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What are the chemical components of hops and what are their roles in beer brewing equipment?
- Mar 08, 2021
- Ray Lee
- 7998
- beer brewing equipment
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Among the chemical components of hops, hop resin, hop oil and polyphenols are the three major components that are of great significance for beer brewing equipment.
Other chemical components have little significance for beer brewing equipment, such as protein, although hops contain 12% ~ 22% protein, 30% ～ 50% of them are in beer brewing, but they are insignificant for beer brewing machine; other ingredients such as carbohydrates, organic acids, minerals, etc. are of little significance to beer brewing system because of their small amount.
(1) The water content of hops is generally 10% ~ 12%, which is not conducive to storage. When it is hot and polluted by microorganisms, it can accelerate the oxidation and polymerization of hop resin and hop oil.
(2) Hop resin hop resin can be divided into hard resin and soft resin, and soft resin is composed of a acid, acid and indeterminate resin.
① ɑ-acid. ɑ-acid is a mixture of five humulones, including humulone, synhumulone, plus humulone, pro humulone and post humulone. ɑ-acid is the main component of bitterness in beer. It has strong bitterness and strong antiseptic ability. It can increase the foam stability of beer.
ɑ-acid is rhombic crystal, light yellow, soluble in ether, ethane, methanol and other organic solvents. The content of A-acid fluctuated greatly with the variety, origin, year, harvest time and treatment method of hops. Fresh hops contain 5% ~ 10% ɑ-acid, and the content of ɑ-acid fluctuates in the range of 3% ~ 15%. The content of ɑ-acid
A-in new varieties is increasing, reaching more than 15%. Among the five homologues of ɑ-acid, the content of humulone is 15% ~ 20%, which is relatively stable. The proportion of humulone and humulone varied with varieties. Generally speaking, the content of humulone in fragrant hops is relatively low, while the content of bitter hops is relatively high, which is typical. It is also one of the methods to identify bitter and fragrant hops. Only trace amounts of Pro humulone and post humulone were found.
The solubility of ɑ-acid in water is very small, but slightly soluble in boiling water. The solubility varies greatly with pH. the higher the pH is, the higher the solubility is. When pH is 5.2, the solubility of wort is only 85mg / L, and when pH is 6.0, the solubility is as high as 500mg / L.
ɑ-acid can be easily converted into iso-a-acid during wort boiling. ISOA acid is yellow oil like, a- acid, has bitter taste, and has the ability of anti-corrosion and improve foam stability.
The solubility in wort is much higher than that of A-acid, and the bitterness of beer mainly comes from ISOA acid.
When the ɑ-acid content of hops is unstable and the packaging or storage conditions are poor, it is very easy to oxidize and polymerize, and then turn from soft resin to hard resin, thus losing its unique taste and antiseptic ability.
When the boiling time of hops and wort is too long, ɑ-acid may be transformed into Humulus acid or other derivatives with abnormal bitter taste.
② β-Acid. Fresh hops contain about 11% β-Acid., while dry hops generally contain 3% ~ 6%. β-Acid. is white acicular or long rhombic crystal, which is difficult to dissolve in water. Its bitterness, anti-corrosion ability and acidity are weaker than A-acid, and its stability in air is less than A-acid. It is easy to oxidize into soft resin with higher bitterness. β-Acid. is only about 15% of the bitter substance in beer. β-Acid. can not react with lead acetate to form insoluble lead salt, so ab - acid and B - acid can be separated by this property.
③ Soft resin and hard resin. The main bitter components of fresh and mature hops are A-acid and B-Acid. In the process of hops drying and storage, A-acid and B-Acid will be continuously oxidized into soft resin, and then oxidized into hard resin, which has no value in beer brewing
Value. As follows:
If the content of hard resin is more than 20% of the total amount of hop resin, it will be regarded as old hop, and the use value will be reduced or can not be used.
(3) Hops oil
① The composition of hop oil. Hops contain 0.5% ~ 2% hop oil. There are more than 200 kinds of hop oil, 75% of which are terpene hydrocarbons and 25% are oxygenates. The main components of hop oil are terpene hydrocarbons, which are very volatile, even at room temperature
More than 90% of wort can be volatilized during cooling and fermentation, and only 8% ~ 9% of wort dissolved in beer. The longer wort boiling time, the more loss. For this reason, it is often used The purpose of adding hops for the first time is to retain proper amount of hops oil to highlight the aroma of hops. In view of the above characteristics of volatile hop oil, people developed a hop oil system
It can be directly added to the boiling pot, rotary sedimentation tank and even fermentation liquid instead of flavored hops (granule hops), which can increase the flavor of beer.
The properties and functions of hops oil. Hop oil is yellow green to brown liquid, volatile. Soluble in ether, ester and concentrated ethanol, not soluble in water and wort. Most of the hop oil will be separated during wort boiling and during the separation of hot and condensed solids. Hop oil is easy to be oxidized, and some components of its terpene hydrocarbons are easy to be oxidized to corresponding epoxides and lipids.
Some of these substances are considered to be the main source of hop flavor, but the content of hop oil in traditional hops with good flavor is relatively low, which indicates that the hop flavor of beer is mainly determined by the composition of hop oil, not its content. For example, the main components of hops oil, aromatic alkene and dimethylbutyl isobutyrate, have negative effects on the flavor of hops. The content of the two components of hops with good flavor is lower than that of bitter hops, while the content of 2-decanone and aromatic alcohol in bitter hops is less than that of fragrant hops.
During storage, the flavor of alcoholic oil gradually disappeared due to Resinification and polymerization. At the same time, some esters formed by terpenols and fatty acids in hops oil release fatty acids (such as isovaleric acid) through hydrolysis during storage, which makes hops produce a kind of cheese odor, which is easily evaporated when wort is boiled.
(1) Hops contains 4% ~ 10% polyphenols. Its main components are anthocyanins, tannins and catechins. It is a kind of non crystalline mixture. It is also the main component that affects beer flavor and causes beer turbidity. Low molecular weight polyphenols are beneficial to beer body and give beer a certain mellow feeling. The oxidized high molecular polyphenols will cause the beer flavor to be hard and rough, which will deepen the color. Polyphenols are reductive and oxidizing. On the one hand, they can prevent some substances in beer from oxidation. On the other hand, they can catalyze fatty acids and higher alcohols to form aldehydes in the oxidation state, which directly or indirectly promote beer taste aging.
When wort is boiling, polyphenols can precipitate protein, which can make wort clear, make beer taste fuller and improve the quality of bitter taste. However, this precipitation will continue in wort cooling, fermentation, even in filtered and bottled beer, which will lead to beer turbidity and affect the stability of beer.
In conclusion, hops polyphenols have both advantages and disadvantages on beer brewing system, which need to be reasonably controlled in the beer brewing process. If you have any questions on equipment for beer brewing,feel free to contact us,we will help you to build fantastic brewery for you.
Among the chemical components of hops, hop resin, hop oil and polyphenols are the three major components that are of great significance for beer brewing equipment.
Other chemical components have little significance for beer brewing equipment, such as protein, although hops contain 12% ~ 22% protein, 30% ～ 50% of them are in beer brewing, but they are insignificant for beer brewing machine; other ingredients such as carbohydrates, organic acids, minerals, etc. are of little significance to beer brewing system because of their small amount.
(1) The water content of hops is generally 10% ~ 12%, which is not conducive to storage. When it is hot and polluted by microorganisms, it can accelerate the oxidation and polymerization of hop resin and hop oil.
(2) Hop resin hop resin can be divided into hard resin and soft resin, and soft resin is composed of a acid, acid and indeterminate resin.
① ɑ-acid. ɑ-acid is a mixture of five humulones, including humulone, synhumulone, plus humulone, pro humulone and post humulone. ɑ-acid is the main component of bitterness in beer. It has strong bitterness and strong antiseptic ability. It can increase the foam stability of beer.
ɑ-acid is rhombic crystal, light yellow, soluble in ether, ethane, methanol and other organic solvents. The content of A-acid fluctuated greatly with the variety, origin, year, harvest time and treatment method of hops. Fresh hops contain 5% ~ 10% ɑ-acid, and the content of ɑ-acid fluctuates in the range of 3% ~ 15%. The content of ɑ-acid
A-in new varieties is increasing, reaching more than 15%. Among the five homologues of ɑ-acid, the content of humulone is 15% ~ 20%, which is relatively stable. The proportion of humulone and humulone varied with varieties. Generally speaking, the content of humulone in fragrant hops is relatively low, while the content of bitter hops is relatively high, which is typical. It is also one of the methods to identify bitter and fragrant hops. Only trace amounts of Pro humulone and post humulone were found.
The solubility of ɑ-acid in water is very small, but slightly soluble in boiling water. The solubility varies greatly with pH. the higher the pH is, the higher the solubility is. When pH is 5.2, the solubility of wort is only 85mg / L, and when pH is 6.0, the solubility is as high as 500mg / L.
ɑ-acid can be easily converted into iso-a-acid during wort boiling. ISOA acid is yellow oil like, a- acid, has bitter taste, and has the ability of anti-corrosion and improve foam stability.
The solubility in wort is much higher than that of A-acid, and the bitterness of beer mainly comes from ISOA acid.
When the ɑ-acid content of hops is unstable and the packaging or storage conditions are poor, it is very easy to oxidize and polymerize, and then turn from soft resin to hard resin, thus losing its unique taste and antiseptic ability.
When the boiling time of hops and wort is too long, ɑ-acid may be transformed into Humulus acid or other derivatives with abnormal bitter taste.
② β-Acid. Fresh hops contain about 11% β-Acid., while dry hops generally contain 3% ~ 6%. β-Acid. is white acicular or long rhombic crystal, which is difficult to dissolve in water. Its bitterness, anti-corrosion ability and acidity are weaker than A-acid, and its stability in air is less than A-acid. It is easy to oxidize into soft resin with higher bitterness. β-Acid. is only about 15% of the bitter substance in beer. β-Acid. can not react with lead acetate to form insoluble lead salt, so ab - acid and B - acid can be separated by this property.
③ Soft resin and hard resin. The main bitter components of fresh and mature hops are A-acid and B-Acid. In the process of hops drying and storage, A-acid and B-Acid will be continuously oxidized into soft resin, and then oxidized into hard resin, which has no value in beer brewing
Value. As follows:
If the content of hard resin is more than 20% of the total amount of hop resin, it will be regarded as old hop, and the use value will be reduced or can not be used.
(3) Hops oil
① The composition of hop oil. Hops contain 0.5% ~ 2% hop oil. There are more than 200 kinds of hop oil, 75% of which are terpene hydrocarbons and 25% are oxygenates. The main components of hop oil are terpene hydrocarbons, which are very volatile, even at room temperature
More than 90% of wort can be volatilized during cooling and fermentation, and only 8% ~ 9% of wort dissolved in beer. The longer wort boiling time, the more loss. For this reason, it is often used The purpose of adding hops for the first time is to retain proper amount of hops oil to highlight the aroma of hops. In view of the above characteristics of volatile hop oil, people developed a hop oil system
It can be directly added to the boiling pot, rotary sedimentation tank and even fermentation liquid instead of flavored hops (granule hops), which can increase the flavor of beer.
The properties and functions of hops oil. Hop oil is yellow green to brown liquid, volatile. Soluble in ether, ester and concentrated ethanol, not soluble in water and wort. Most of the hop oil will be separated during wort boiling and during the separation of hot and condensed solids. Hop oil is easy to be oxidized, and some components of its terpene hydrocarbons are easy to be oxidized to corresponding epoxides and lipids.
Some of these substances are considered to be the main source of hop flavor, but the content of hop oil in traditional hops with good flavor is relatively low, which indicates that the hop flavor of beer is mainly determined by the composition of hop oil, not its content. For example, the main components of hops oil, aromatic alkene and dimethylbutyl isobutyrate, have negative effects on the flavor of hops. The content of the two components of hops with good flavor is lower than that of bitter hops, while the content of 2-decanone and aromatic alcohol in bitter hops is less than that of fragrant hops.
During storage, the flavor of alcoholic oil gradually disappeared due to Resinification and polymerization. At the same time, some esters formed by terpenols and fatty acids in hops oil release fatty acids (such as isovaleric acid) through hydrolysis during storage, which makes hops produce a kind of cheese odor, which is easily evaporated when wort is boiled.
(1) Hops contains 4% ~ 10% polyphenols. Its main components are anthocyanins, tannins and catechins. It is a kind of non crystalline mixture. It is also the main component that affects beer flavor and causes beer turbidity. Low molecular weight polyphenols are beneficial to beer body and give beer a certain mellow feeling. The oxidized high molecular polyphenols will cause the beer flavor to be hard and rough, which will deepen the color. Polyphenols are reductive and oxidizing. On the one hand, they can prevent some substances in beer from oxidation. On the other hand, they can catalyze fatty acids and higher alcohols to form aldehydes in the oxidation state, which directly or indirectly promote beer taste aging.
When wort is boiling, polyphenols can precipitate protein, which can make wort clear, make beer taste fuller and improve the quality of bitter taste. However, this precipitation will continue in wort cooling, fermentation, even in filtered and bottled beer, which will lead to beer turbidity and affect the stability of beer.
In conclusion, hops polyphenols have both advantages and disadvantages on beer brewing system, which need to be reasonably controlled in the beer brewing process. If you have any questions on equipment for beer brewing,feel free to contact us,we will help you to build fantastic brewery for you.
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