro them. This would ekk it out a bit longer. But suppose it would need drinking quick so they don't go odd.
Just a few thoughts to throw I the mix.

 

[Braufather]

That might be your solution, drink fresh!!
Once in the keg, i leave the co2 on for the duration of the keg, by day 7 it is pretty much fully carbed.Any thing after day 10 in the keg and its good to go.

some are good early but some take a bit more time to balance. The aroma remains good either way. It’s after the keg is half empty the aroma fades.

Keeping it on same gas presure as carbonation could help. I only have one regulator so take it off to carb a second batch sometimes and maybe aroma escapes when using keg presure to serve at these times.

 

[Dazzelknight]

I store my hoppy beers in PET bottles, squeeze air out and tighten,,, seems to keep it fresh

 

[FirebladeAdam]

I have recently read a lot on the subject of mash pH. A few of the takeaway comments by those in the know that stick in my mind are:
Having the correct mash pH improves stability, reduces hop haze, reduces or does away with chill haze, and can make flavours and characters in the beer withstand longer storage times. I would assume that extends to include hop aroma. I've read about this because I think mash pH is my next thing to sort out with my beers, so I have nothing to evidence that with currently, as project 'ph' hasn't started yet.
Just a thought!

 

[Braufather]

What ph is ideal! Mine is normally around 5.2

 

[FirebladeAdam]

I think 5.2 to 5.6, so by the sounds of it you are on target for good pH numbers.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

From what I know so far on this subject there are at least five factors working against you:

The first is oxygen. Pretty much everything you want to keep in your beer is hugely attractive/attracted to oxygen and results in different compounds being produced, most of which we don’t want. Even a tiny amount of oxygen in the head-space is enough to make a big difference.

The second is the volatility of hoppy compounds, they easily drift off given the opportunity.

The third is the bottle-cap liner, I know! This absorbs some of the aroma compounds in beer within a few days.

The fourth is the natural conditioning of beer. In some cases this is good and in others not so good. All the compounds in your beer continue to react chemically and in general, all the bright aroma and flavour you want fades over time.

The fifth is temperature, the warmer your beer the faster the above happens.

(there are other factors like sunlight which breaks down compounds and things that shouldn’t be in your beer such as wild yeast but these should not be factors in the normal course of events).

There are of course some things you can do to mitigate some of this:

Minimise exposure to oxygen, in particular from the time primary fermentation has reached it’s peak. All exposure to oxygen from this point is having an effect on your beer. Metal ions in your beer (iron, copper, magnesium) are like a sponge for oxygen so reducing these will help - mash hopping can “complex” metal ions and is one of the things I’m experimenting with. Mash hopping *may* also dose your wort with aroma/flavour pre-cursors (more on this in a minute). If you bottle your beer use less head-space, say, no more than 1cm.

You can’t stop aroma/flavour compounds from being highly volatile but you can maximise how much you have to start with. One way to do this is to fill your wort with “thiol pre-cursors”. Hops contain acids, oils, and other compounds one groups of which is called thiols and these have a big impact on hoppy aroma/flavour. Some are in “free” form and ready to access immediately - it’s these you rely on through dry hopping. Others are in a “bound” form and are released during fermentation by a process called bio-transformation. Mash hopping may be a way to load up your wort with these pre-cursors (I’m experimenting with this). Whirlpool hopping can do the same. Pre-cursors are NOT volatile so you can whirlpool at higher temperatures (I use 90C).

Not much you can do about the bottle cap liner but some research is being done on this and at some point a solution will be found.

Conditioning is generally good but there’s a window where you get best results and this will be different for different beers.

Temperature is an easy one, once carbonated and conditioned, keep your beers cold. Close to freezing is better to slow down all of the above negative effects and add weeks or months to the life of your beer.

Sorry, that was longer than I planned!

 

[Braufather]

Cheers HB lots of interesting stuff there. I do most of the obvious stuff. Dry hop before fermentation ends, Closed transfer if using my fetementer king junior or semi closed if it the brewbucket, always direct into a fully purged keg(star san pushed through). Stored and carbed at serving temps around 6 to 8c

Mash hopping sounds interesting, i will watch your progress with it with interest.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Cheers HB lots of interesting stuff there. I do most of the obvious stuff. Dry hop before fermentation ends, Closed transfer if using my fetementer king junior or semi closed if it the brewbucket, always direct into a fully purged keg(star san pushed through). Stored and carbed at serving temps around 6 to 8c

Mash hopping sounds interesting, i will watch your progress with it with interest.

Dry hopping is an interesting compromise. If fermentation is still active the CO2 will scrub the volatile aroma oils/thiols. If you dry hop late you risk greater oxidation - you can purge the head-space in your fermenter afterwards to minimise this risk.

 

[Braufather]

put leaf hops in the keg whe u buy a barrel fro them.

I was thinking of a second dry hop in keg, but would worry about having a great taste.

 

[Make us a brew luv]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.ik...hopping-under-pressure-more-aroma-less-oxygen
This guy chats a bit about it. Worth a try?

Think though u would have to drink it relatively quick tho

 

[Galena]

I was thinking of a second dry hop in keg, but would worry about having a great taste.

What about adding a hop tea direct to keg?

 

[Braufather]

what I’ve read about hop tea hasn’t sold it to me. Maybe better transferring to another keg for a few days then transfer back If the keg is going to stay around for a few months.

or split into two kegs from the off, Drink one fresh then start the other one, the thinking being if the second keg is left untapped the aroma will hold?