Beerbeque
Well-Known Member
4 or 5 days before I bottle my Pale ale or IPA, I spray my french press coffee maker with star-san solution, add 1/2 to 3/4 oz of finishing hops (whole leaf) and fill with beer from my fermenter. I then push the plunger/strainer down a bit so that the hops stay submerged in the beer. I put the french press back into my fermenting chamber and on bottling day I press the hops down and add the super hoppy tea to the rest of the beer in my bottling bucket. This technique has produced better results for me than either dry hopping in the carboy which is messy and hard to keep the hops submerged, and better than making a hot hop tea on bottling day. I thought that the hot hop tea produced stemmy, grassy flavors. This is the best technique I have tried yet to give my ales an intense hoppy flavor and aroma without using a lot of hops.