About This Course

This course includes 103+ minutes of video

Single Hill Brewing in Yakima, Washington, has made a name for itself as a place where brewers like to drink when they’re in town for hop selection, where local hop growers like to drink year-round, and where you’re guaranteed to find a prolific range of fresh-hopped beers during harvest season and beyond. When it is harvest time, Single Hill cofounder and head brewer Zach Turner and his team hop in the van and drive around the valley, picking up whatever hops they’ve heard are being freshly harvested, so they can get them back to the brewery as quickly as possible and brew with them in a number of ways. That includes throwing in some whole cones as well a using their own small-scale pelletizer, making fresh-hop pellets to use that day or soon afterward.

In this 103-minute video course, join Turner and friends as they take a “field trip” into the Yakima Valley to get hops picked that morning, then return to the brewery to utilize those hops in a variety of ways. Along the way, Turner lays out the Single Hill philosophy of brewing fresh-hopped beers, sharing the details of their fresh-hopping techniques developed after many years of experimentation—including his homebrewing days, brewing at Odell, and his years on the technical and quality teams at Yakima Chief before starting Single Hill.

Instructor

Perhaps no brewery in the world is as dedicated to fresh-hopped beers as Single Hill in Yakima, Washington. Led by cofounder and head brewer Zach Turner, the Single Hill team leans into vibrantly hopped IPAs all year long but harvest time is when their strengths and expertise really get to shine. That’s when Turner shifts focus to fresh-hopped beers, driving to farms around the Yakima Valley to see which varieties are freshly picked, rushing the wet cones back to the brewery to pour into the mash tun-turned-hopback, and gathering freshly kilned (but not yet baled) whole-cone hops that they pelletize themselves for the whirlpool and dry hop.

Zach Turner

Cofounder and Head Brewer, Single Hill

Course Curriculum

  • 01

    Welcome

    Show Content
    • Intro and Course Overview

  • 02

    Fresh Hop Beers

    Show Content
    • Hitting the Road, Visiting the Farms

    • Fresh Hop Beers

  • 03

    On the Farm

    Show Content
    • The Farms

    • Day in the Life: Fresh Hop Brewday

    • Pickers

    • Kilning

    • Hop Harvest

    • Bailing

  • 04

    Back in the Brewhouse

    Show Content
    • Back to the Brewery

    • Back At the Brewery

    • Other Techniques

    • Pellets

  • 05

    Conclusion, Recipes & Further Reading/Listening

    Show Content
    • Final Steps

    • Beer After Brew Day

    • Wrapping it Up

    • Fresh-Hopped Beers: The Last Seasonal

    • Taste the Freshness: 3 Keys to Success with Fresh-Hopped Beers

    • Let’s Go, Let’s Show, Let’s Rodeo: Lessons in Fresh Hopping

    • Podcast Episode 161: For Matt Lincoln of Fremont, Fresh-Hop Beers Are Labors of Love

    • Podcast Episode 260: Zach Turner of Single Hill is the Fresh Prince of Yakima

    • Podcast Episode 263: Bale Breaker Brewmaster Kevin Smith Lives the Hop Life

    • Podcast Episode 314: Pinthouse, Cloudburst, and Single Hill Join for a Fresh-Hop Brewing Roundtable

  • 06

    Fresh-Hopped Beer Recipes

    Show Content
    • Recipe: Fort George Fresh IPA

    • Recipe: Crazy Mountain Sticky Fingers Harvest Ale

    • Recipe: Enchanted Circle Brewing Wet-N-Wild Harvest Ale

    • Recipe: Comrade Fresh Hops Superpower IPA

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