Hop Oils

hop oils.

1. One of the two active ingredients in hops (the other being the soft resins). Hop oils belong to the terpene group of hydrocarbons and contain several hundred different compounds of which terpene hydrocarbons account for about 70 percent, alcohols (mainly geraniol and linalool) constitute the remaining 30 percent. Other constituents include aldehyde and esters. Hop oils are responsible for the hop aroma or character of beer. Like all essential oils, they are very volatile and are largely lost by steam evaporation during the boil. Syn: hop essential oils. 2. A concentrated oil extracted from hops.