Creating Structure and Aroma with Hops

When you live and work in Yakima Valley, hops become a way of life. They’re second nature, omnipresent, and a constant topic of conversation—after all, many of the patrons of craft breweries in the Yakima Valley are the same folks who grow, process, study, and sell them. As such, Varietal Beer’s focus on brewing with hops has picked up momentum as fans flock to their taproom—about 30 minutes south of the city of Yakima—to drink their subtle, nuanced, and beautiful IPAs and fresh hop beers.

The industry has noticed, too, with two recent GABF silver medals in juicy strong pale and fresh hop categories circa ’21 and ’22. In this episode, Baum discusses:

• designing hoppy beers that aren’t confrontational
• brewing IPA with 100% craft malt, and barley varieties that complement certain styles
• balancing and achieving bitterness and structure in IPA
• manipulating pH to soften bitterness
• balancing cryo hops with “American Noble” low-alpha hops
• the beauty of Comet hops
• differences in brewing with fresh-kilned hops and pelletized T-90’s
• fresh hop brewing process

And more.

This episode is brought to you by:

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BSG Craft Brewing (https://Bsgcraftbrewing.com/): BSG and their partners HVG bring you the very best in German hops, including Amira, with its classic hoppy, slightly herbal, and zesty lemon aromas. Visit BSGCraftbrewing.com to learn more.
Old Orchard (https://www.oldorchard.com/brewer): Old Orchard's new brewing customers often mention discovering Old Orchard through the word-of-mouth recommendation of another brewer. To join the core of Old Orchard's brewing community, learn more at oldorchard.com/brewer

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Omega Yeast (https://omegayeast.com): Thiolized yeast are a new tool for brewers to bring intense guava and passionfruit aromas out of your malt and hops. And wait, there’s more! Omega Yeast makes yeast-to-order with a consistent one week lead time ensuring peak freshness and reliability.

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