Brewing efficiently has always been important, but in a world of rising costs, maximizing efficiency can be the difference between just paying the bills and turning a profit. Brewers work hard to craft the best possible beers so why waste even a drop? Small gains, when compounded cumulatively, can have huge results.
Here are three simple ways brewers can improve systems and efficiencies at different steps in their brewing process. Using just one of these strategies will yield great results, but the real power comes from implementing a combination of strategies that work in conjunction with each other to drive greater returns.
1.) ADVANCED HOP PRODUCTS
Brewers are in a constant battle with process loss. Heavily hopped beers are especially prone to reduced yields as the increased plant matter sucks up the precious liquid. One of the easiest ways to improve beer yields and cut down on losses is to reduce the amount of vegetative material in your hop additions.
Advanced Hop Products are a family of hop extracts that individually offers unique strengths for optimal hoppage (and maximum returns) at every step of the brewing process.
Bittering Addition: FLEX® is the better way to bitter because it offers clean and consistent bittering without any vegetative matter. FLEX® is also easy to use as it is flowable at room temperature, making it easy to measure, dose, and incorporate into any brewhouse.
Whirlpool Addition: Next up is INCOGNITO®, a variety specific extract for whirlpool additions. Available in favorite varieties like Citra® and Mosaic®, INCOGNITO® offers big flavors and aromas without any process loss. INCOGNITO® is 100% all-natural and crafted to deliver highly concentrated flavor and aroma while maximizing brewing efficiency.
Dry Hop Addition: SPECTRUM is the superior way to dry hop. It is variety specific like INCOGNITO® but is best used for dry hopping because it disperses more easily in cold beer. SPECTRUM also includes all the glycosidically bound fractions, making them readily available for amazing bio-transformation reactions. SPECTRUM is 100% all-natural and captures all the delicate hop aromas and oils that brewers try to capture in their beers.
Fermentation: HOPAID® is another advanced hop product that improves efficiency in a different kind of way. HOPAID® is a natural, hop-based antifoam that improves fermenter capacity up to 20% by reducing unwanted foam during fermentation. HOPAID® also improves overall beer quality by reducing IBU and protein loss during fermentation, as well as lessening the risk of microbiological contamination from excessive foam.
Not only do these Advanced Hop Products improve overall beer efficiency, consistency, flavor, and aroma, but they make brewers’ lives easier even outside of brew day because these extract products are much easier to ship, store, source, and clean!
When looking at improving efficiency and reducing loss, the all or nothing approach is not always the best. Sometimes just reducing where you are able can still yield good results. LUPOMAX® concentrated hop pellets are a great way for brewers to still brew with the hop pellets they know and love, but reduces that liquid-hungry (or is it thirsty?) vegetative matter and cuts down on process loss. The concentrated nature of LUPOMAX® hop pellets means that brewers need to use less of them to get the same desired effect and the lower overall amount of plant matter means less absorption and loss.
Explore all of the benefits of brewing with these innovative hop products and read the article on How To Improve Brewing Efficiency Using Advanced Hop Products
2.) BE INTENTIONAL WITH HOP ADDITIONS
Every hop variety has their own strengths and best uses, so it is important to understand what you are trying to achieve with every hop addition. The most obvious example is with a hop’s alpha acid content. Obviously, it would be inefficient to use a low alpha acid noble variety like Saaz to bitter a big IPA, but apart from alpha acids every hop variety has a bunch of key brewing values that brewers are after. Some of these include specific terpenes, esters, polyfunctional thiols, as well as biotransformation precursors.
Citra® is one of only a few varieties that offers it all when it comes to these specific brewing values like thiols and biotransformation precursors. But that does not mean that you should just use Citra® for every hop addition, because there might be some more budget varieties that offer the same benefits when used at the correct time.
As an example, the thiol 3MH, which is often described as fresh grapefruit, can be increased with hot side additions, but another trendy thiol 4MMP (black currant and passion fruit) is only achieved through lower whirlpool temperatures. So dropping in a big 4MMP variety like Citra® in the boil will not yield the same survivables as if used in the whirlpool.
Two other compounds in Citra® that are highly sought after are monoterpene alcohols like linalool and geraniol. And while there are not many other varieties that offer both of these, there are varieties that offer each compound on their own. Chinook offers good amounts of geraniol while Nugget packs in linalool. So brewers might be able to achieve the same desired results with an intentional combination and application of specific varieties.
Columbus is another variety that often gets overlooked in modern IPAs, but it still offers many important compounds that can be used in synergy with other varieties to compliment, replace, or help stretch more expensive varieties.
Likewise, if brewers are targeting higher levels of free and bound thiols, then there might be a couple strategies to implement other than just dumping a bunch of Citra® in the boil. Mash Hopping has come back into style and the classic variety Cascade has proven to be an all-star in this application. Even just a pound per barrel of Cascade in the mash can yield massive amounts of thiols that translate into big aromas and flavors.
For hops, as with most things in life, more is not always better. Specifically for hops there is a point of diminishing returns. So even if brewers keep dumping more and more hops into their recipe it does not always mean that there will be more flavor and aroma. Being economical and intentional with hopping rates will not only keep your hop bill down on brew day, but less plant matter going into beers will also increase final yields and in the end increase profits.
3.) SIMPLIFY YOUR HOP SOURCING
Sourcing hops the traditional way with extended, multi-year contracts is a complex game with many moving variables. Even in the most stable and predictable times it is easy for brewers to get burned by these contracts and be forced to buy hops they do not want or need anymore. But in this currently turbulent market, projecting out what hops you will need and how much you’ll need for each variety years down the road is virtually impossible.
Like with most parts of owning or running a business, sourcing hops like a pro is all about balancing and managing risk. In some cases, being under contracted for certain varieties can be just as damaging as being over contracted. Correctly guessing at your hop needs years out and being within 5-10% of your actual needs is a very impressive feat. But even being off by 5-10%, over or under, can have huge impacts to your bottom line.
It is easy to see why improving your brewing efficiency by 5-10% is so impactful, but likewise, improving your hop sourcing efficiency and buying only the hops you need when you need them can also be a big boon to the bottom line.
If you do decide to take out future contracts for some of your hop varieties, it is important to limit it to only a couple key hops that are essential to your flagship beers. Keeping the overall number of varieties to a minimum is also a solid strategy. Try to find varieties that you can use in a wide range of recipes and styles and are not limited to just one of your beers.
Keep in mind that every hop variety can produce different results based on its usage and application. Columbus, Chinook, and Nugget all make for efficient and economical bittering hops, but as mentioned above, they can also fit into hazy, fruit-forward recipes when targeting specific compounds.
The sweet spot for brewers when sourcing hops is being able to buy the hops they need, whenever they need them, and only as much as they want. This helps brewers to stay flexible, creative, and not drowning in inventory. However, this requires a lot of trust in the hop supplier that they will have not only a consistent supply, but a supply of consistent hops. Hops are only as good as their storage conditions, so only purchase hops from a trusted supplier who has a reputation for consistently delivering quality.
Explore a world beyond hop contracts at YakimaValleyHops.com