Hop Products Australia and Brewtique have teamed up to create the Hoptimiser which is designed for brewers looking to enhance their dry hopping.
You can read about it below or if you're at Brewcon 2023, head to either Stand 41 or Stand 101 to take a look.
Brewtique and HPA launch the Hoptimiser
The country’s technical experts in brewing equipment have partnered with the country’s technical experts in hops to develop the Hoptimiser, a specially designed system to achieve safe, rapid and complete contact during dry hopping to reach the pinnacle of hop flavour without developing undesirable hop characters.
The system includes a pressurised container that feeds hop material into the beer stream before passing through a macerating pump. The resulting interaction with fine hop particles facilitates the uptake of key hop flavours while minimising astringency and hop burn.
Brewtique’s Managing Director Gavin Troxler said “After a number of iterations and improvements over the past 12 months, we’ve developed a really efficient and effective system. It can help brewers increase their lupulin utilisation by up to 25% and considerably accelerate tank turnover times. Not to mention it removes the need to work at heights.”
Brewtique has a track record of designing and manufacturing high-quality brewing equipment. Their experienced team of Master Brewers, led by Technical Director Neal Cameron, have installed 54 breweries across Australia to date.
The Hoptimiser was developed in collaboration with Hop Products Australia (HPA) based on the latest research in maximizing hop flavour in beer. HPA’s Head of Sales & Marketing Owen Johnston said “We listened to the challenges our brewing customers are facing, both big and small when dry hopping. This skid-mounted system has everything they need to dry hop their beers safely and easily.”
Merino Brewery Head Brewer Tim Howard helped conduct extensive testing of the system. He said “Safety is always the number one priority working in a brewery. The Hoptimiser eliminates the risks associated with carrying kilograms of hops to heights or hop volcanos wasting litres of precious beer.” Using the dynamic system, Tim was able to increase aroma terpenoids at a faster rate, and the accelerated recirculation times kept astringency and dry hopping rates down. He added “For my brewery, which currently doesn’t operate a centrifuge, the macerated hop particles reduced residency time due to better flocculation. The Hoptimiser has proven to be a great addition to the brewer’s toolkit, improving safety and quality, as well as reducing beer loss.”
Brewtique and HPA will be launching the Hoptimiser at BrewCon next week. Hop over to Stand 41 or Stand 101 at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 22nd or 23rd of August to check it out.
