Brewing Master

Question:

Hello all,    I am at a loss here.  My father grows hops, but can’t remember what type they are–don’t ask.  Anyway, how does one determine what the Alpha acid content of the hops is?  I know that it is a ratio of weight of acid to weight of hop flower, but how do I measure the amount of acid?    Any help would be greatly appreciated! :

        How about brewing a small batch of beer and tasting it? (at least ild be fun if not accurate.) aaron nothing is true so hand me another brew.

Response:

To get a truely accurate measurement of the alpha acid content of your father’s (or anyone else’s) hops, you must perform a chemical analysis. Unless you work in a laboratory that performs such analysis, or know someone who does, the hops will need to be sent out.  The Siebel Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL) can perform said analysis.  I don’t have my price list handy, but I think that last time I checked, the rate was around $50/sample (don’t quote me on that).  Your best bet is probably to brew a batch of beer (or boil the hops in a known quantity of sucrose) and test the flavor.  While this is rather subjective, it works (and saves you $50 besides). — Utinam modo subiuctivo semper male utaris.      - Anonymous

Response:

In Mark Garetz’ book "Using Hops" he mentions a technique using a hop oil of known content with a beer of known content (say Bud) and hopping the beer to the same bitterness level as the beer in question, then doing some math to find out what the hopping level of the second beer was.   This would assume that you have brewed with the hops in question and that you could work all the math backwards from an IBU to the amount of hops used to that hop’s rating.  (WHEW!!)  Maybe the Siebel Inst. wouldn’t be a bad idea, but Mark’s book would be worth the price anyway. Good Luck Happy Halloween! Happy Samhain! Lee Allison (using his Invisible Man Signature)

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