Beer Revolution debuts instant dry hopping
A new device at Beer Revolution has the ability to add some fresh flavour to your beer.
Dubbed the “Smooth Hoperator” the device allows instant dry hopping a brewing technique where hops are added at some point after fermentation has begun. Dry hopping is almost always done in addition to the regular use of hops in the brewing kettle where unfermented “beer” is boiled to allow certain biochemical reactions to occur. Generally speaking hops added to the kettle create bitterness and some flavour and aroma while dry hopping adds only flavour and aroma without additional bitterness. Put simply dry-hopped beers taste fresh.
Unfortunately hop flavours and aromas are volatile. Also the process of dry hopping adds oxygen to the beer which promotes oxidation and off flavours. So ironically dry-hopped beers which are intended to taste fresh go stale sooner since their delicate flavours quickly deteriorate.
Smooth Hoperator is Beer Revolution’s creative solution to that problem. Designed by Brewsters’ brewer Mike Hallman and fine-tuned by brewmaster Rob Walsh and head brewer Luke Woolridge the device sits in Beer Revolution’s beer cooler. Beer flows out of a keg and through the Smooth Hoperator which is stuffed with hops before coming out the tap.
The beauty of instant dry hopping is not merely the ability to add fresh hop flavours to a beer without risk of going stale it can also be educational since the same beer could be served dry hopped with different hop varieties. This allows the consumer to learn about the different hop flavours.
And nothing says the Smooth Hoperator has to be filled with hops. “One of the great advantages of the Smooth Hoperator is its flexibility” says Hallman. “We don’t have to make a decision on anything until it’s about to go on tap.” So there are plans to pack the Smooth Hoperator full of coffee beans and a vanilla pod and run a stout through it or to use flower petals with a wheat beer.
While the idea of instant dry hopping is not new the Smooth Hoperator is unique because it stays in the cooler keeping any beer within the device itself at proper temperature. By contrast most instant dry hopping devices that preceded the Smooth Hoperator merely push beer from the tap through the device and then into the glass. Beer left in such a device gets warm loses its carbonation and froths up. The Smooth Hoperator will only be used at Beer Revolution when it strikes their fancy — ask the staff to learn of any instant dry hopped offerings.
The idea for instant dry hopping is largely credited to Dogfish Head Brewing of Delaware which invented a device called Randall the Enamel Animal in 2002. If you want to try instant dry hopping at home they’ve made the Randall Jr. available for sale on their website ( dogfish.com/other-accessories/randall-jr.htm ).
