Is this hop tea right for my batch?

[jceg316]

Hey everyone, I'm making an IPA from some home grown hops, and want to get the most from them. Been doing a bit of reading around hop teas and wondered if this wold work for my recipe:

Vienna malt - 4kg
Lager malt - 1kg

Herkules - 15 - 60 min
Cascade - 20g - 10 min
Fuggles - 20g - 10 min
Cascade - 25g - FO
Fuggles - 25g - FO
Cascade - 30g - Dry Hop
Fuggles - 30g - Dry Hop

I've done the brew and in a few days will put in some dry hops, and it's these I'll make the hop tea. From what I gather, I need to put the hops in 500ml water at 80*c and leave for a while. Then pour the tea in without the hops. I have a cafetiere to do this in. Does this sound right?

would 500ml of water change the ABV to any extent? There is 24 litres of beer in the FV. I'm assuming I don't need to leave it for 5 days, and can actually dissolve bottling sugar in the 500ml of water, and then bottle?

And lastly, am I opening up any extra risk of contamination doing this?

TIA.

 

[Dutto]

The ABV will fall very little and any lowering of the ABV with a Hop Tea will most probably be made up (or exceeded) by the Priming Sugar.

Personally I:
1. Start transferring the brew to a Bottling Bucket.
2. Use only 300ml of boiling water to make a Hop Tea and let it steep in the cafeteria whilst I dissolve the sugar.
3. Dissolve the sugar in 200ml of boiled water.
4. Add the dissolved sugar and the Hop Tea to the Bottling Bucket when the transfer from the FV is completed.
5. Gently stir the brew in the Bottling Bucket and then bottle it immediately.

Finally, "Risk is inherent in ALL activities!" but by using boiling or boiled water and with careful sanitisation the risk of an infection entering a brew can be minimised; but never eliminated!

Enjoy!:thumb:

 

[jceg316]

Thanks for the help @Dutto. Have you replaced dry hopping with hop teas? OR do you still dry hop every so often?

 

[Braufather]

I take it this won’t have the same effect as a dry hop. Wouldn’t this just replicate a hop stand?

 

[MyQul]

The difference between hop tea and dry hopping is that hop tea adds flavour and a bit of aroma and dry hopping adds aroma and a bit of flavour. For maximum 'punch' do both

 

[Dutto]

Thanks for the help @Dutto. Have you replaced dry hopping with hop teas? OR do you still dry hop every so often?

I'm amazed to discover that "Yes. I have replaced Dry Hopping with a Hop Tea!" and didn't even notice!:laugh:I guess it started when I bought a cafeteria from Ikea last year, tried the system and decided that I liked the additional taste. Also, making a Hop Tea is easy, relatively quick, gives a great "hoppy" taste and greatly reduces the chances of infection.:thumb1:I particularly like the taste given by Citra and Perle Hops.

 

[Braufather]

Still not getting this. Why does a hop tea achieve that a hop stand doesn’t?

 

[terrym]

I have found by trial and error that you need at least 100ml water for every 10g hop pellets so that the 'tea' doesn't more resemble porridge. Ideally there should be more liquid to give the hops better chance of giving up their goodness into solution, but I get round this to some extent by chucking the whole of the hop tea into the FV when its cooled.

 

[JFB]

Tried doing a hop tea for two beers and have to say I wasn’t overly impressed. Seemed a dull aroma compared to the dry hop hit you get when opening a bottle.
Maybe my methods? Or tastes?
Going to be sticking with dry hoping.

 

[jceg316]

Tried doing a hop tea for two beers and have to say I wasn’t overly impressed. Seemed a dull aroma compared to the dry hop hit you get when opening a bottle.
Maybe my methods? Or tastes?
Going to be sticking with dry hoping.

As MyQul says above:

The difference between hop tea and dry hopping is that hop tea adds flavour and a bit of aroma and dry hopping adds aroma and a bit of flavour. For maximum 'punch' do both

Did you notice a flavour boost at all?

 

[MyQul]

As MyQul says above:



Did you notice a flavour boost at all?

Yes defiantely imo. I once made a pale ale with columbus and hated the flavour so before bottling I added a simco hop tea and it completely changed the flavour.

I'm still in the early stages of experimenting with my Gales yeast strain. It seems to mute a hop flavour a bit (I think a lot of English cask ale type yeasts may be like this), I suspect because it's so flocculant. So I'm going to boost the flavour a bit with some hop tea when it comes to bottling

 

[terrym]

I think the only way to compare beers that have been made up with a hop tea compared to those with a dry hop is to actually do a side by side test. So split a brew into two after the primary has finished and dry hop one half and hop tea the other, then compare after conditioning. Otherwise any opinion is likely to be subjective. Any volunteers?

 

[MyQul]

Still not getting this. Why does a hop tea achieve that a hop stand doesn’t?

Hop teas are a useful tool for kit brewers who dont have the option of doing a hop stand

 

[JFB]

As MyQul says above:



Did you notice a flavour boost at all?

Like @terrym says without doing a side by side test it would be unfair to try and answer this.

I didn't feel it gave me much that I could not already achieve with late hops. Definitely gives extra hoppyness though.
If I was making a hoppy high abv beer that I wished to age in secondary for a few months, could be a great way of getting fresh flavours in.

 

[Braufather]

Hop teas are a useful tool for kit brewers who dont have the option of doing a hop stand

ah right, that makes sense