Is it advisable to boil hops and then add the sterilized hopwater to the secondary?

I'm new to all this, I was just wondering if this was advisable to boil additional hops in sterilized water @ various lengths, cool them and then add them to 9 day-old beer which was just moved to a secondary fermentor.

I realize that this should of been done when initially boiling the wort, but I followed the directions on my first brew, an extract IPA kit to a T. After reading up on the different hop varieties I want to add 2-3 more hop varieties to it to mix things up.

I realize you could dry-hop, but I was just curious to see if this was a possible alternative that would achieve different results than dry-hopping (though at risk of infecting/oxidizing the beer).

Welcome to the board. Bittering hops is done in the boil. Aroma hops in the last 10 mins or so, and definitely in dry hopping.

If you followed the directions for your IPA to a T, then stay with it thru the process. Once you have a finished product (not what you're tasting now, what you'll taste 3 weeks after bottling) you'll have all KINDS of options for adding more bittering hops during the boil the next time you make this brew.

Doing so now would not really help you learn the process or formulate recipes going forward.

Good luck, I bet that IPA ends up tasty just the way it is.

Well I am pretty sure I want to break off from the directions and add 2-3 more hop types when I dry-hop. I've spent the last day or so searching the boards for the best dry-hopping hops and I don't think I've seen Chinook mentioned a single time, whereas I see Citra and Cascade mentioned numerous times. Those hops are currently in the mail to my house.

It probably is overambitious to do what I was suggesting I was just wondering if it would have a similar affect as adding them during the boil.

Nope, you have not seen Chinook mentioned as a dry hop. It's a bittering one.

I'm not sure that it's over ambitious, I just think it's not providing you with a good basis as you don't know what your current called for recipe tastes like. I"m all for experimenting, but you'll have no "control" group if you start by just chucking in hops. And no, it will not have a similar affect, the boil size of the hops plays a solid role in the utilization of it. I assume you'd be boiling in about 32oz or less and can't fathom what that would to to a beer.

I agree with you that I will sacrifice a control group (for recognizing how Chinook imparts flavors, aroma, and bitterness upon a beer), but in retrospect I don't think I would have picked my current kit if I had known what I was looking for. I essentially picked it out before I read up on the different characteristics each hop has.

The idea of adding Citra and Cascade hops seems like it would be a good combination for a dry-hop and it appeals to how I imagine it would taste.

Cool man. Both are great hops for dry hopping. But strongly recommend you just dry hop and not try the boil you're thinking about. Might even just want to go with one variety on this, and one variety on a next brew, so you can better learn the nuances of each one, but seems like you got a solid plan.

The first time I dry hopped home brew store guy told me to boil the hops in some water before adding it to the fermentor, I used pellets and it was a sludgy mess trying to pour it in the carboy from the sauce pan I boiled them in. Beer turned out fine. But I don't do that anymore.

yeh that's a good point, it would probably be a huge mess considering how fast pellets dissolve. I'll stick to dry-hopping on this go-around.


I'm still on the fence about the number of hop varieties I put in. On one hand I want to get a more complex hop aroma but at the same time it'd be useful to know how the different hops taste.

dukedog said:

Well I am pretty sure I want to break off from the directions and add 2-3 more hop types when I dry-hop. I've spent the last day or so searching the boards for the best dry-hopping hops and I don't think I've seen Chinook mentioned a single time, whereas I see Citra and Cascade mentioned numerous times. Those hops are currently in the mail to my house.

It probably is overambitious to do what I was suggesting I was just wondering if it would have a similar affect as adding them during the boil.

Click to expand...

Please note, I have not tried this (yet). Read this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/big-hop-flavor-1-3-hops-55721/

wouldn't boiling extract more bitterness and less flavor/aroma?

isn't dry hopping primarily for adding flavor/aroma?