The Original 40 Brewing Company, based in North Park, San Diego, recently unveiled a West Coast IPA named Three & A Half. This new beer not only stands out for its flavor profile but also for the innovative brewing techniques employed by the team. One of the key components of this innovation is the use of HopXL, a pure, water-soluble hop extract, which significantly influenced the brewing process and the final product.
Hop extracts are not new to The Original 40 team, but HopXL stood out due to its water solubility.
“This is the first one that is water soluble and does not need to be heated up to use,” said Brewer Steven Teran. This property distinguishes the extract from others that must be introduced during the boiling stage when the wort is hot, making it more versatile and convenient.
“The owner of the company that we talked to was very helpful in letting us know the dosage rate and suggested that we start on the lower end and keep adding until we achieve the desired flavor profile,” Teran said about figuring out dosing and technical use of the product.
HopXL brought several advantages to the brewing process Teran told Brewer.
“We did not use much HopXL – about 250mL – and we used it in the fermenter as an aroma and flavor booster versus a bittering agent,” he explained. This approach allowed them to enhance the beer’s aroma and flavor without needing to heat the extract, which saves time and increases safety.
Furthermore, Teran pointed out that while they still used regular hop pellets alongside HopXL, a complete switch to HopXL could lead to better volume and less waste.
“If we would have used just all HopXL, then we would have gotten better volume and less waste,” he said. The lack of plant matter in HopXL means only the essential oils are used, potentially increasing the overall yield of the beer.
READ MORE: Can Hop Extracts Save Money as a Dry Hopping Option?
The use of HopXL in brewing Three & A Half had a notable impact on its flavor and aroma. The beer features Citra hops, enhanced by HopXL to bring out intense notes of tangerine, pineapple, and lychee, with hints of citrus zest and pine resin.
“We pretty much were expecting to be able to sub out the hop pellet for the HopXL product. If this is done then our overall yield will be better since there is no plant matter, just the essential oils that we are looking for when we brew or dry hop,” Teran said.
Looking ahead, Teran is excited about the possibilities that HopXL offers.
“I would like to do an all HopXL beer where we use just the extracts with no hop pellet at all. If we get the desired profile then we might switch over to all extract since it will increase our overall yield,” Teran envisioned.The name Three & A Half pays homage to the reviewers on Untappd who post about a beer being “the best they’ve ever had” but still giving it a 3.5 rating on the 1-to-5 scale.
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