ghud - 13-8-2012 at 06:01
Hi All, I've read alot of posts here and other forums and I seem to keep running into the illegal one!
What I'm trying to do is extract the essential oils from Humulus lupulus then separate them into there different constituents.
What I would like to obtain is a separation of the bittering components of the hop plant from the aromatic components.
With the goal of being able to add the extracts at different times during the brewing process to change the flavor or bitterness.
Organic Chem was a while ago, however I do have some equipment and alot of desire.
ScienceSquirrel - 13-8-2012 at 06:55
You can do that quite easily by adding hops earlier or later to the boiling wort.
Hops added early add bittering as the soluble bittering components are retained in the wort while the volatile aromatic compounds boil off.
Late hops do not add much bittering and but add aromatics.
You can add more hop aroma by adding dry hops to the fermenter or the barrel or with a Randaliser, pumping the beer through a bed of fresh hops.
ghud - 13-8-2012 at 07:45
Thanks Science Squirrel,
I have done both those methods you have described, my desire is to do an extract and add the oils that way.
Also to aid in beer design, I could regulate the amount and do micro amounts. Simply brewing a low hop or no hop "malt beverage" and adjusting it from
that point.
So I would like go down the extract path and try to concentrate, say linalool, myrcene, xanthohumol, etc.
The goal is to separate the humulone from the lupulone, hard resin components from the soft resin components.
chemrox - 14-8-2012 at 22:05
I want to add that I'm afraid going that route will detract from the natural flavors of a good IPA. If you insist extract the oils with a sohxlet
setup and get small still in say 14/20 joints sizes with a good partial takeoff head. Collect and taste the fractions you collect. There may or may
not be sweet ones but there will be more bitter vs less bitter. If you like I'll check scifinder for articles on hops chemistry. I subscribe to a
couple of journals that may help.
ScienceSquirrel - 15-8-2012 at 06:12
Some of the hop compounds like the alpha acids isomerise during the boil.
It is not just a simple extraction.
There are also volume effects, without a doubt the best beer is made by boiling the best quality leaf hops in a large quantity of wort for an hour to
two hours.
gutter_ca - 15-8-2012 at 11:19
Is therean illegal hops variety I am unaware of?
chemrox - 16-8-2012 at 10:05
This might have the information you're looking for:
Hop essential oil: analysis, chemical composition and odor characteristics
Beer in Health and Disease Prevention (2009), 239-254. Publisher: (Elsevier Inc., Burlington, Mass) CODEN:69LELD ISBN: 978-0-12-373891-2.