UF scientists helping Bay Area breweries produce better beer

WIMAUMA, Fla. - University of Florida scientists welcomed two new machines to their research center in Wimauma, which they say could help Bay Area breweries better the beer-making process by converting fresh hops into pellet hops.

"We’re very excited to have the new pelletizer, so that we can make our dry hops into pellets," Bill Wang, biological scientist with the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), said.

Fresh hops are harvested at the UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma and then dried. Dried hops are then poured into the new hammer mill machine, which turns them into powder. The powder is then poured into the new pelletizer machine, which converts it into pellets, which are later used to brew beer.

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"We kind of hope this is the transition point where a lot more breweries are going to be able to use our hops," Christopher "Cornbread" DelCastillo, field manager for the UF/IFAS horticulture lab, said.

Pellet hops have a longer shelf life and are more convenient for brewers to store.

"It’s just an easier form for us to use," Taylor Norrell, head brewer at Leaven Brewing, said.

Norrell told FOX 13 that the Riverview brewery exclusively uses pellet hops and orders them from Washington state.

"As far as sustainability, having it shipped all the way from the Pacific Northwest is kind of a big factor there," Norrell said. "So if we can get it from right down the road, that would be perfect."

Norrell said the brewery would end up saving money by avoiding shipping costs if there was an opportunity to get pellet hops locally.

"The less it travels, the less it degrades over the travel process there, so that just makes for a fresher product for everyone," Norrell said.

UF/IFAS staff said their work to convert fresh hops into pellet hops is to address a request by Tampa Bay-area craft brewers. They expect to start distributing some of their pellets to the first Bay-area brewers next week. 

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