What is the hops in beer?

Question

We hear of low alcohol beers and the bitter–beerface. So I was thinking the less hops the less alcohol and bitterness. A conversation tonight while avoiding BBF. Need this info.

Answer 1

Hops have to be dried in an oast before they can be used in the brewing process. Hop resins are composed of two main acids: alpha and beta acids.

Alpha acids have a mild antibiotic/bacteriostatic effect against Gram-positive bacteria, and favor the exclusive activity of brewing yeast in the fermentation of beer.

Beta acids do not isomerise during the boil of wort, and have a negligible effect on beer flavor. Instead they contribute to beer's bitter aroma, and high beta acid hop varieties are often added at the end of the wort boil for aroma. Beta acids may oxidize into compounds that can give beer off-flavors of rotten vegetables or cooked corn.

The flavor imparted by hops varies by type and use: hops boiled with the beer (known as "bittering hops") produce bitterness, while hops added to beer later impart some degree of "hop flavour" (if during the final 10 minutes of boil) or "hop aroma" (if during the final 3 minutes, or less, of boil) and a lesser degree of bitterness. Adding hops after the wort has cooled and the beer has fermented is known as "dry hopping", and adds hop aroma, but no bitterness. The degree of bitterness imparted by hops depends on the degree to which otherwise insoluble alpha acids (AAs) are isomerized during the boil, and the impact of a given amount of hops is specified in International Bitterness Units. Unboiled hops are only mildly bitter.

Flavors and aromas are described appreciatively using terms which include "grassy", "floral", "citrus", "spicy", "piney" and "earthy". Most of the common commercial lagers have fairly low hop influence, while true pilseners should have noticeable noble hop aroma and certain ales (particularly the highly-hopped style known as India Pale Ale, or IPA) can have high levels of bitterness.

Answer 2

Hops are a perennial vining plant. The cones are used in brewing.

I can understand your confusion. But it is not your fault it is the marketing idiots of American business (breweries here) that leads to our ignorance. Hops used in brewing add bitterness to beer(s).

The cone(s)-{the flower or strobile} of the hop plant (Humulus lupulus) is used in brewing. Within it are yellow sacks that contain resins and oils. The resins contribute bitterness and the oils aromas to beer. The bitterness of beer depends on variety of hop(s) and amount used by the brewer.

European and now craft brewed American beers are known for the bitterness of hops. The large brewers have sought out recipes that have increasingly reduced the bitterness of their beers. Consumer preferences, social, and profit influence this. The “bitter-beerface” term is a marketing campaign targeted at both craft and imported beers while promoting the slightly hopped beer.

Some hops: Cascade, Hallertauer, Saaz, Tettnanger, Northern Brewer.

Answer 3

The level of hops has nothing to do with the level of alcohol in a beer, except that the higher-alcohol beers may be heavily hopped (barley wines), although some are not (triple bocks). It depends on the style.

Hops have two uses in beers, if you consider bittering, flavoring, and aroma as one. The other is as a preservative and this would seem to be the more important one. Do you think that some Sumerian tasted beer and thought, "Mmm, this is good, let me add something to make it bitter."? There are a few beers that use other preservatives. Gruits use herbs and spruce beers use either spruce needles or extracts. These beers are not made with hops.

Answer 4

No you don't.