Yakima Chief Hops “Survivables” Table

Last year, Scott Janish said that Idaho 7 was one of the greatest hot-side hops he ever used which ultimately led to its inclusion in my Mountain IPA #1 and #4 recipes. This week, Janish summarized recent Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) research on beer soluble compounds that best “survive” the brewing process among 35 hop varieties – Idaho 7 topped the list.

After reading Janish’s blog post, I watched the Sulfur: The Next Aroma Frontier webinar on the YCH website. Fortunately, YCH included a chart toward the end of the webinar that showed the breakdown of compounds for each hop variety in parts per million.

Using Paint.NET, I measured the pixel size for each compound for each hop variety and then scaled the pixel measurement to match the part per million values on the original chart. I transcribed the values into a sort-able table below. In a way, this data is a continuation of the Comprehensive Hop Acid/Oil Chart I shared back in November (also from YCH) – though I hope to eventually combine the two charts.

For context;

• Butanoic acid, 3-methyl butyl ester is an ester with fruity apricot, pear and banana aroma (Millennium ranked highest)
• Methyl geranate is a monoterpene with floral, green and fruit aroma (Bravo ranked highest)
• 2-Methylbutyl isobutyrate (2MIB) is an ester that has a green apple and apricot aroma (HBC 472 ranked highest)
• Linalool is a monoterpene with floral and citrus aroma. It is a good indicator of overall intensity of hop aroma and flavor (Loral ranked highest)
• Geraniol is a monoterpene with rose-like aroma (HBC 692 ranked highest)
• 2-Nonanone is a ketone with fruit, floral and herbaceous aroma (Idaho 7 ranked highest)
• 3-Mercaptohexanol (3MH) is a thiol with grapefruit and gooseberry aroma. It can be converted by certain yeasts into 3MHA (passionfruit/guava) (HBC 520 ranked highest)

While Idaho 7 measured greatest in total compounds for an individual hop variety, TRI-2304CR Cryo Blend was created by YCH based on this research as a way to optimize these compounds and create a super “survivables” product. I’m working on the math to determine which blend of hops will closely match the Cryo Blend (since is only limited to commercial application at this time).