Author: Paul Amico
Developed by Yakima Valley’s Brulotte Farms in collaboration with John I. Haas, BRU-1 was released as an experimental variety in 2016 and quickly earned itself a good reputation for its ability to impart beer with notes of juicy pineapple and stone fruit. More recently, John I. Haas began offering a LUPOMAX version of BRU-1 that concentrates all the best parts of this delectable variety into consistently potent pellets.
Alpha: 19.5%
Beta: 8 – 10%
Cohumulone: 35 – 37% of alpha acids
Total Oil: 1.95 – 2.6 mL / 100g
Myrcene: 50 – 55%
Humulene: 7 – 8%
Caryophyllene: 9 – 11%
Farnesene: 0 – 1%
Linalool: 0 – 1%
Geraniol: 0 – 1%
ß-Pinene: unknown
Parentage: developed through open pollination
Over the last few years, I’ve had the opportunity to sample a number of beers made with BRU-1 and tended to enjoy them quite a bit. Having never brewed with this relatively new variety, I was excited for my first BRU-1 batch to be a single hop LUPOMAX Pale Ale.
| MAKING THE BEER |
In typical fashion, I used our standard Hop Chronicles Pale Ale recipe as the base for this batch, adapting all additions based on the potency of LUPOMAX.
BRU-1 LUPOMAX Pale Ale
Recipe Details
| Batch Size | Boil Time | IBU | SRM | Est. OG | Est. FG | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.5 gal | 60 min | 36.9 | 5.7 SRM | 1.056 | 1.008 | 6.3 % |
| Actuals | 1.056 | 1.008 | 6.3 % | |||
Fermentables
| Name | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Lamonta: Pale American Barley Malt | 10 lbs | 83.33 |
| Vanora: Vienna-style Barley Malt | 2 lbs | 16.67 |
Hops
| Name | Amount | Time | Use | Form | Alpha % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lupo Max BRU-1 | 8 g | 30 min | Boil | Pellet | 19.5 |
| Lupo Max BRU-1 | 8 g | 20 min | Boil | Pellet | 19.5 |
| Lupo Max BRU-1 | 12 g | 10 min | Boil | Pellet | 19.5 |
| Lupo Max BRU-1 | 28 g | 2 min | Boil | Pellet | 19.5 |
| Lupo Max BRU-1 | 56 g | 4 days | Dry Hop | Pellet | 19.5 |
Yeast
| Name | Lab | Attenuation | Temperature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flagship (A07) | Imperial Yeast | 77% | 0°F - 0°F |
Notes
| Water Profile: Ca 92 | Mg 1 | Na 10 | SO4 153 | Cl 50 |
Download
| Download this recipe's BeerXML file |
I started off my brew day by flipping the switch on my controller to heat up the RO water I’d previously adjusted to my desired profile before weighing out and milling the grain.
When the water was properly heated, I incorporated the grains and set the controller to maintain my desired mash temperature of 152 °F/ 67°C before preparing the kettle hop additions.
Once the 60 minute mash rest was complete, I removed the grains and let them drip into the kettle while the wort was heating up.
The wort was boiled for 60 minutes with hops at the times stated in the recipe, after which I chilled it with my CFC during transfer to a sanitized fermenter.
A refractometer reading showed the wort was at my target OG.
Next, I direct pitched a single pouch of Imperial Yeast A07 Flagship into the wort.
I let the beer ferment at 66°F/19°C for a week before taking a hydrometer measurement confirming FG was reached.
With fermentation complete, I pressure transferred the beer to a CO2 purged keg.
The filled keg was placed in my keezer and burst carbonated overnight before I reduced the gas to serving pressure. After a week of conditioning, I began serving it to blind tasters.
| METHOD |
Participants were instructed to focus only on the aromatic qualities of the beer before evaluating the flavor. For each aroma and flavor descriptor, tasters were asked to write-in the perceived strength of that particular characteristic on a 0-9 scale where a rating of 0 meant they did not perceive the character at all and a 9 rating meant the character was extremely strong. Once the data was collected, the average rating of each aroma and flavor descriptor was compiled and analyzed.
| RESULTS |
A total of 17 people participated in the evaluation of this beer, all blind to the hop variety used until after they completed the survey. The average aroma and flavor ratings for each descriptor were plotted on a radar graph.
Average Ratings of Aroma and Flavor Perceptions
The 3 characteristics endorsed as being most prominent by participants:
| Aroma | Flavor |
| Citrus | Citrus |
| Tropical Fruit | Tropical Fruit |
| Stone Fruit | Stone Fruit |
The 3 characteristics endorsed as being least prominent by participants:
| Aroma | Flavor |
| Onion/Garlic | Onion/Garlic |
| Pine | Berry + Dank/Catty |
| Resinous | Melon |
When asked to rate the pungency/strength of the hop, most tasters perceived it as being mildly to moderately pungent.
Tasters were then instructed to identify beer styles they thought the hop would work well in.
Finally, participants were asked to rate how much they enjoyed the hop character on a 1 to 10 scale.
My Impressions: I was pleased with how this beer turned out and perceived a nice blend of fruity and floral hop characteristics, though it wasn’t quite as pungent as I expected based on the aroma I got when opening the bag of hops.
| CONCLUSION |
As a newer hop variety, and one of the first developed by Brulotte Farms, BRU-1 has risen quite rapidly in popularity due to its characteristic fruity and floral characteristics. When processed into concentrated LUPOMAX pellets, brewers are able to use less while achieving the same or more hop character in their beer.
The most prominent aroma and flavor characteristics noted by people who evaluated a Pale Ale made solely with BRU-1 LUPOMAX were citrus, tropical fruit, and stone fruit, with floral receiving high ratings as well. Interestingly, a majority of tasters reported the hop character in this beer as being mildly pungent, though a few felt it was moderate to strong. It’s possible this explains the reason so many felt BRU-1 LUPOMAX would work well in pale lager, though the highest rated style was APA/IPA, naturally.
My expectation when brewing this beer was that the fruity characteristics of BRU-1 would be amplified by the LUPOMAX processing, and while I enjoyed the beer quite a bit, the hop character did come across as slightly muted. I definitely plan to use more BRU-1 LUPOMAX in the future and look forward to seeing how it plays with other varieties!
BRU-1 LUPOMAX hops are available now at Yakima Valley Hops, get some while you can! If you have any thoughts on this variety, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
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10 thoughts on “The Hop Chronicles | BRU-1 LUPOMAX (2020) Pale Ale”
Are they available in whole leaf form? Whole leaf hops are the only type we use at Bel Air Brewing.
No they aren’t. They are a processed hop product….
I’ve used the Amarillo Lupomax recently in two different hop focused beers and the results have been pretty comparable to the standard t90 pellets. I appreciate the intentions behind the lupomax branding, but likely will not seek them out.
Did you use them at the suggested rate of 70% what you’d normally use? If so, then that’s the point, it’s the same as what we do for The Hop Chronicles. The idea is that you can use less, which leads to increased yield, while still getting the same character.
I utilized the lupomax to a lesser amount than my typical dry hop for a pale ale with maybe falsly higher expectations for my aroma and flavor contribution. To say that my final yield improved would be a stretch maybe. This particular batch was 10 gallons. I could see on a large system (7bbl plus) maybe this could be more beneficial, but on a small scale homebrew batch I just believe that my results were trivial. Though, for me to have a valid opinion I’d probably need to do a side by side.
I just got through my first 8oz. of Mozaic LUPOMAX and like it quite a bit. I cut back my dry hop additions from 3oz. to 2oz (33%) and have been happy with the results. I was hoping this product would close to what I used to get with hop hash but it falls short of this goal. I have really enjoyed using BRU-1 in a few beers and will continue to do so.
I gotta know who the 1 person was who chose “Brown Ale” haha! I mean?????
I am kinda surprised by the preference rating: more than half said 5 or lower.
I was slightly disappointed with standard Bru-1 when I used it for the first time last year. Double dry hopped 40L of beer with 350g of Bru-1 T90 pellets (2019 harvest)
There is Pineapple, tropical etc, but it’s quite thin tasting hop flavour and weakish aroma. everything is a bit one dimensional about it and missing the fresh punchy green hop flavours you get with the likes of Citra and many other fruity varieties. It didn’t go down as well with everyone else either. Shame the Lupomax doesn’t seem to improve things
I concluded it isn’t a stand alone hop or even a centre stage hop but probably a good filler hop if you can get hold of it cheap. I didn’t get much grassiness/vegetable from it so I can’t see any advantage to LupoMax except reduced beer wastage
I have used Bru-1 twice and had the same experience both times with flavor and aroma being muted