Small Batches w/ Single Hop

[MrBIP]

So ... newbie who gets quickly obsessed has a thought today and starts researching ...
Anybody ever experimented with 1 or 2 gallons at a time, using a single hop variety?
Is it reasonable to think a person could do such a thing with a somewhat standardized extract base substituting only the hop variety with each batch (perhaps adjusting a bit to keep total IBU in the same range)?
Or is the single hop thing a little more complicated than that? I see that plenty of microbrews have been doing this for quite some time.
Perhaps a fairly quick and inexpensive way to try some new things; get a better total perception of what a particular hop is all about?

(obviously something that has brought me here is being a hophead and/or not having developed enough total appreciation of beer ... )

 

[chessking]

This has been done many times, however, if you are not the one tasting, all you have to go on is descriptions from others. James Spencer did a show on this many years ago. It might help.

http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/c/8/a/c8a...51909349&hwt=9eec2e1632217db7ab8d738c5193a1a5

 

[Nosybear]

Great way to test hops! If I were doing this, I'd use the simplest, most consistent pale malt extract I could find, standard boil times and vary one factor at a time. You'll never get absolutely identical conditions but it will be an interesting experiment....

 

[JAMC]

Even some of the big breweries are adopting this concept (Marstons Single Hop Ales), although I suspect their batch size might be a bit bigger.

I've made a 1 gallon batch on the stovetop with DME for a fruit beer experiment. I had to find something that could act as a fermentation tank for a batch that small as I don't have any glass carboys. In the end I used a plastic screw-top tub that originally held protein powder - just drilled a hole in the lid and put an airlock in it.

If you're going to standardise the process for hop comparison, there's the question of how you treat aroma, bittering and dual-purpose hops. It wouldn't make sense to do a bittering late addition at the same rate you would for an aroma.

 

[MrBIP]

If you're going to standardise the process for hop comparison, there's the question of how you treat aroma, bittering and dual-purpose hops. It wouldn't make sense to do a bittering late addition at the same rate you would for an aroma.

Yep, I was thinking about this. Not sure about standardizing each variety regardless of common use or trying to adjust according to common use.

Like the idea of using the protein jugs.

 

[BombasticBeers]

I've made a very basic 100% Munich malt with California Ale yeast that I have used different hops with. For a 5 gallon batch, it has been 1.5 oz at 60 and .5 oz at 15. You can scale for smaller batches. I did this for a some festivals that I served beer at as well as to have here in my Home Brew store. It is great for people to try different hops.