Beta acids are a component of hop resins responsible for adding volatile aromatic properties to beer flavor profiles. Beta acids do not contribute to bitterness. Since they are more volatile than alpha acids, they do not need heat for their extraction. In fact, alpha and beta acids are responsible for all the bitterness in hops and ultimately beer.
The wide variety of aromas, flavors and bitterness of hops is due to differences in acid and essential oil content. Alpha and beta acids are the two main organic compounds that determine the bitterness, flavor and shelf life of beer. Essential oils impart the unmistakable hops flavors known and loved.
Alpha acids are expressed as a percentage of the total weight of hops and are the main source of bitterness. There are three main alpha acids, and each contributes to the bitterness properties in a different way: humulone, adhumulone, and cohumulone. To fulfill its bitter potential, hops are boiled so that the alpha acids undergo a chemical change in their structure and dissolve. These alpha acids lose their bitterness and become rancid, either when the hops oxidize during storage or as beer ages.
Beta acids are also expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the hops. They are insoluble in beer and have no bitterness until oxidized. Similar to alpha acids, beta acid components include lupulon, adlupulon, and colupulone. However, small differences in their molecular structures cause beta acids not to isomerize during boiling. The ratio of alpha to beta acids determines how much bitterness decreases as the hops oxidize and the beer ages. Ratios close to one-to-one are valuable.
Although they make up only 0,5-3 percent of the total hops weight, essential oils are responsible for the complex bouquet of floral, herbal, spicy and all citrus notes. Considering the non-specific, general hop flavor, myrcene (green, fresh, floral and citrus) is likely to come first. But due to the extreme volatility common to all essential oils, most of this flavor does not tend to stay in beer.
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