Intended to amplify hop aromatics and increase yield, hop oil products can excel at adding beautiful hop aroma anywhere pellets are normally used, including cold-side applications. Here, Yakima Chief Hops explain how their new release HyperBoost, made from single-hop varieties, delivers variety-specific aroma boosts to your finished beer.

Previously known as YCH 701 Trial, HyperBoost is the latest innovation to come out of the Yakima Chief Hops Research and Development Program.

Designed to easily pour in the fermenter as a cold side addition, HyperBoost excels at amplifying hop aroma and increasing final beer yield. It can be used anywhere pellets are normally used, including cold-side applications.

Produced via a novel supercritical extraction technique, HyperBoost is made from single-hop varieties to deliver variety-specific aromas to finished beer. It is currently available in Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and more.

Brewers participating in the inaugural cohort of YCH’s FWD Program received samples of HyperBoost for brewing trials and are most excited about the increase in beer yield, ease of use, and notable increase in hop aromas. The product also offers a much smaller footprint in your cooler (or freezer).

Tessa Schilaty, YCH’s Technical Marketing Manager, oversees FWD, a newly formed hop innovation trial program by Yakima Chief Hops and Yakima Chief Ranches. Working directly with brewers around the globe to trial HyperBoost in different applications she says: “It has been very exciting watching the different ways our brewing partners have battle-tested this new product. The positive feedback confirms that we have achieved our goal to create a unique product that can increase beer yield and improve flavour.” 

One of those brewery partners is Wren House Brewing Company in Phoenix, Arizona where co-founder and Head Brewer Preston Thoeny did side-by-side trials to compare flavour and measure the efficiency of a recipe brewed with traditional T-90 hop pellets next to the same one with HyperBoost.

For Wren House, a change in process must enhance overall quality, and repeatability is critical. “We were on board with this product before we even got our hands on it,” explains Thoeny. “Pulling that plant matter out of the dry hop is important to us.” 

In the trial, Wren House used the same wort stream separated into two fermenters, then proceeded with a Chinook T-90 dry hop for one stream and a Chinook HyperBoost ‘dry’ hop for the other. “Anecdotally, we saw just over a 10% increase in efficiency,” Thoeny says of the vessel that received HyperBoost.

He is quick to note that more trials need to take place, and chuckles “I’m not ready to rest my reputation on that just yet.” When they shared the experiment with taproom guests for their feedback, 61% preferred the HyperBoost in blind tastings. 

Aside from efficiency gains and customer preference, Thoeny has observed another advantage to this trade-up. Dry hops go in through the top port, via a rolling staircase with safety measures in place.

Boxes of hops go up the staircase to be funneled into the fermenter, but a bottle of HyperBoost can ascend in a back pocket and simply be poured in. “Once you dump pellets in, maybe you spill a little. You throw that mylar bag down and hop dust fans out. You have to clean all that up. It’s part of the job, but when you don’t have to do it anymore, it seems archaic. You win back time.”

Being able to bring a new product to a flagship brand is critical for loyal customer satisfaction. But what if you don’t have a flagship brand, in the traditional sense? Cloudburst Brewing in Seattle, Washington, is consistently changing things up, “We have our American Pils, and we don’t mess with that recipe.

But our IPAs, it’s a new IPA every week. Different hop combos, maybe different swings in malt, but IPA is what we make, and they are always a little different,” says Steve Luke, Head Brewer and Founder of Cloudburst.

Cloudburst is also part of YCH’s FWD Program. Luke brewed a Pale Ale and a West Coast IPA with the samples they received. For the Pale Ale, he used Chinook HyperBoost in place of 22 pounds of T-90s in the dry hop. For the West Coast, it went straight into the fermenter at knock-out, as a bonus, emphasizing “We didn’t sub anything, we just added it. Because the West Coast gets more.”

He says that the Pale Ale came out with a very pleasant, dank pine and the West Coast revealed a brighter, fresher pine. “The depth of flavour with this product added to where we’re adding it, it’s unrivaled. We get this resinous mid-palate of concentrated hop flavour.”

Other hop oil extracts have a higher viscosity, and some have been observed leaving a residue on the sides of the whirlpool or insides of the fermenter. Luke mentions “HyperBoost doesn’t leave any residue in the tank, so that’s great.” Cloudburst has used the YCH-suggested dosing guidelines and is overall satisfied with the results.

What about efficiency gains? Luke cites their Pale Ale trial, “On our 15-barrel batch, we replaced HyperBoost for T-90s in the dry hop and gained a barrel of extra beer. Just HyperBoost and Cryo™. So, we used two way more efficient products for aroma, and then got two extra kegs? That pretty much pays for itself.”

When asked if he had any advice for brewers dabbling into HyperBoost he offers, “If you are going for an increase in yield then go for that dry hop addition.” He acknowledges that it may be subject to the experience level and equipment used.

“It’s important to keep experimenting, keep playing. Many of us don’t have R&D spots, so we have to make a full batch. Start by using a variety you are super familiar with, so you can feel more comfortable comparing the two.”

With an industry finding its ceiling, and breweries struggling to differentiate themselves to an increasingly fickle consumer base, efficiency and product perception are critical factors.

Schilaty says: “HyperBoost is one of the most exciting product launches that I’ve worked on. It fills such an important need in the industry right now.”

Combining the reduction of cooler space, with the ease of use (and potential for increased brewery safety), customer satisfaction, big bright hop character, and a noteworthy increase in efficiency makes HyperBoost a truly groundbreaking product.

For dry hop additions, YCH recommends using HyperBoost for 25-50% of the addition and adding T-90 or Cryo® pellets for the remainder of the hop charge.

Most brewers are using HyperBoost in the fermenter as a dry hop addition, with some using HyperBoost in the whirlpool. For whirlpool use, brewers can replace up to 100% of pellets with HyperBoost.

Dosing will vary by process, equipment, and desired outcome. As a dry hop, we suggest starting with a replacement rate of 100:1 HyperBoost to T-90 pellets by weight (10g HyperBoost in place of 1kg T-90) to 125:1 (8g HyperBoost in place of 1 kg T-90).

We suggest replacing T-90 pellet additions in the whirlpool at a rate of 50:1 by weight (20g of HyperBoost to replace 1 kg T-90). Your brewery might choose to use more or less depending on beer style or overall goal.