What does hop utilization mean?
Hop utilization is the percentage of alpha acids that is isomerized and remains in the finished beer. Usually only about a half of the alpha acids are isomerized during a 1-hour boil and of this fraction, some will precipitate with the hot and cold breaks while more will be adsorbed onto the yeast cells during fermentation. Hop utilization can be as low as 10 percent and seldom exceeds 40 percent. Hop utilization is affected not only by the vigor of the boil, but also by its length. Generally speaking, the longer the wort is boiled with the hops, the more of the bitter resins will be isomerized. Other factors affecting utilization is the pH of the wort. The higher the pH, the greater the isomerization of hop resins. Of course limitations are placed to restrict how high the pH of the wort is in the kettle since we do not want our beer to taste like sh#t. The best flavor is achieved when the wort pH is 5.0 to 5.4. On the other hand a very low wort pH reduces utilization and has other per
