Humulinone, A Natural Hop Bitter Acid

Humulinones are formed by the oxidation of alpha acids and are closely related to isoalpha acids in their molecular structure. It’s been reported that humulinones are 65 % as bitter as iso alpha acids and their discovery in hops and hop pellets are relatively new. Interestingly, the small concentration of humulinones in leaf hops increase after pelletization, despite vacuum packaging and cold storage. Leaf hops and hop pellets can contain as much as 0.2 % - 0.5 % w/w humulinones whereas CO2 hop extract contains none. We believe pelletization breaks the lupulin

gland, thus exposing alpha acids to agents, outside the lupulin, that facilitate their oxidation to form humulinones.

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