Hazy beers are delicious, yet come at a cost in more ways than one. More hops means high-impact flavor, but it also means more hop particulate matter and lower yields compared to other styles. On the hop side of things, there are ways to mitigate beer loss, including using concentrated pellets or flavor extracts to reduce hop usage and volume.
So, what if you used… only advanced hop products? Is it worth the higher price tag? Do they sacrifice on flavor? Do they really save that much beer in the long run? In collaboration with YVH and the John I. Haas Brewing Solutions team, Wooden Hill decided to investigate by brewing a Citra® hazy IPA using all advanced products, a beer appropriately named Concentrated Effort.
“Instead of traditional T90 pellets, Concentrated Effort was brewed with a combination of Citra Incognito, Citra Spectrum, and Citra Lupomax,” Wooden Hill brewers describe on their blog, “all highly concentrated hop formats designed to maximize flavor while minimizing loss from hop absorption in both the kettle and during dry hopping.”
Ingredient costs for Concentrated Effort notably increased, clocking in around 11% higher than Wooden Hill’s standard hazy recipe. But the trade-off was significant: using advanced hop products for Concentrated Effort increased yields significantly, finishing with 21% more beer per batch compared to their standard hazy recipe.
“When you factor that in, the economics flip,” writes the Wooden Hill team, “Despite the higher ingredient cost, Concentrated Effort ended up costing about 8% less per barrel to produce.”
Swapping out T90s for advanced products didn’t mean Wooden Hill had to sacrifice flavor. This hazy “delivered both strong Citra expression and improved yield, making a compelling case for the role advanced hop products can play in modern, hop-forward brewing.”
Products like Incognito®, SPECTRUM®, LupoMAX®, etc. can all be used as a complete replacement or in tandem with T90s. Interchanging these hop formats broadens the options for brewers who are looking to improve brewhouse efficiency without sacrificing cost, flavor and beer (most importantly). And while you can swap out 100% of your hop pellets for their liquid alternatives, it is usually recommended to start at a 50% replacement and then adjust future batches from there.
“Efficiency isn’t just about ingredient cost, it’s about what you actually get into the glass,” concludes the Wooden Hill brewing team.
Better efficiency = maintained hop character, more savings, more beer.
Want to experiment in your own brewhouse? Fire up the pilot system and find all advanced products here. Need a second opinion, or some help dialing in your recipe? Go ahead, pick the brains of our hop experts at brewing.solutions@johnihaas.com.
