A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO HOP SENSORY ANALYSIS

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AGENDA

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Quality Specifications

Using your senses

Hop Sensory Analysis Methods

• Traditional Hand Rub

• Hop Grind

• Best Practices

Hop Lexicon

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HOP QUALITY

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Harvest Date

Moisture & Temp.

• 8.5 – 10.5%;

• Temperature under 85˚F or ambient temperature.

Appearance

• Pest and disease damage

• Foreign material

• Color

• Cone integrity

Lab Analysis

• WSDA: Leaf, Seed, Stem

• Brewing values

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HOP INSPECTION—USE YOUR SENSES!

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Extra tools you have:

• Sight: What does the hop sample look like?

• Does it have obvious disease or pest damage?

• Is the bale mostly brown instead of green or green/yellow?

• Tactile: How does the hop sample feel?

• Are most cones in-tact?

• Are the cones too wet?

• Smell: What kind of aroma is coming from this sample?

• Is the sample severely oxidized?

• Does it smell under-dried?

METHODSHOP SENSORY ANALYSIS

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TRADITIONAL HOP HAND RUB

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Overview

• Grab a small handful of hop cones.

• Rub the cones between your hands, slowly rupturing

the lupulin glands.

• Gently fluff the cones in your hands and smell the sample.

Advantages

+ Considered industry standard for Hop Selection

+ Requires limited sample prep

+ Tactile and visual evaluation

Disadvantages

- Aroma carryover

- Fatigue

- Not standardized

- Challenging to apply to other sample types

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ASBC HOP GRIND SENSORY EVALUATION METHOD (SENSORY ANALYSIS-16)

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Overview

• Weigh 10g hop cones or pellets.

• Grind sample for 10-30 seconds using a blade grinder

(e.g. Magic Bullet) until a coarse powder is achieved.• Pour the ground sample into a labeled, amber glass jar with

a lid.

• Evaluate the sample within 60 minutes of grinding.

Advantages

+ Manageable sample prep

+ Standardized

Disadvantages

- Fatigue

https://www.nutribullet.com/shop/blenders/magic-bullet/

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HOP SENSORY EVALUATION BEST PRACTICES

• Prepare and distribute sensory ballots to record data

• Blind-code samples and mask sample appearance to minimize bias

• Randomize the sample order across panelists

• Incorporate a rest and recovery period between samples (1-2 minutes should be sufficient, depending on the method)

• Reduce aroma carryover by smelling something neutral between samples (e.g. back of hand, unscented moist towelettes)

• Minimize fatigue by determining the maximum number of samples that can be evaluated during one session in advance

• Do your best to control the environment, temperature of samples, etc.

• Discard prepared sensory samples according to methods of analysis specifications

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HOP LEXICONTHE LANGUAGE OF HOPS

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HOP SENSORY LEXICON

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Lexicon: the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge.

• Best practices:

• Develop a lexicon based off the full range of hop varieties

• Use distinct, universally-understood terms

• Utilize reference standards for training

• DEFINE YOUR TERMS!

• Term- Definition- Reference Standard

Onion/Garlic,

obviously

That dark, scary

basement at

Grandma’s house..

It’s the

weed

bruh!

What do you

mean,

“Dank” hops?

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REFERENCE STANDARDS*

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• Garlic: garlic cloves, allyl disulfide

• Pine: pine sap, pine needles, pine wood, α-Pinene

• Green Grass: fresh cut grass, cis-3-Hexen-1-ol

• Coconut: coconut meat, toasted coconut, γ-Nonanoic lactone

• Cheesy: rancid cheese, sweaty socks, isovaleric acid

Additional Options:

• Essential Oils

• Flavored Syrups

• Grocery store items

*Make sure to use Food Grade standards for panelist training

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INDUSTRY RESOURCES & PRESENTATION REFERENCES

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• American Society of Brewing Chemists. (2010). ASBCMOA-Hops-2 Physical Examination.

• American Society of Brewing Chemists. (2018). ASBCMOA-Sensory Analysis-16 Hop Grind Sensory Evaluation Method.