They anticipate that keeping the oil at the proper cold temperatures will maintain the stability and allow them to use it throughout the year. While that is very important and sciencey brewer information, what is it that we, the drinkers of science, need to know? Essentially, SN has come up with a process to steam the oils from wet hops, which are only available twice a year (roughly September and March), and then separate those oils from the residual water. Most commercial extracts are fractionated (refined) in polarized column stills to pull out specific flavor components and highlight some others… We’re literally using wet hops (undried) and using pure steam (hot water) to pull out the essential oils.” “Typically, extracts are made from dried hops using a Supercritical CO2 extraction method, then after the pure hydrocarbon is removed from the hops, one of two things happens: The oil is either chemically adjusted and manipulated into kettle bittering products or used as aroma (downstream or cold-side) products–more common in craft brewing. Sierra Nevada Bill (Bill Manly, Product Development Manager for SN – seen below being told his beer isn’t for drinking) states the science thusly in a Beer Advocate forum reply: The intrigue comes in the form of a Sierra Nevada engineered procedure that allows for the wet hopping of beer year round…in a way. For these hop dynamos, the announcement of a new IPA should come as no surprise, but the process in making this beer does. They were the first to use wet hops long ago and you need look no further than the recently released Harvest Wild Hop IPA with Neomexicallious, a hop found growing in the wilds of New Mexico. Now, SN is known for playing around with hops. While most have focused on the now defunct lawsuit from Lagunitas over font and typography, there is an intriguing beer buried in the controversy. I took a break from mentally traveling back through yesteryear for Part 2 of my 2014 retrospective when I came across some rather intriguing news about Sierra Nevada and a certain hop hunting IPA.
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