The Hop Chronicles | Kazbek (2020)

Creator: Mike Neville

Bred from the basic Czech Saaz and a wild landrace hop from the Caucasus area of Russia, Kazbek is an aroma selection that’s colloquially known as Tremendous Saaz, because it’s identified to impart beer with related although stronger traits as Saaz. When used later within the boil and dry hop, Kazbek purportedly contributes citrus, candy fruit, berry, and noble spice notes to beer.

Alpha: 4.0 – 7.0%
Beta: 4.0 – 6.0%
Cohumulone: ​​35 – 40%
Whole Oil: 0.9 – 1.8 mL/100g
Myrcene: 40 – 55%
Humulene: 20 – 35%
Caryophyllene: 10 – 15%
Farnesene: < 1%
Linalool: < 1%
Geraniol: < 1%
ß-Pinene: unknown
Parentage: Saaz and a wild Russian landrace hop

I’ve used Saaz many occasions, often in low to average quantities when making Czech Pilsner, and I’ve all the time respect what it contributes. Once I realized about Kazbek, and significantly that it was mentioned to work properly for dry hopping, my curiosity was piqued, so I picked some up to be used in The Hop Chronicles.

| MAKING THE BEER |

I went with our commonplace Hop Chronicles Pale Ale recipe and made changes to the kettle hop additions to make sure a correct degree of bitterness.

Kazbek Pale Ale

After accumulating the complete quantity of water, adjusting it to my desired profile, and getting it heating up, I weighed out and milled the grain.

When the water was correctly heated, I included the grains and set the controller to take care of my desired mash temperature of 152°F/67°C.

Through the mash relaxation, I ready the kettle hop additions.

As soon as the 60 minute mash was full, I eliminated the grains and proceeded to boil for 60 minutes, including hops on the occasions acknowledged within the recipe.

When the boil was full, I used my King Cobra IC to rapidly chill the wort.

A refractometer studying confirmed the wort was at my goal OG.

13.9 ˚Bx = 1.056 OG

After transferring the wort to a sanitized fermented, I direct pitched a single pouch of Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship.

The beer was left to ferment at 68°F/20°C for 7 days earlier than I took a hydrometer measurement confirming FG was reached.

1.009 FG

With fermentation full, I cold-crashed the beer for twenty-four hours then pressure-transferred it to a CO2 purged keg, which was positioned in my keezer and burst carbonated in a single day earlier than the gasoline was lowered to serving strain. After every week of conditioning, it was prepared for analysis.

| METHOD |

Contributors have been instructed to focus solely on the fragrant qualities of the beer earlier than evaluating the flavour. For every aroma and taste descriptor, tasters have been requested to write-in the perceived power of that individual attribute on a 0-9 scale the place a ranking of 0 meant they didn’t understand the character in any respect and a 9 ranking meant the character was extraordinarily sturdy. As soon as the information was collected, the common ranking of every aroma and taste descriptor was compiled and analyzed.

| RESULTS |

Big due to our good pals from Yakima Valley Hops for not solely sponsoring this collection, however permitting me to hunker down at their sales space at Homebrew Con 2022 in Pittsburgh, PA to gather knowledge. A complete of fifty folks participated within the analysis of this beer, all blind to the hop selection used till after they accomplished the survey. The typical aroma and taste rankings for every descriptor have been plotted on a radar graph.

Common Rankings of Aroma and Taste Perceptions

The three traits endorsed as being most distinguished by members:

The three traits endorsed as being least distinguished by members:

Subsequent, members have been requested to fee the pungency/power of the hop.

Tasters have been then instructed to establish beer kinds they thought the hop would work properly in.

Lastly, members have been requested to fee how a lot they loved the hop character on a 1 to 10 scale.

My Impressions: I perceived this Kazbek Pale Ale as having slight strawberry paired with medium lemon rind and hints of natural notes within the end. Whereas I felt the general pungency was medium-low, the bitterness was fairly agency, which supplied a pleasant stability to the beer.

| CONCLUSION |

When most brewers consider Czech hops, it’s seemingly the noble selection often called Saaz fills the thoughts, although it’s not the one hop from this world-renowned beer area. Formally registered in 2008, Kazbek is sometimes called “Tremendous Saaz” and is beneficial to be used late within the boil and even the dry hop, the place it’s mentioned to contribute citrus, candy fruit, berry, and natural notes.

Whereas essentially the most distinguished aroma and taste traits famous by blind tasters of a Pale Ale hopped solely with Kazbek included citrus, tropical fruit, resinous, and pine, berry was one of many least endorsed, going in opposition to present descriptors. Furthermore, a majority of tasters felt Kazbek had average to sturdy pungency, which can clarify the overwhelming sentiment that it might work properly in hoppiers kinds like IPA and American Pale Ale.

General, it appeared tasters have been typically happy with this Kazbek Pale Ale, which I personally felt possessed extra berry and natural notes than the blind tasters. To me, this single-hop beer was actually fulfilling sufficient to maintain round, however I seemingly gained’t be utilizing it by itself in a hoppy fashion once more. Nonetheless, I stay up for seeing the way it does when used at decrease charges in a extra delicate kinds comparable to Czech Pale Lager.

Kazbek hops can be found now at Yakima Valley Hops, get some whilst you can! In case you have any ideas on this selection, please be happy to share them within the feedback part beneath.

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