Tried replacing dry-hopping with hop tea

I don't usually experiment too much, but I decided totry something new with my last batch of APA. I tried using hop tea instead of dry hopping.

I heated distilled water, added 1oz of hops, and let them steep for ~20 minutes at ~180F. I used a french press to compress the hops and get all the 'hoppy goodness' out. It smelled great.

I poured this liquid into my keg during kegging.

I Just tried the resultant brew a few days ago - Blech!

Not good. Tasted kinda grassy with a distinct tingling in the back of my throat.

What went wrong. Is there a special technique to this? Any idea?

Subbed to see the answer.

Never tried this myself, but depending on how much you literally pressed the hops, that could be the issue. I'd say the good stuff gies into the tea from just steeping, but pressing the hops squeezes other things out that you don't want. I don't make regular drinking tea too often, but when I do, I don't squeeze the bag. That always gets astringent. The liquid left in the leaf matter is just a bit that you need to leave behind.

I would second this theory as I drink a lot of loose-leaf tea, and can say the same against the disadvantages of pressing or squishing your freshly steeped tea. With tea, especially when dealing with green/white/oolong varieties, pressing on the plant matter will cause a bunch of extra tannins to be released which results in a bitter or astringent tasting tea.

In regards to beers, I've only ever dry-hopped as normal straight into the fermentor, and the few beers which I have done that way turned out well with strong hop aroma and flavor after about 3-4 days of dry hopping. Hops don't have tannins as far as I know, though I'd assume pressing on the plant matter would release extra plant compounds and chemicals that aren't released from soaking alone.

I wouldn't blame the pressing, rather the heating. May consider reducing the % water present by using a solution of 40% EtOH(vodka) or, if you have a chemist friend, 70% EtOH. Let it soak a few hrs., filter, keep frozen, use by volume. If you are careful of details, you can obtain same strength every time, and use this technique to compare hop varieties.

Yep - I pressed the hell out of the hops. I almost had to use a chisel to get it out of the bottom of the french press. I wondered if that could be part of the problem. Hopefully it mellows out a little over time.

I'd read good things about this process, so I was excited to try it. I might do it again, but I'll split the batch if I do. That, and I won't press so hard.

Now I have to drink 5-gallons of lawn mower ale that literally tastes like my lawn.

The good thing is the beer is in a keg. I imagine if you cold condition a few weeks and pour off a pint you will pour off some of the tannins. I over dry hopped an IPA that I brewed for a competition to the point it was crazy astringent. After a few weeks conditioning I had to package and submit it so I figured why not give it a shot. The astringency mellowed considerably once I drank a couple of pints (i am guessing something in the beer settled out) and the judges were both amazed by the hop aroma in the beer and it scored 40pts. I say just give it some time and you might be pleasantly surprised with how it turns out.

That's good to hear. I was hoping it might still be salvageable.

Subbing to see results over time.

Any updates?

Not yet. I'll have to give it a try soon. I'll report back.

I'll second adding the alcohol. I had a similar beer to the one I was using the hop tea for so I threw a bottle in while heating the water. I also added a touch of vodka to bring the alcohol percentage up even more.

It turned out ridiculous. I also had dry-hopped this beer. It gives a completely different taste, much more akin to whirlpooling. Less aroma than dry hopping, but much more hop-taste (I was using galaxy).

Beer is still not good. It's drinkable, but not good. The weird thing is the hop flavor and aroma are completely gone. It's almost like the hop tea had the opposite effect on the beer than intended.

I tried steeping and then squeezing some Fuggle hops in a French press once. The hop tea that came out of it tasted like I mowed the grass and threw the grass clippings in a glass of water and drank it. It was terrible! I've never messed with the French press ever again.

Why such a long boil? I dry hop for aroma. If added to the boil, dry hops would be flame out or one minute additions.
But I'm glad to learn that pressing hops is a bad idea.

I've had the opposite effect. While nothing over the top, I've had only beneficial experiences with hop teas. I tend only to use potent hops like citra and try for a 1 oz to 1 pint base. Its pretty intense and no grassy notes.

Boil water for a few minutes...cool to 180 in press, add hops and proceed to get bottling ready over the next 20 minutes or so. Add tea, add priming solution and bottle away.

I've added teas to the secondary prior to dry hopping as well. Worked well

When I used Fuggles, I admittedly was using a hop already known for a grassy character.

Now I'm curious to try this despite the less than stellar results. I'd probably do a gallon though. I don't want to dump 5.

I used Amarillo when I did it. I believe it was 2 ounces.