Mash Hopping Adventures

This month (October, 2021), former chairman Ken Bazley gave us a talk on his experiments in mash hopping.

You can also view the video of this presentation here: https://youtu.be/6TeDQR9ayhA

Transcript

1. by Ken Bazley Mash Hopping Adventures
2. Introduction Mash Hopping Adventures
3. •Hops •What mash hopping is etc •Relevant history and methods •Mash hopping experiment details •Conclusions Introduction
4. Hops! – An incredibly generalised overview Mash Hopping Adventures
5. There can’t be many homebrewers who don’t know the purposes of hops in brewing….. •Bittering •Aroma and flavour •Antiseptic Hops – An Incredibly Generalised Overview
6. There can’t be many homebrewers who don’t know when to put hops in their beer…. • Start of boil – mainly for bittering • Towards end of boil – for aroma and flavour • Flame out – for aroma and flavour with much lower bitterness extraction • Dry hop – post fermentation addition for aroma and flavour • First wort – hops added with first runnings before wort come to the boil But what about… in the mash? Hops – An Incredibly Generalised Overview
7. Hops in the mash, you say? Mash Hopping Adventures
8. I first read about mash hopping in Randy Mosher’s Radical Brewing about 10 years ago. • I had a go at doing it although I only used a small amount • Difficult to tell what effect it had Why do it again now? - reasons I decided to carry out a “scientific” trial: 1. I have a ridiculous amount of home-grown hops to use up 2. I have acquired a Picobrew machine – • can closely control the brewing process • brew very small batches Hops in the mash, you say?
9. A people’s history of mash hopping Mash Hopping Adventures
10. Most brewers have either never heard of it, or they’re put off by what people on the internet say. A People's History of Mash Hopping Typical comments: • You won't get any flavour out of it • It's a waste of hops • My mate Dave's uncle's brother did it once and he couldn't tell the difference One or two avenues to follow but in general, difficult to find any references to books or articles. A lot of chatter and very little solid info. Even Brulosophy have not done an experiment.
11. An actual history of mash hopping via the medium of berliner weisse Mash Hopping Adventures
12. An Actual History of Mash Hopping via the Medium of Berliner Weisse A few references to Berliner Weisse Contacted Ron Pattinson to see if he knew anything about mash hopping historically No knowledge of anything UK - sent me a handful of references to Berliner Weisse from German brewing books around the turn of the C20 Reading through the references I was able to roughly determine four slightly different methods!
13. An Actual History of Mash Hopping via the Medium of Berliner Weisse Method #1: “boil” the hop charge with the strike water for 5 minutes before mashing in. Mash at 35C. Method #2: involves apparently mashing in the kettle. Once the bottom of the kettle is covered add the hop charge. Mash for 1 hour at 30C then raise to 65C before draining half the mash into the mash tun. Slowly “boil” what is left in the kettle for half an hour at 60C before mashing out at 77C. Presumably the two worts are then combined. Method #3: mash in the pan (presumed kettle) at 35C-37C for half an hour, slowly heat to 52C then add the hop charge. Rest for 30 mins then heat to 77C.
14. An Actual History of Mash Hopping via the Medium of Berliner Weisse Earliest reference - 1773 from Oekonomische Encyklopädie: “These [hops] he infuses in warm water and then pours into the kettle and lets them boil with the mash. While the thin mash is boiling, the brewer empties the thick mash with the Schupen [a kind of large copper bucket] into the Zapfbottich [tapping tub], after first fitting a crown of straw around the tap and laying Meeschhölzer [mashing sticks], boards with holes, and a layer of straw at the bottom of the Zapfbottich. When the thin mash has been properly boiled in the kettle, it is added to the thick mash. The boiled mash is poured through a hop basket of giant braids, fixed to two poles, which lies resting on its poles on the Zapfbottich and is lined with straw which retains all the hops in the basket. The thick and thin mashes now stand mixed together for three hours in the Zapfbottich and during this time all the strength is extracted from the malt."
15. The experiment Mash Hopping Adventures
16. The Experiment 3 beers would be brewed: #1 mash hopped #2 first wort hopped #3 bittering addition only (60 mins) Control conditions: Water treatment // Grain bill // Yeast (Neale’s West Coast 5g each) // Hop variety (Croydon Fusion) // Mash and boil durations // Brewlength // OG // IBU (to within 1pt) // FV type (mini cornie)
17. The Recipe The Experiment
18. Into the mash go the hops…. The Experiment
19. The Experiment
20. The Control Beers The Experiment First Wort 60 min only
21. The results Mash Hopping Adventures
22. •Aroma and flavour very present in the mash hopped beer. Huge difference from 60 min only addition •Character is quite raw, like the aroma from a freshly opened bag of hop •First wort hop at similar level to mash hop, just more rounded flavour The Results
23. Conclusions and summary Mash Hopping Adventures
24. •Why does it work?: a theory (but not mine) hop aromatic oils form permanent chemical bonds at higher pH values and lower temps than found in boiling wort – Jean DeClerck (apparently) Conclusions and Summary
25. We know it works, so… If you have a surfeit of hops and you didn’t know what to do with them – you do now! Conclusions and Summary