Suggested Response - Q3

**Demand for your brewery’s beer is increasing at a rapid rate and it looks like the hop storage capacity at your brewery is going to run out. There is no budget to increase the hop storage area. The brewery currently uses whole hops. This is because the consumers want beer made from natural ingredients, and do not want anything regarded as having a ‘chemical process’ involved in its production.

The Head Brewer has asked you to recommend all the alternative hop products that the brewery could use and wants you to list them in order of preference, explaining why you have chosen and ordered them in that way.

Response:

The key to answering this question lies in the comment about natural ingredients. Because of this, any hop product that has been pre-isomerised should not be considered. The question is also specific about hop products used for bittering, so there is no need to consider aroma, anti-foam or anti-bacterial products.

Based on these limitations, the hop products that should be suggested would be T90 pellets, T45 pellets and hop extracts.

The answer as to the ranking of the hop products is flexible and depends on your argument, but the main points to consider are the following:

  • All of the products can achieve a uniform α-acid content.
  • Ranking of hop utilisation would be hop extract, T45 then T90 being the lowest.
  • All are seen as natural products (we could argue that T90 and T45 may be perceived as being more natural, as no ‘solvents’ are involved, although ethanol and CO2 would both be regarded as natural solvents).
  • Storage of extracts is easier as they take up far less space based on the α-acid content relatively. They also have a longer shelf life.
  • Dosing of pellets can be easier than extracts; extracts come in tins or barrels which would need to be heated to reduce viscosity to allow pumping. Pellets can be weighed out easily and part measures are easier to work out than if using from a tin or barrel.
  • T90 would be the cheapest relatively, followed by T45 and then extract.
  • Extract, followed by T45, followed by T90 with regards to minimising wort losses.
  • Extract, followed by T45, followed by T90 with regards to minimising spent hop material generated and the need to remove the spent hops.
  • Pellets have more of the original hop material (T90 the most), which could affect the overall hop character and bitterness of the beer (polyphenol can affect perceived bitterness).
  • Extracts will have reduced amounts of nitrates and pesticides.
  • Extracts are usually not variety specific – instead based on achieving a uniform α-acid content. If hop variety is key, then pellets will be required.

An example solution could be ranking the features in a table, with 1 being the best and 3 being the worst, with the overall product having the lowest score being the favourite.

Feature

T90

T45

Ethanol Extract

CO2 Extract

Natural

1

1

2

2

Utilisation

3

2

1

1

Storage (space)

3

2

1

1

Storage (shelf life)

2

2

1

1

Dosing

1

1

3

3

Price

1

2

3

4

Wort losses

3

2

1

1

Spent hop material

3

2

1

1

Residues

3

2

1

1

Total

20

16

14

15

‘Other hop material’ is not rated as it depends on whether polyphenols are seen as positive to the beer or not, but it should be mentioned.

Based on the table, the extract would be the most favourable versus pellets

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