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Introducing the Product Usage Matrix
June 23, 2025
With an abundance of hops and hop products available, navigating the best choices for specific brewing needs can become confusing. How should certain products be applied to perform best within your recipe’s needs? Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) created the Product Usage Matrix, a quick reference for best use practices across various product offerings. Reference this Matrix if you are unsure where in your process is the best place to incorporate a specific product. Detailed product data sheets and additional resources are provided for each product below.
Unsure where to begin? See a glitch in the matrix? YCH is committed to meeting your brewing needs. Let us know how we can help by reaching out to brewinghelp@yakimachief.com. Your feedback fuels our innovation, and we are happy to work with you.
Hop Pellets
T-90 hop pellets are kiln-dried whole-leaf hops that have been milled and pressed into a user-friendly pellet shape. Pellets can be used anywhere in the brewing process and are much easier to handle and store than bales. All YCH hop pellets, including American Noble and Cryo Hops®, have been sealed in nitrogen-purged bags, and with proper storage, are guaranteed for no less than three years from their packaging date.
Cryo Hops®
Created through our patented cryogenic separation process, these concentrated lupulin pellets contain nearly twice as much oil as T-90 pellets, delivering an intense contribution of aroma and flavor in traditional pellet form. Thanks to the removal of leaf matter, Cryo Hops pellets produce less trub and can help reduce the effects of Hop Creep.
American Noble Hops™
Another product of our cryogenic separation process, these premium low-alpha pellets are composed of concentrated leaf matter. While the lupulin fraction goes into our Cryo® pellets, the remaining green matter is transformed into American Noble pellets. With the lupulin removed, these pellets serve as a “de-bittered” hop, offering an analytical profile very similar to traditional noble hops, while retaining the unique characteristics of their variety.
Cryo Fresh™
Combining the innovation of Cryo Hops® with the Frozen Fresh Hop concept of YCH Trials 301 and 302, this revolutionary hop product uses our patented cryogenic separation process to turn farm-fresh wet hop cones into easy-to-handle pellets. Cryo Fresh delivers the bold flavors and unmistakable aromas of harvest, without the bulk, mess, or logistical challenges of fresh whole cones. This product offers brewers the opportunity to create fresh hop beers on their schedule, all year-round.
DynaBoost™
This oil-enriched product was designed to be an effortlessly flowable whirlpool addition, with no warm water bath required. Standardized at 20% hop oil, DynaBoost delivers variety-specific aromatics with zero trub material.
HyperBoost™
HyperBoost is the answer for brewers who want a flowable concentrated hop oil that can be poured directly into the fermenter. This highly flowable product is a concentration of more than 40% hop oil and delivers amplified hop aromatics to your brew.
CO2 Extract
Produced using supercritical CO2 extraction, this pure resin hop extract offers increases in alpha utilization in the kettle, as well as variety-specific hop character when used in the whirlpool. It has a significant shelf life and minimal storage requirements.
ISO
Isomerized hop extract provides precise control of the bitterness from hops in beer. Iso allows for greater flexibility in brewing through post-fermentation bitterness adjustments (bitterness corrections, product differentiation, etc.).
YCH 803
YCH 803 is a varietal-specific hop oil and continues to be developed. Due to its extreme concentration, the replacement ratio of T-90 pellets to YCH 803 is 1:200. It performs best when dosed during active fermentation to allow the heat and natural convection of fermentation to reduce terpene-derived flavors in the final beer.
YCH 805
This exciting trial product is still being explored. YCH 805 is concentrated hop oil emulsified with propylene glycol, which makes it more soluble in beer. Depending on the application, the solubility of normally insoluble terpenes can result in a big hop flavor more characteristic of raw hop aroma.
Whole Leaf
Available in most varieties, kiln-dried whole cone hops embody the characteristics of each unique farm. Whole leaf hops can be used for bitterness or aroma and contribute anti-foaming properties to the kettle.
Fresh Hops
The magic of brewing with freshly harvested hops cannot be understated! The fresh and grassy flavors unique to fresh hop beers are a seasonal treat, and each harvest has its unique flavor. During the harvest season (August through October), brewers can contact their sales representative, or hops@yakimachief.com, for details on fresh hop farm pick-ups.