For this beer we joined forces with Yakima Chief to showcase the somewhat new and exciting variety – Idaho-7. Yakima can tell you the story about its growth, but we at Moersleutel are responsible to show you all it has to offer. With very exciting research being done in the past few years about hops we now know more about them than ever. Why not to put all the tricks into use all at once? We did it and we can’t wait to share the results with you. Seven additions were done throughout the process in order to saturate each step with Idaho-7 flavor and aromas.
1. Mash Hops
A controversial hop addition, but it is known that mash hops help with short-term oxidation, it helps to preserve the fresh flavor of hops for longer. Good, right?
2. Flame Out Hops
Right after the wort is boiled, before cooling down to a hop stand whirlpool temperature, we season the wort with some hops to capture their intense flavor and just a little touch of delicate bitterness
3 + 4. Whirlpool Hop Stand
Layered in two additions to capture hot side aromas provided by hops, done at a custom temperature to ensure no additional, unwanted, bitterness is captured.
5. Fermentation dry-hop
We won’t bother you with the technicalities of these additions, but trust us, it brings whole new flavors to the game.
6. Dry-hop post-fermentation
After fermentation is done the beer is soft cooled and receives the first big dry-hop, with enough time to extract the desired flavors and aromas
7. Cold-dry hop
The beer is cold and almost ready to move to the final processing stage, here we do a smaller, yet important, addition to tie all the loose ends.
With seven different hop additions, you can expect several layers of flavors that bring out a unique character to this beer. If you don’t know Idaho-7 yet, this is your best chance to know it from mash to dry-hop. Hope you enjoy drinking it as much we enjoyed making it!
Cheers,
Jorge and The Moersleutel Family