Newbie Question...

New to the site and Im working on my second batch of beer. My first batch was a West Coast Pale Ale Mr Beer kit, I added a can of pineapple and it turned out great. The batch Im brewing now is a Wheat Pineapple brew. My problem is I brewed the beer today and I didnt add any hops to the beer and I was reading on the internet tonight that unhopped beer was extremely sweet. So my question is can I lift the lid on my 5 gallon fermenter and throw some hops in to correct the problem or is it ok to brew this beer without hops???? Thanks

You can, but it wont add bitterness only hop flavor. Hops must be boiled to obtain bitterness.

Just out of curiosity, what made you avoid using the hops?

it's ok to lift the lid, but you can throw in some ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar (not white). that'll make it breakfast gruit. compliments of FAATSMUET

Are you using mr beer extract? If so that stuff is already hopped.

So you are saying I can throw in cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, do I still need to add the hops if I add these extra spices? Also how much of each for my 5 gallon ferminter??

I'm wondering if you might be able to boil your hops in water for the required time, remove the hops, chill to room temp, then add the hopped water to your beer? I'm sure you might have some issues with the amount of bitterness extracted from the hops, but I wonder if anyone would have reason why this would be a bad idea?

No its not a Mr Beer kit its Thomas Coopers wheat malt extract. 50% barley 50% wheat.

I think you should discuss this with Revvy, now that he's chimed in.

You can try your LHBS for some hop extract.

lumpher said:

... you can throw in some ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar (not white). that'll make it breakfast gruit.

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This is an interesting idea too.

As for what trevorc13 said above, do a search for hop tea. I have done one for aroma, but not bittering.

lumpher said:

it's ok to lift the lid, but you can throw in some ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar (not white). that'll make it breakfast gruit. compliments of FAATSMUET

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So how much of each for a 5 gallon batch? And do I still need the hops if I do this? I dont have any hops and it will be monday before the local brew shop will be open. Being a newb to brewing I didnt realize hops were so important..

saywhencj7 said:

No its not a Mr Beer kit its Thomas Coopers wheat malt extract. 50% barley 50% wheat.

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This?



Thomas Coopers Brewmaster Selection Wheat Beer Hopped Malt Concentrate. If that's what you used, then it's ok

No. The can I got was unhopped wheat extract.

I like the sound of the gruit, I don't think anything good can come from trying to fix the lack of bittering hops by throwing some hop oil/tea in after the fact.

just my 2 cents, I never tried it so I really don't know

I would think trying to add some isomerized hop oils would be a more sure fire fix than throwing a bunch of spices in there.

In the end, im sure it will be drinkable either way, at least once your already half in the bag

Ok so Im reading that I can grind up a bunch of ginger and stir it in and maybe get what im looking for without hops. So im going to try that and see what happens I will for sure use hopped extract next time. Ill post up how it turns out and this batch if its worth it will be my first kegging...:rockin:

trevorc13 said:

I'm wondering if you might be able to boil your hops in water for the required time, remove the hops, chill to room temp, then add the hopped water to your beer? I'm sure you might have some issues with the amount of bitterness extracted from the hops, but I wonder if anyone would have reason why this would be a bad idea?

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I've done it with reasonable results.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/batch-needs-some-life-224726/


Cheers

I dunno, looks like Dynachrome had some luck with post adding hops.

I wouldn't necessarily just throw a bunch of ginger in, I'd try to find some recipes for gruits and see if there is a typical range of amounts used.

fwiw, I wouldn't worry so much about getting hopped extract as trying some real hops out in your next batch!

D0ug said:

I dunno, looks like Dynachrome had some luck with post adding hops.

I wouldn't necessarily just throw a bunch of ginger in, I'd try to find some recipes for gruits and see if there is a typical range of amounts used.

fwiw, I wouldn't worry so much about getting hopped extract as trying some real hops out in your next batch!

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I think I will get a few ounces of hops and boil to add since maybe thats the better idea. That being said I brewed the beer tonight but I will not be able to get the hops until monday and add them monday evening what thougts do you guys have on that is it ok if I add the hops on monday considering the beer will have been fermenting 2 days or so?? Thanks for all the info guys

Mr Beer west coast pale ale eh? I made that one time. If it really had hops, there must be 2 pellets in there as the beer tastes awful and I didn't notice much in the hop order. Mr Beer converted me to all grain in double time!

One brew at a time...

My Mr Beer West Coast Pale Ale turned out great. I added some extra fermemtables and that did the trick on the ABV. It was only a 2 gallon batch and it was alittle cidery but for my first time it was very drinkable. It being my first try I was all about getting the ABV up and it was way up there and still had a good taste it went with any food and really cleaned the palate..:rockin:

saywhencj7 said:

I think I will get a few ounces of hops and boil to add since maybe thats the better idea. That being said I brewed the beer tonight but I will not be able to get the hops until monday and add them monday evening what thougts do you guys have on that is it ok if I add the hops on monday considering the beer will have been fermenting 2 days or so?? Thanks for all the info guys

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I added mine days later. It was about as hoppy as Budweiser.

Use the search function above there are some good discussions of it in here.

saywhencj7 said:

My Mr Beer West Coast Pale Ale turned out great. I added some extra fermemtables and that did the trick on the ABV. It was only a 2 gallon batch and it was alittle cidery but for my first time it was very drinkable. It being my first try I was all about getting the ABV up and it was way up there and still had a good taste it went with any food and really cleaned the palate..:rockin:

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Mine was cidery too with little hop flavor.

One brew at a time...

OK guys ive got one more question on my situation. I got my hops now and im boiling them and was wondering if when I add them to the ferminter can I stir it in because the water air lock is bubbling and the fermintation has started. Sorry for such a silly question guys..

I would pour it in ever so gently so as not to cause splashing, and then let diffusion and Brownian motion work its magic

You cooled it down before you added it, right?