Beer school: what are hops? | The Craft Beer Channel

Ever wondered what hops are, or where they come from, or what they do in a beer? Well wonder no more! Jonny tells you all from a Saaz hop farm in the Czech Republic. This is the first in our new mini series Beer School - teaching you the ins and outs of beer. If there's something you want to know, drop us a comment!

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Remember to drink responsibly(ish) and not be that guy...

[scottjm]

Good idea this chaps. Helps the newbs like me know what we are drinking and why it is (hopefully) so delicious. Keep it up 👍

[DiogoBarbosa]

Great channel and amazing video. It's making me love beer even more. Congrats!

[ChrisChapmanIAm]

Excellent treatment - keep it up, can't wait for next episode!

[AlxTrucho]

Really digging your vids guys. Looking forward to this series. Cheers from the states.

[IE_]

Great idea, keep them coming please!!

[stephenbray]

I just bought a six pack of a very bitter beer. I came hear because I thought there was something wrong with it. Now I now what I bought. Thank you.

[firstlast]

Awesome. Looking forward for the next one. Keep it up!

[tomber]

Great video thanks for the very useful information

[bananas]

How about coming to some of the hop yards of Worcestershire/Herefordshire and seeing the oast houses. You can also eat the hop shoots, they are blinking delicious.

[drebourbon]

OMG that massive shrine painting is so bad. Look at me in a wife beater. Hahahah

[eliseobell-uribe]

That SARS joke is incredibly relevant now.

[welcometomymind]

Such a good video! For beers newbies like myself is just perfect! Can you do more Beershcool videos, please! Oh, yeah and cheers!

[Baraxis]

Great idea for a series. Stoked for more.
My question about this one: Are hops a special sort of flower to contain the alpha acids? I understand that a lot of brewing is based on tradition and "what works" as a process developed and refined over thousands of years, but I find it exceedingly unlikely that there would be no other flowers that contain the alpha acids, or something similar. I'd be curious about a brewery using another type of bud as a preservative, aromatic, and bittering, if it was possible.

[ddrab]

Anymore Beer School videos coming for 2016? They're one of many great aspects of this channel!

[benbishop]

Great video. Strange question but do you happen to know if there are any hops varieties that are grown for better edible shoots in the spring than regular varieties? Thanks!

[ryosaebamoi]

Love this new beer saga 😃. Great job! Have a good continuation. Cheers.

[jipsnelder]

Keep it up! When will the new episode be launched?

[sam]

And yes i get you can add any additional coffee or spices to make or change the aroma/flavors but the bitterness seems to be mostly determined by how much hops of what aged/type of hops i.e its all about the hops = bitterness levels in beers. I am also curious about if there are different yeast and if so the affect on using different ones of the other seem to me yeast is usually just yeast in anything wine, beer, alcohol making, most breads, ....

[Marcownz]

Sorry, but this is a very biased-towards-hops video.  It should be noted that many beer styles CALL for low alpha acid hops.  Many German lagers traditionally have IBUs of 5-20.  Going over 20 for many of them is considered off-style, and is seen as a flaw.  Americans and the British tend to have more bitter beers NOT because they're "more concerned with the craft and flavor of beer", but because their hops tend to be more bitter.  I cannot tell you how many American homebrewers I've met who absolutely cannot brew a Doppelbock (Or to be fair to those lacking lagering technology, a Kolsch).  I'm fine with getting flavor from hops, but it seems that the days, craft beer drinkers are going with the whole "Your beer is shit if we can't taste the hops" attitude... and the fact is, there are wonderful beer styles that call for little to no hop character and have existed for hundreds of years... which Americans are making EVEN HARDER TO FIND... because they're always doing a "Marzen, but with a hoppy twist".  I'm cool with hops, but I very much dislike how the craft beer industry (and how the homebrew crowd) have been treating them.  We need some styles of beer that emphasize malt and some that emphasize yeast.  If a brewer can't make at least one beer which emphasizes each of these, I do not consider them to be even a halfway competent brewer.

[Ismschism]

guy: makes joke about SARS wiping out humanity

me in 2020: nervous laughter