Hop tea wort dry hop experiment

[CaptAwol]

Presently I have an one brewing system which is rated as 65l and it's easy to push it to 70l with a boil, though I'm brewing raw ale now and volume is not an issue. I always adjust recipes to achieve the OG and the ABV so this part is not an issue.
I'm pressure fermenting with a 60l ferm and with a 59l batch it's a bit tight, fermenter loss is about 3 to 4l and ideally I'd like 55l clear for 3 corney kegs.
I'm considering reducing the volume of the wort into the fermenter by about 3l storing excess wort until required to make a hop tea this being added close to end of fermentation, obviously the whole process will have to be ultra clean.

Is it worth making a hop tea with excess wort or just sterile water and if so what ratio of pellet hops to liquid.

If I make a hop tea with stored wort ideally I'd want to ensure fermentation is still active when added.

So this is an idea I have please add comments, especially on any potential flaws


The option

 

[Alan_Reginato]

Hi! Yes, I changed a bit the strategy. I was afraid about ending with 50l of underbittered beer, so instead of 2 batches of 25l, I made 3. 1 of 25l and 2 of 7l. The biggest one, normal hopstand. For the other two. 5l of wort plus 2l of hopstand hop tea (?). Boiled filtered water in a pan with lid, turn flame out and added hops (100C), in a hopbag. 30 min, then cooled it. One before fermentation, and other just before bottling. A lot of work involved...

So... The hop tea beer smells and tastes just like the hop pellet. And was bitter as the software predicted. And I can't tell they apart! If there's a difference, neither me, my wife, my brother our my mother notice.

In the other hand, the normal hopstand beer, have less aroma and a different flavour. Like others I did. Maybe, just maybe, because the lid in the pan. It was closed all the time and condensate the vapour inside while in the fridge. So, because of boiling points, I suggest it retains myrcene. It matches with differences between beers and myrcene's characteristics. Anyway, I preferred the normal hopstand beer. Other people didn't like myrcene too, look for dip hoping.

Or was because I did the hopstand in water. Who knows?

Anyway, it works. If you want to increase bitterness and/or flavour in a beer, you can make a hopstand tea, and add at any point of fermentation.

Recipe, I divided in two, because of water addition.

First, the normal hopstand. Scaled from 25l to 36l, because of process. Was the base beer.

The inverted sugar stands for priming sugar.


View attachment 78784
Hopstand tea beer as both test beer. In the end, the status was the same.

View attachment 78785

What you think about it?

Hi! I was lazy about writing it all again, so I just quoted it. I did with boiled filtered water, not just like a hop tea, more like a hop stand, to get bitterness too. And added one at beginning of fermentation and other prior bottling, I can't tell the difference. Tastes and smells the same.
The ratio was 30g to 2l, in a hopbag, inside a pan with lid.

If you try, share yours results.

Good luck!