The Verdict
We take every batch, and delivery seriously. Every customer we work with get's premium service, and premium product. See what our customers are saying...
"The Quality of The Hops Was Fantastic"
“As a brewer I have had the privilege to brew ‘fresh hopped beers’ many times. At Roadhouse, we typically try and brew 10 a year so when the opportunity to brew with hops stored in a RipeLocker arose, I jumped on it. The quality of the hops was fantastic – despite them having been picked several weeks prior. They were beautifully aromatic and presented as if they had been picked hours before. We were excited to brew a small trial batch utilizing Citra and the beer turned out exactly as I dreamed – fresh aromas of grapefruit, dank and incredibly fresh.
When the chance came to brew a larger batch in our production facility, we were so excited at the chance to brew with 2 varieties that typically aren’t possible to brew with at the same time. We brewed with Idaho 7 and Mosaic resulting in an incredibly complex IPA. RipeLocker® opens the doors as brewers to get our hands on freshly picked hops without compromising quality and also gives us the chance to brew beers using multiple varieties. We are hooked and can’t wait until next harvest.”
“These Fresh Hops came from our friends at Oasis Farms in Prosser, WA. When they came to us, they smelled absolutely amazing thanks to the technology of the RipeLocker®!”
Drew Herron
Quality Assurance Manager
Roadhouse Brewing Co.
"Coronado Brewing Companies Experience using RipeLocker® technology for Fresh Mosaic Hops from Oasis Farms"
Receiving
“The Hops were shipped relatively quickly and the RipeLockers® were still cold when we received the hops. The lockers were clearly under a vacuum seal, as the top of the locker was securely fastened to the vessel. The lockers take up the same footprint as a standard pallet, and contain fork lifting/pallet jack grooves that make them easy to move around. We were able to move the hops into our walk-in until we were ready for the Fresh Hop brew day.”
Opening the RipeLockers® & Using the Hops
“On our brew day, we were able to easily move the hops from our cold box over to the brew house. The lockers were still holding a vacuum, so it is necessary to open a small valve on top of the locker that will slowly allow air to come into the locker. It was easy and straight forward and when the containers no longer contained a vacuum seal, we were able to lift off the top of the container.
This part was so awesome! It smelled like a mid-harvest Yakima in a box. The hops were in the mesh bags that we were able to easily carry up the brewhouse to add to our mash tun for the fresh hop hop-backing process we used for this beer. The hops were incredibly green still, smelled great, and the cones just looked beautiful. The mosaic was extremely true to brand.”
“We used 2 lockers, at 150 lb each, for a 20 BBL batch of a Fresh Hop All Mosaic IPA. We did a 30 minute boil on our wort without any hop additions in the kettle. We then start loading our mash tun with the 300 lb of Mosaic Fresh Hops with the rakes slowly turning. After that, we pumped the wort back into the mash tun, with the rakes still turning slowly, until all 20 BBLs were transferred. We allowed that to rest for an additional five minutes, and then we started sending that wort into our whirlpool. We then added 2 kg of Mosaic Incognito® to the whirlpool and did another rest for about 20 minutes.
We knocked out the wort at 68*F and allowed it to ferment our for the next 8 days until we did a dry hop of 22 lbs of Mosaic T90 Pellets. We initially planned on adding another 22 lbs of Mosaic T90 Pellets, but after the first dry hop, the beer was so intensely aromatic that we decided to skip the second dry hop. Three days after that first dry hop, we chilled the beer down and then transferred it to Bright tank two days later. Once the beer was carbonated, we were so pleased with the True to Brand Mosaic character that was intensely popping out of the beer.
The beer really carried that Fresh Hop mouthfeel that allowed the mosaic to come through in a very multidimensional way, especially for only using mosaic hops. The beer has that “off the bine” character that you get with a fresh hop beer, in both the sense of the mouthfeel and the aromatic qualities. The Mosaic character comes off with some OG and dank character that lays a nice foundation for the sweeter and more fruity notes to come through. We had a really pleasant tangerine and blueberry note pop right out on the nose. It had a subtle sweet pineapple undertone that was on a similar amplitude of a lemon grass quality.”
Returning the Lockers
“When we were done with the brew day, we were able to fork lift the lockers into our warehouse for storage until they could be picked up. The lockers are easily storable because you can stack the empty lockers on top of each other, so the two lockers only took up a footprint of one pallet. The freight was then arranged by their team, so all we had to do was band the tops to the lockers, tape some shipping labels to the lockers, and send them on their way when the truck showed up.”
Overall Impression
“I was extremely impressed with both the ease of getting the lockers in and out of our facility, using the hops, and most importantly, the quality of the hops. I have done several hop selections in Yakima, Washington and I have visited many farms and these hops were absolutely beautiful. It is extremely important to highlight that Oasis Farms had been storing these hops in the RipeLockers® since they were harvested. I had reservations on the ability of these lockers to keep the hops Hyper Fresh for an extended period of time, but they absolutely exceeded all expectations.
The hops were in excellent condition, visually perfect, and smelled amazing. I am very pleased with what they were able to deliver and I look forward to the opportunity to be able to brew fresh hop beers outside of the harvest window. To be able to remove the hand cuffs that had us brewers bound to only being able to brew fresh hop beers within a short window is a very exciting advancement in our industry and I look forward to even more innovation that this technology is going to bring us.”