Video interview at Molino Spadoni Brewery - True Hopping Extraction Technology

The Molino Spadoni brewery was founded in 2015 by the will of Leonardo Spadoni. Due to his experience and passion for the world of cereals, he decided to start producing craft beer with carefully selected natural ingredients. I started in 2021 as Head Brewer and, in agreement with the company, we have redefined the entire range of beers by revisiting some references and creating some new recipes.
The True Hopping technique immediately intrigued me for the possibility of getting the most out of the aromatic compounds of hops through a more efficient extraction process. This new approach, compared to classic dry hopping, has a higher yield and extracts a wider aromatic variety, which differs from the classic extracts available on the market. True Hopping allows you to create unique oil blends from different hops.
The True Hopping technique can be easily implemented in a well-established craft brewery. Once the machine has been loaded and started, it can operate unattended until the final extraction is obtained. The oil we get automatically separates hop terpenes from water according to density. Water is then removed and the hop terpenes are collected from the burette. The oil can be added during any stage of the process, in which normally the pellet is inserted, with advantages in terms of smaller volumes of hop pellets needed and ease-of-use thanks to the direct addition to the tank via a transfer pump or even in the bright beer tank or priming vat just before packaging.
Furthermore, the pellets used can be collected after the extraction process and placed into the kettle for bittering at the end of the boiling step. Thanks to this approach, hops can be used with a dual purpose which effectively reduces beer production costs.
The workflow hasn't changed too much since I've been using ETHOS X. The extraction process can be carried out in 1-2 hours in parallel with other activities. Based on the volume of hop pellets, the ETHOS X or XL units can be used according to different brewing scales.
I can carry out extractions during the production day or before the oil is added to the fermenter or to the sedimentation tank.
The features that impressed me most about True Hopping are the possibility of enhancing the hoppy aroma combining several hop varieties and even other botanicals to create different aromatic tastes. I’ve never produced such a pure extract!
I can choose the aromatic varieties I want to add with just a few ml of oil that I have extracted myself. Furthermore, by making a hydroalcoholic solution, the extract can be stored for several months preserving flavor stability; I have also noticed an exceptional resistance of the finished beer to any kind of oxidation.
Therefore, the craft beer produced has a more intense and longer-lasting hopping flavor than those obtained with the traditional hopping methods.
The extraction efficiency enables to recover up to 95% of hop terpenes; therefore, I was able to decrease the quantity of hop pellets to be used. I started with a 25% reduction and step-by-step I reached a 40% saving. This has also had a direct impact on the volume of beer adsorbed by the dry pellets.
Moreover, conditioning time also decreases as a direct consequence of the reduction of pellets used.
All of this has a very important economic impact for a craft brewery.