Well, if you've visited this blog at all in my very first week, you may be wondering what the heck lupulin is. There is a brief description underneath the title of the blog, but I'm sure some of you would like to know more.
Lupulin glands look like little yellow powder on the inside of a hop cone. Check out this page on the Carlsberg website so you can get a feel for what lupulin glands look like:
http://www.visitcarlsberg.dk/beer/BeerBrewing/ingredients/Pages/Hops.aspx
The glands contain the resins and oils that make hops so important to beer.
The resins contain alpha acids, which add bitterness to the beer. That bitterness is important because it balances out the sweetness from the malt. How much bitterness is determined by the hop variety and when they are added to the boil during the brewing process.
The oils add wonderful hop flavors and aromas to the beer. Ever hear the words citrus, grapefruit, grassy, or flowery used to describe beer? That's from those wonderful oils. The oils are fragile and must be utilized differently than the resins. To get the best effects from the oils, the hops are typically added towards the end of the boil or during fermentation.
There you go. That's why lupulin is important to beer!
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