Serving "through" hops?

[Jeltz]

At TST Rob set up some kind of device between the corney and tap so that the beer was served through some hops (columbus IIRC) now the effect was like chewing a bag of hops and soon disconnected but I suspect that playing about with volumes, working at lower pressures and a less pungent variety would have a better effect.

So looking on Ebay I saw


Which I reckon could be connected between a polypin and beer engine.

Is this method used to hop beer at the point of serving and if not has it been tried?

 

[RobWalker]

Here's the purchasable variety;

http://www.dogfish.com/company/tangents ... animal.htm

 

[dennisdk2000]

It has - see this guide from Brew Your Own:

Hop Transducer

I didn't name it, in case you were wondering...

Dennis

 

[bobsbeer]

If I recall Rob was using a Blickman Hop Rocket. I missed having a taste, but it seemed popular, with people trying it.

 

[Jeltz]

Thanks guys, I knew it would have been tried/done.

I might just have a play with it, I think it would be good with a low alpha hop.

 

[RobWalker]

I dont think you pick up any bitterness jeltz - you can use anything you like, I guess IPA hops would be favoured, but maybe great for saazing up a lager or something...

 

[TheMumbler]

As has been said above I don't think using hops this way will add any IBUs since the hops need to be boiled for much extraction of bitterness. However it may increase perception of bitterness since we tend to associate hop flavours with bitterness and taste seems to involve a fair amount of top-down processing.

The other thing to say is that based on reading For The Love of Hops a fair while back (so I may be misremembering) the amount of flavour and aroma that you get out will depend on how oily the hops are which isn't necessarily strongly tied to their alpha acid value. Trial and error could be a fun way to find out what works best but your palate is going to be knackered pretty quickly so you might need to do a few separate trials taking notes.

You might have some luck searching for Randalizer, there seem to be a few home-made versions using water filters like the one you are talking about.

IIRC the idea of that sort of dispense comes from Dogfish Head. While the hop rocket can do this it is more multipurpose and I think its primary function is as a hopback, so if you use the right kind of chilling it might be worth the money I suppose.

 

[borischarlton]

It was a really fun experiment, a couple of things. We used columbus and they were particularly dusty so the hop hit was massive. If you served the beer immediately it was bearable, and I love hops. However, if the beer sat in the hops for any period it became undrinkable. We had two pints of the same beer side by side, one had been through the hops and the other not, although you would swear the "hoppy" one was more bitter it actually wasn't. I would think using something like Savinjski Goldings in the hop rocket and transferring the beer from one cornie to another through it would have the best outcome, the aroma pickup would be fabulous.

Rob

 

[Baldbrewer]

Just bought a hop rocket , going to try it as both a hop randaliser and as a plate chiller pre-filter.

Going to it use this weekend with a #40 mesh fabricated cone ( that's if I can knock it up in time lol!)

Lots of hop fun coming up!

Need something to cheer me up at work after the iceman is off to the red team :cry:

 

[Jeltz]

I think it would be worth getting one of those to try, I suspect that used inline when filling a polypin would be good.

 

[Godsdog]

revived this old thread as ive been trying to build a homemade one got myself 2x 3/8 JG Bulkead valves a fiver each and so far ive fitted them to two jars and cant get the bugger to seal around the jar necks,they used to have factory made randalls on an ebay store for around 32 quid but wanted to make one for much less so its over to the forum to see if they can recommend a decent sized screwtop jar(holding at least a pint) that is airtight for essentially pennys as I don't want the cost to rise significantly,these are my failed efforts so far:geek: