Hop Diving
Howdy, Chris here.
Hops. My favorite part of beer — besides the drinking, of course. Hops are what gives beer its personality, its charm, its pizazz. We are known for our liberal use of hops, and in particular our insistence on using whole hops rather than pellets. Whole hops fit with our philosophy of minimal processing — from the hop vine to our beer, as natural as we can get. But working with whole hops in the brewhouse can be challenging. So today I thought I’d show a bit of what we have to go through at the end of a brew day.
Today I brewed a Kurofune Porter. During the boil, I added hops three times — Magnum, Perle and East Kent Goldings. At the end of the boil, I put a basket over the drain to keep the hops in the kettle and out of the whirlpool. (I’ll write about the whirlpool in a future post.)
This picture show what the hop basket looks like, with my lovely assistant Shinya spraying it down.
Shinya Hosing off the Kettle Hop Strainer
After the wort is pumped to the whirlpool, what’s left is a bunch of used whole hops in the bottom of the kettle, as shown here.
Spent Hops at the Bottom of the Kettle
The only way to get them out is to dive into the kettle, which is pretty hot still, and dig them out. Shinya, our apprentice brewer, got the pleasure of doing that today. Here are a couple of shots of him hard at work.
Shinya Hop Diving
Scooping out the Hops
Once the hops are all out, we rinse the kettle and we’re ready for the next brew day. The hops are mixed with our spent grains and sent to another brewery which uses them to make mulch.
Hop diving is a hot and messy job, but the smell is wonderful — and that makes it all worthwhile. Actually what really makes it worthwhile is the thought of a cold pint at the end of the day. So please excuse me while I head over to the Taproom for a pint of Kurofune Porter.
Cheers!
Chris
Posted: March 22, 2010 under Blog.
Comments
Comment from brewer
Time March 23, 2010 at 6:41 AM
Not every porter will have a blend of hops, but that’s how we do it. The amount of hops is just as important as the variety, though. When we make an IPA, we may only use three hop varieties, but the amount will be much more.
I’m sure I’ll be writing about hops a lot, but with ~25 different hops in our freezer, I doubt I’m going to get to all of them any time soon!
Chris
Comment from Stephen Lacey
Time March 23, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Shinya has put on weight!!
I have to admit, I have always felt the deft use of hops is what makes Kurofune the embodiment of the Baird slogan about balance and complexity. It is rich and tasty, hoppy and malty, but without being dominated by either hops or malt. It is one of the Baird regulars I always come back to.
Comment from Gordon
Time March 23, 2010 at 3:47 PM
Hey Chris,
We want more pictures of your lovely assistant. And how about his hot boss? Beer pictures are good too. Anyway, good luck with the BLOG. This first one was pretty interesting.
Comment from M&S Endo
Time March 23, 2010 at 5:55 PM
Hi, Chris,
Congratulations on your success to upload Shinya’s picture.
It was nice meeting you again and drinking Rising Sun, Teikoku IPA and Suruga although it affects the golf score.
Looking forward to seeing you again.
Comment from brewer
Time March 23, 2010 at 8:01 PM
Endo-sensei, it was a pleasure drinking some pale ales with you and your husband again. I’m sorry your golf had to suffer, but the delicious beer makes it all worthwhile!
Gordon, the hot boss is the only one who knows how to use the camera. But some day I’ll post a picture of my sexy self just for you.
Steve, glad you like the Kurofune. We’ll have to have a couple in the near future. And, Shinya has bulked up a bit — lifting all those malt bags, kegs and full pints has that effect on these young guys.
Chris
Comment from Lori
Time March 22, 2010 at 10:37 PM
Interesting. Are you going to blog on the different hops? I didn’t know a Porter would have 3 different types of hops in it, so now I’m curious about how many are in your IPA.