For those of you that are already brewing, or are about to brew non-alcoholic beers, here is a little toolbox that might help you. Depending on your chosen dealcoholisation process hops are a great way to bring flavor and aroma back into your beer, as well as improving body and mouthfeel. Traditional dry-hopping would be the most conventional option here, but we have a few other options that possibly offer you more flexibility and control when mastering flavor and aroma and the overall quality of your NA beer.
1. ADDING FULL HOP FLAVOR AND AROMA
SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM is the closest thing you can get to a liquid hop pellet. Put simply it has everything useful you would get in a pellet, but it is a liquid yet still 100% hop material. That’s what makes it unique.
Why would you use it in NA beers?
It helps you build back flavor that is stable more efficiently than using pellets alone. Because it is so similar to a pellet it is also great at adding mouthfeel. It’s super soluble even in cold beer so you can quickly understand it’s impact and adjust your recipes.
How would you use it?
It can be used anywhere before filtration depending on the outcome you want but it shines as a dry-hopping product. If you’re looking for a whirlpool addition SPECTRUM will also work here, or you could consider INCOGNITO® which is specifically designed for delivering late hop flavours in a liquid format.
What to think about?
Because it’s like a pellet you have to treat it like one. If you’re too heavy handed with it, you’ll get harsher hops flavors or increased bitterness. Often using it alongside some pellets gets great results – you can always ask us to help you get started.
2. ADDING VARIETY SPECIFIC FLAVOR AND AROMA POST FERMENTATION
PRYSMA®
If you want to adjust the flavor and aroma after the main production is finished, we have a genius little tool for you. PRYSMA® gives you all the hop flavour and aroma but without the bitterness. Like SPECTRUM it achieves the unique trick of being fully soluble and stable while remaining 100% hop derived.
Why would you use it in NA beers?
PRYSMA® is actually so flexible it can be used to add flavor into your beers at pretty much any stage of brewing. In this case, you may find it especially useful using it post fermentation; adding it directly to your beer to almost instantly add a depth of hop flavor and aroma. A really quick and simple 100% hop derived solution to build flavor and aroma.
How would you use it?
In this instance, we would recommend adding PRYSMA® post fermentation before filtration to add impactful hop flavor. It is completely soluble in cold beer so as long as there is movement that fully disperses the PRYSMA®, it will deliver a great flavor that stays stable in the beer.
What to think about?
PRYSMA® can add some haze if you are dosing it heavily. If this is the case or if you are looking for a crystal-clear finish on your beer, you might want to use PHA® as an equally capable alternative.
3. OPTIMIZING FLAVOR PROFILES
PHA®
PHAs deliver hops oils in a range of variety specific or blended hop flavor options allowing you to refine and perfect your beer’s flavor and aroma with precision. Barthhaas are involved in the majority of hop production and breeding programs around the world. This gives us direct access to the finest hops for to create the best possible quality oils.
Why would you use it in NA beers?
PHAs are completely soluble in cold beer and add no haze. They can be endlessly combined to subtly perfect and differentiate beers. You can use them to mask off-flavors or enhance a characteristic you want to focus on. For instance, PHA Topnotes™ can help recreate authentic kettle-hop character and a freshly brewed impression, while PHA Rose™ can add a distinctive aromatic complexity for modern non-alcoholic styles.
Where would you use it?
Because PHAs are completely soluble in cold beer and add no haze, they are particularly effective when added post filtration. This even gives you the super-efficient option of using different PHA additions to create multiple beers from a single source beer.
What to think about?
If you’ve never used any kind of liquid product before and you want to explore PHAs, we would always recommend having ad chat with us first. We can help you take the first steps to finding what is perfect for you.
We have included only some information about our products in this blog. If you want to know more, you can visit our website. Otherwise get in touch and we’ll help get you brewing the best NA beers around.
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