Hopping beer in the glass

scopey · May 15, 2009

I vaguely recall reading that some people toss a few pellet hops in their glass of beer for a little extra hop kick. I think it was pellets, which I suppose are more appropriate than whole hops for this application.

I'm trying it for the first time now: not wanting to be subtle about it, I put about a dozen cascade pellets into the glass and then poured in a Stone IPA. Sure did foam a lot (I think the term is 'nucleation sites'). There was a noticeable difference, an extra and pleasant aroma mostly, though the pellets just barely started to loosen by the time I emptied the glass. Now with the pellets fully bloomed I poured in some Big Daddy IPA (Speakeasy). More foam, and now lots of hop floaties, which definitely taste grassy. I think some sort of strainer would be best, or else adding much less pellets and not trying to reuse them so they don't have a chance to break up too much.

I think more testing is needed. I'd like to try a tea strainer, or maybe a small hop bag though I think the strainer would be more effective in getting the hops submerged. OR, make a small amount of pretty strong hop tea with pellets and hot water, cool it, and then add a few teaspoons to the beer. Whatever it takes until the tooth enamel starts peeling off... :cross:

Any other ideas or experience with this?

Trencher · May 15, 2009

I've had High Life with fresh picked Cascade cones... quite an improvement!

BierMuncher · May 15, 2009

You are hereby designated the dry-hop-in-a-glass pioneer.

Continue...take pictures..report back.

Maybe pour a smaller amount of beer in with the hop pellets, let them sit for a few minutes and then pour that "extract" into a clean glass through a paint strainer or cheese cloth and then serve beer on top of the extract.

thataintchicken · May 16, 2009

scopey said:
Any other ideas or experience with this?

The Mad Zymurgists will be doing similar experiments during Club night at the NHC convention. Can pellet hops make Hamms an award winning IPA?

Test victims, err.. guinea pigs, um ... volunteers will be rewarded most handsomely. :rockin:

Cheeto · May 16, 2009

thataintchicken said:
The Mad Zymurgists will be doing similar experiments during Club night at the NHC convention. Can pellet hops make Hamms an award winning IPA?

Test victims, err.. guinea pigs, um ... volunteers will be rewarded most handsomely. :rockin:

do they still sell Hamms?

and are they still using that Bear ?

on your experiment the reward being a .......free drunk? :mug:

-Jason

size · May 16, 2009

scopey said:
I put about a dozen cascade pellets into the glass and then poured in a Stone IPA

you, sir, are a true american hero.

Cheeto · May 16, 2009

scopey said:
I vaguely recall reading that some people toss a few pellet hops in their glass of beer for a little extra hop kick. I think it was pellets, which I suppose are more appropriate than whole hops for this application.

I'm trying it for the first time now: not wanting to be subtle about it, I put about a dozen cascade pellets into the glass and then poured in a Stone IPA. Sure did foam a lot (I think the term is 'nucleation sites'). There was a noticeable difference, an extra and pleasant aroma mostly, though the pellets just barely started to loosen by the time I emptied the glass. Now with the pellets fully bloomed I poured in some Big Daddy IPA (Speakeasy). More foam, and now lots of hop floaties, which definitely taste grassy. I think some sort of strainer would be best, or else adding much less pellets and not trying to reuse them so they don't have a chance to break up too much.

I think more testing is needed. I'd like to try a tea strainer, or maybe a small hop bag though I think the strainer would be more effective in getting the hops submerged. OR, make a small amount of pretty strong hop tea with pellets and hot water, cool it, and then add a few teaspoons to the beer. Whatever it takes until the tooth enamel starts peeling off... :cross:

Any other ideas or experience with this?

try a stainless steel Tea ball

that mesh looks tight enough to hold the hop pellets in

Also I might consider lightly steaming the pellets to get them to sweat those wonderful AA's before dunking them in to the beer
-Jason

MikeG · May 16, 2009

scopey said:
...
I'm trying it for the first time now: not wanting to be subtle about it, I put about a dozen cascade pellets into the glass and then poured in a Stone IPA. ...

Yowsa, I tried it with 1 pellet and thought it was a bit much! Little thing kept floating to the top. By the time I was near 1/4 left it was leaving behind too much junk, I like the idea of the SS tea ball. :tank:

calpyro · May 16, 2009

scopey said:
I vaguely recall reading that some people toss a few pellet hops in their glass of beer for a little extra hop kick. I think it was pellets, which I suppose are more appropriate than whole hops for this application.

I'm trying it for the first time now: not wanting to be subtle about it, I put about a dozen cascade pellets into the glass and then poured in a Stone IPA. Sure did foam a lot (I think the term is 'nucleation sites'). There was a noticeable difference, an extra and pleasant aroma mostly, though the pellets just barely started to loosen by the time I emptied the glass. Now with the pellets fully bloomed I poured in some Big Daddy IPA (Speakeasy). More foam, and now lots of hop floaties, which definitely taste grassy. I think some sort of strainer would be best, or else adding much less pellets and not trying to reuse them so they don't have a chance to break up too much.

I think more testing is needed. I'd like to try a tea strainer, or maybe a small hop bag though I think the strainer would be more effective in getting the hops submerged. OR, make a small amount of pretty strong hop tea with pellets and hot water, cool it, and then add a few teaspoons to the beer. Whatever it takes until the tooth enamel starts peeling off... :cross:

Any other ideas or experience with this?

I do this all the time. However, I use my homegrown hops. I did not dry any of my hops, but vacuum sealed and froze them. The hops flavor and aroma stays really fresh, but when they thaw out are a little soft. I pluck a few out of the freezer, cut them in half lengthwise and plop them in the glass or bottle if I give a beer away. The hops are even better than fresh to use this way, and seem to impart their flavor even faster after they have been frozen. I think the softening of the hops that occurs after vacuum sealing and freezing helps them sink into the beer right away instead of floating.
When I use Zeus or Centannial hops, the beer become cloudy with hop oils and instantly flavorful. Give this a try with some fresh hops, it is really good.

Dwain · May 16, 2009

I read a blurb about "hopping by the glass" but I thought it said they were using hop oil or possibly an extract. I'm very curious about this because one of my sons likes really heavy hops, both bittering and aroma. I'm not crazy about using the pellets because of the mess you have to deal with. Anyone else tried the oil/extract? - Dwain

Irie5447 · May 16, 2009

I have seen on the back of a Northern Brewer catalog something called hop shots, which is a syringe filled with pure hop resin that has been extracted with CO2. I think it was $2.99 for the syringe. This seems like it would work great! Carry a few syringes around in your pocket at a get together or party where only BMC is being served and give it a little kick!

billy915 · May 17, 2009

the first thing that came to my mind was a french press..?

CentralWABrewing · May 18, 2009

This is a glass of Full Sail's Slipknot IPA last season with fresh picked Willamette's....mighty tasty:rockin:

david_42 · May 18, 2009

Whole hops really work better.

Dwain, I've used Freshops hop oil. It's good.

SmugMug · May 18, 2009

Wow. A dozen pellets? Wow. I'm trying to figure out how your taste buds are calibrated because that would definitely be a full frontal assault on mine. You sir, have my respect. I just hope you can taste and smell something other than Cascade hops for the rest of your life.

scopey · May 18, 2009

Thanks BierMuncher, 'size' and SmugMug. I'm not actually a hero or pioneer, nor do I have extraordinarily (mis?)calibrated taste buds, but I do likes me some hops!

So I'll likely keep trying these various ways of getting more hops into beer--kind of like a poor man's hopback, really. My next experiment will likely involve fewer pellets, inside one of these:

http://www.fantes.com/images/4475infusers.jpg

Seems like this may work better at forcing the pellets to be submerged, rather than possibly floating inside the standard tea ball on a chain device. One thing's for sure, don't plan on using pellets without a filter for more than one glass of beer. Too much sludge, and the pellets are really grassy tasting.

Hound_Dog · May 18, 2009

I remember seeing DFH made a pitcher thing with a tap on bottom that is filled to the top with hops and then filled with beer.

culaslucas · May 18, 2009

Hound_Dog said:
I remember seeing DFH made a pitcher thing with a tap on bottom that is filled to the top with hops and then filled with beer.

ya - I saw that at GABF - was pretty crazy.

I'd like to try bottling an IPA with a fresh hop or 2 in every bottle. Individually dry hopped - kinda cool.

Yunus · May 18, 2009

I've hopped in the glass before on my IPA's. Whole leaf though not pellet. At first it floats on top and it does add the aroma I was looking for, it will sink after taking a few sips and the leaves gets saturated. I didn't notice any additional bitterness or additional hop flavor it just provided the aroma that I failed to produce.

I chose whole hops because they don't cloud the beer, pellets didn't work well for me, I didn't like the texture, it was like the beer had a small amount of sand in it.

Hopping beer in the glass

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