"Hop Tea" method for adding aromatics

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Dennisusa

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Can anyone with personal experience using the “Hop Tea” method, please provide some guidance/feedback on this practice for adding hop aroma to beer. (Could I request that we keep on topic and skip all the other valid techniques of infusing hop aroma into beer such as “dry-hopping”, "hop-backs", "in-line hopping between keg & tap", etc.). I'm wanting to find out specifically about the technique of steeping hops in warm/hot water then adding the resulting “hop tea” back into the fermenter – typically after primary fermentation or during the diacetyl rest.

I'll jump-start the thread by sharing my only experiment with this. A few months ago I discovered that one of my pre-primed IPAs failed to carbonate due to a leaky poppet valve. Having already tasted this brew from a previous keg (and been underwhelmed by the lack of aroma despite significant dry-hopping), I decided to try to improve things by adding in hop tea aromatics at this very late stage. Because the beer was not yet carbonated, one can really think of the corny as being almost the same as a secondary fermentation vessel. Anyway, I started by pouring a few cups of boiling water into my French-press coffee maker and, once cooled to around 170 F, tossed in 2 oz of Cascade pellets and let it steep for about 20-30 minutes. I then syphoned the filtered hop tea into the keg (after using the press-pot's excellent built-in filter), purged the top of the keg with CO2, and force-carbonated in the refrigerator. A taste-testing 2 weeks later revealed a far bigger cascade aromatic profile than I'd hoped for and no obvious off-flavors or oxygenation. I'm often surprised at just how difficult it is to get massive hop aroma through dry-hopping – especially when the beer recipe calls for elevated residual crystal malts that resist hop absorption, yet this was so simple, so effective, yet used so little hops.

Can it really be this easy? Could this hop-tea technique (or preferably, an even better protocol than my simple first-time trial) really be a viable alternative to traditional dry-hopping? Some of the advantages that occur to me include: (1) aromatics will transfer from the hop flower to water (gravity 1.000) more easily than to wort/beer (typically 1.010 – 1.020); (2) hop aromatics also transfer to liquid more readily at 150 F than at refrigerated fermentation temps. The downsides might be (1) greater risks of late oxygenation, although a solid boil and other good beer-making practices should minimize this; (2) a degraded aromatic profile due to a brief exposure to hot water temps, rather than extended exposure to cool wort temps.

In my view, the risk of contamination should be no greater than, and possibly less than, dry hopping – but minimal in either event. It also occurred to me that instead of steeping hops hot and quick, one could steep them in 65 F water for an extended time. But I dismissed this due to the elevated risk from contamination one could expect from steeping hops without the protection offered by alcohol, hops and CO2).

Apologies in advance if I missed a thread dealing with hop tea, but the only ones I found seemed to have something else as their primary focus or lacked specific details and techniques. Perhaps my trial run with hop tea was dumb luck and the disadvantages just did not show up. Does anyone know of a microbrewery using this technique? I found nothing in Palmer or the other usual sources, although I bet they're there.

Please share all before I wreck a perfectly good 12-gallon brew testing this a second time.
 
It's very popular to use hop teas down in AU. They use it with cooper's cans,where no DME,etc is used. You make a hop tea in the water in the BK. No more than 2.5G,& no more than about 15 mins. You could also do this in a smaller amount of water for about the same time to take the place of dry hopping,I've seen them do that too.
 
I brewed a double IPA, at bottling I boiled by bottling sugar and some malto-dextrine. Added it to a 1 liter french press with 1oz whole leaf cascade. Let it steep for 1 hour, pressed, added to bottling bucket. Best aroma/flavor I have ever gotten. I know this is not back to the fermentor, but why open air age for any period of time and lose aroma through the airlock?

Next batch I will only do bittering additions, and try 2 oz at bottling.
 
Can it really be this easy? Could this hop-tea technique (or preferably, an even better protocol than my simple first-time trial) really be a viable alternative to traditional dry-hopping?

In short, yes. And no. :D

What I mean is, I think that the French-press method works well and I think it's a valid method of getting more hops flavor and aroma into a finished brew. However, I do NOT think it is equal to the same aroma you get from dryhopping, but more like "whirlpool" (flame out) hops.

I think a great "one-two (three?)" punch would be to utilize all three. Whirlpool hops, dryhops, and a French-press addition. I don't think any one of them really replaces the other, but I'd say the French-press results are closer to whirlpool hops in effect.
 
I find the best hop aromas are obtained when "dryhopping" at high krausen in the primary or tea-balling in the keg. I have found the "french press" method acceptable as I did it when I completely screwed up one night, but it seemed like more work. It is just more simple to add the hops to a 2-3day primary. I have heard that active fermentation takes hop aroma away, but I think the volatile primary fermentation actually mixes the hops throughout the batch.

Whatever you find success with, you should continue. Do not look for HBT to validate you process.:mug:
 
I think a great "one-two (three?)" punch would be to utilize all three. Whirlpool hops, dryhops, and a French-press addition. I don't think any one of them really replaces the other, but I'd say the French-press results are closer to whirlpool hops in effect.

Right, but a lot of the aromatics from a whirlpool addition are going to be blown off during primary fermentation, right? The advantage of the french-press method is that it's done after primary (like dry-hopping), but the utilization should be better - seems like it might give more bang for the buck. I do like the idea of doing all 3 - might have to try this on my next big hoppy batch.
 
I'm curious about this. I forgot to add my 1oz flameout hop addition on my last batch of APA this past Friday. I was just going to dry hop but now I'm thinking about trying this hop tea technique. It will to get closer to my original planned hop schedule and drink it sooner as my pipeline will be dry by then.

Or maybe I can find a 2.5-3 gallon bucket for a small secondary and split the batch, dry hop half and hop tea the other half at bottling. Hmmmm, that would be interesting.
 
I'm also thinking about trying this. I'm a new brewer (about 5-6 batches) and even the IPA and others I dryhopped did not have that hop flavor/aroma that I was looking for. As I'm typing this, I'm having a bomber of some local DIPA that has great resiny hop aroma and I said, "This is what I'm missing."

I currently have a DIPA in primary that already has 6 oz of hops from boil. 60min, 15, and 5. Have two oz left over for dry hop but I think I'll try this hop tea during bottling. Plus a french press is only 12 bucks at Wally world.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far.

I'm a huge fan of adding hops after flame-out (see my IBU at whirlpool thread), but with the large amount of hop aromatics I've always lost to CO2 blow-off during krauzen has left me believing this is a technique more for flavor than for aroma.
 
This thread has inspired me to do the tea thing as well. Especially since I already have the press. Especially like StrikeThree did. Using the priming solution to make the tea sounds like a two birds one stone scenario.
 
Yes, I agree StrikeThree has a great point. Perhaps adding hop tea at the last minute during bottling or kegging rather than while still in the fermenter would (1) save a step and (2) reduce aromatic losses even more. For those who prime, it could be added to the priming sugar. For those that force carbonate, simply add to the serving keg. Intriguing option.
 
I brewed a double IPA, at bottling I boiled by bottling sugar and some malto-dextrine. Added it to a 1 liter french press with 1oz whole leaf cascade. Let it steep for 1 hour, pressed, added to bottling bucket. Best aroma/flavor I have ever gotten. I know this is not back to the fermentor, but why open air age for any period of time and lose aroma through the airlock?

Next batch I will only do bittering additions, and try 2 oz at bottling.

How much malto-dextrine would you recommend to use if I bottle 5.5 Gallons of finished beer with 5 oz of corn sugar?
 
This thread has inspired me to do the tea thing as well. Especially since I already have the press. Especially like StrikeThree did. Using the priming solution to make the tea sounds like a two birds one stone scenario.

It sounds like a good idea, but utilizing boiling water once to get the tea, then boiling it again to make the priming solution makes me think that a lot of the aromatics would evaporate. Haven't tried/experienced hop tea before, but that sounds like what might happen.
 
what about making a "tea" with room temp vodka? just curious if anyone has thoughts on this... especially anyone with experience making tinctures or working with essential oils?
 
I'm now contemplating a three gallon batch of IPA, split: one gallon with whirlpool, one gallon dry hopped, one gallon with "tea" -- all equivalent additions. Same wort, same bittering charge.
 
scrambledegg81 said:
It sounds like a good idea, but utilizing boiling water once to get the tea, then boiling it again to make the priming solution makes me think that a lot of the aromatics would evaporate. Haven't tried/experienced hop tea before, but that sounds like what might happen.

I don't see where he says it gets boiled a 2nd time. Once only - before adding the hops.
 
This thread has inspired me to do a bit of experimenting with my final amarillo addition at bottling time. It was going to be a dry hop 7 days before I bottled, but I'll pull out the French press!

B
 
IMO using the tea method imparts much different flavor than say dry hopping or a hopback.

The tea method adds more flavor than aroma. I mean think about making green tea, you steep the tea to get flavor. Yes u also get aroma but it's more flavor in my opinion.

I think The best way to get aroma is regular dry hopping.

I think Hop aroma and hop flavor are sometimes confused/mixed up by peoples sense of taste/smell.
 
Using a hop tea at the beginning of the boil is like a flavor addition. They do that down under with pre-hopped cans of LME when no plain malt is used in the boil. The kit & kilo style. It gets the flavor hop addition into the brew. Then dry hop 1 week for aroma,& some little flavor. I've used it,& it works quite well that way.
 
Mpavlik22 said:
IMO using the tea method imparts much different flavor than say dry hopping or a hopback.

The tea method adds more flavor than aroma. I mean think about making green tea, you steep the tea to get flavor. Yes u also get aroma but it's more flavor in my opinion.

I think The best way to get aroma is regular dry hopping.

I think Hop aroma and hop flavor are sometimes confused/mixed up by peoples sense of taste/smell.

I definitely get your point, but I believe there are a few differences in this analogy. First: I think the water temp is critical. If too high (near boiling in the case of true tea making) the aroma loss will be great. Whereas I am proposing 170 F with temps falling rapidly. In this case I suspect (but can't prove) minimal aroma loss.

Will it lose more aromatics doing this than traditional dry hopping - absolutely. But remember, traditional dry-hopping encounters much colder fermentation temps and far higher dissolved sugars (gravity) - both of which hinder the efficient transfer of hop aromas from flower to liquid. The forums in here are filled with stories of frustrated brewers who fallen short of their hop aroma goals while dry-hopping, especially when brewing massive IPAs.

Any micro-brewers want to pitch in here????
 
Perhaps a better method would be to use cold water in the french press and to let it sit overnight before adding to keg or at bottling. This would ensure no aromatics are lost to heat but would allow enough time.

Another idea is to use the beer thats being kegged / bottled. In other words pour some of the beer into the french press while kegging and then make the hop tea (either heating or using cold). The beers pH would be lower than water for possible better hop utilization and wouldn't dilute the finished product.

Any thoughts ?
 
It sounds like a good idea, but utilizing boiling water once to get the tea, then boiling it again to make the priming solution makes me think that a lot of the aromatics would evaporate. Haven't tried/experienced hop tea before, but that sounds like what might happen.

What I did was boil my priming solution. Pour that into the french press containing the hops and let steep for about 1-1/2 hours. Worked great.
 
One thing I have considered is that using hot priming solution for 1-2 hours steep, could add some bitterness to the beer. Sure, it is not staying at 212f for the whole time like a boil, but I imagine there is no bitterness added while dry hopping. I was going to try dry hopping my kolsch that is about ready to be cold crashed, but I decided to do another hop tea when I keg on Sunday or Monday.

I think this time around I will sample the tea to see if any bitterness is perceived.
 
Bru said:
Perhaps a better method would be to use cold water in the french press and to let it sit overnight before adding to keg or at bottling. This would ensure no aromatics are lost to heat but would allow enough time.

Another idea is to use the beer thats being kegged / bottled. In other words pour some of the beer into the french press while kegging and then make the hop tea (either heating or using cold). The beers pH would be lower than water for possible better hop utilization and wouldn't dilute the finished product.

Any thoughts ?

Bru:
Although I don't ever worry about infections from traditional dry-hopping, I'd worry about steeping unboiled hops in cold water overnight (no CO2, no alcohol, and a high pH). Your suggestion to steep hops with beer in the french press is intriguing, but isn't that dry-hopping after all?
 
All of this sound very interesting, and I look forward to trying this technique when I can stay home long enough to brew another batch of beer and not go on another deployment to the Gulf or Afghanistan.
 
Perhaps a better method would be to use cold water in the french press and to let it sit overnight before adding to keg or at bottling. This would ensure no aromatics are lost to heat but would allow enough time.

I think you'd get less impact this way...the hop oils are hydrocarbons which do not have good solubility in water, and it's even lower in higher densitiy liquids (1.010 - 1.020 FG beer). Steeping with hot (not boiling) water increases the solubility of these compounds and is probably responsible for the bigger perceived hop aroma/flavor. The trade-off here is the loss of the most gentle aromatics with the application of heat. These would likely remain in a traditional dry-hopping scheme.

Best compromise: use both. I'm excited to try it in my next hop-forward beer.
 
I have an idea. What do ya'll think:

boil water, put water in a big jar, add hops, close jar and wait for it to cool. Aromatics can't get away if you let the steam condense on the inside of the jar and run back into the tea....
 
I thought the essence of hop teas was two-fold:

1. Don't let the hops reach boiling temperatures
2. Steep the hops in liquid hotter than room temperature -- otherwise you're dry hopping

Why all the boiling water/cold extraction suggestions? Shouldn't we be talking about different steeping times at different temperatures (100*F vs 175*F etc)?
 
I thought the essence of hop teas was two-fold:

1. Don't let the hops reach boiling temperatures
2. Steep the hops in liquid hotter than room temperature -- otherwise you're dry hopping

Why all the boiling water/cold extraction suggestions? Shouldn't we be talking about different steeping times at different temperatures (100*F vs 175*F etc)?

I most definitely agree with Bigbeergeek....
(1) Start by boiling the water - to minimize dissolved oxygen being added to the beer;
(2) Pour boiling water into french press & allow to cool to 170 F - the approx temp below which alpha acids no longer add IBUs to liquids*;
(3) Add hops to the French press, stir, cover, and slowly allow to cool to room temp - this makes a highly aromatic hop tea without adding bitterness*;
(4) Filter hops with the press and siphon tea to secondary fermenter or serving kegs (prior to carbonation).

The primary appeal of this method over dry-hopping is that beer at 65 F and 1.012 SG takes on hop aromas less efficiently than water at 150 F and 1.000 SG. IPAs with their hop-resisting FGs and dextrinous bodies benefit the most from after-hopping but are also the most challenging to infuse with hop aromas. Hop tea solves these problems. Yet provided it is not over-heated there should be minimal destruction of the hop aroma profile. And provided one does not steeps for long periods of time at cold temps without the protective presence of alcohol, CO2 and low pHs, the risk of infection is minimal. This is not a substitute for dry-hopping, rather it os an alternative to it. Not having to deal with hop leaves or pellets at this late stage also works for me.

* Note: Isomerization of bittering alpha acids are not limited to the boil - it also occurs at temps all the way down to approx 180. (If in doubt, pour boiling water into a coffee mug, stir in a hop pellet, then sipp a beverage of biblical bitterness).
 
Results of my Hop-Tea test: Failed quite badly.

Methodology: I added a hop tea infusion directly into the serving kegs of a recent 12-gallon all-grain pale ale batch that had received no dry hopping whatsoever. The consensus among all my friends was - disappointingly low aromatics. Doubly painful, as I'd used 6 oz blend of highly aromatic hops (cascade, amarillo, centennial). I did not try vodka-infusion or any of the other suggestions in this thread. This test was limited purely to the hot water, french-press tea-infusion method I described above. Once again, a perfectly reasonable hypothesis fails to pass a simple real-life test.
 
When I made hop teas,it was because I used cooper's cans before I'd started using plain DME in the boil for hop additions. I just made a hop tea,then stirred in the cooper's can & brewing sugar. I didn't think it'd work as an aeromatic,but wasn't 100% sure that no aroma would come from adding to secondary. I wondered about that myself,as that French press method is pretty strong they claim.
 
I am really disspointed that the tea technique didn't work for the last poster. Anyone else have any positive results?

Also, I have read a lot a post differentiating "flavor" and "aroma." I have only a rudimentary understanding of human physiology ;) but I thought that flavor was experienced in only four or five categories whereas aroma was a whole vast spectrum. I would question the ability for anyone to be able to differentiate between hops without olfaction.
 
you also have to remember that our senses of smell & taste are linked at the roof of the mouth. They do work together to some degree.
 
Results of my Hop-Tea test: Failed quite badly.

Methodology: I added a hop tea infusion directly into the serving kegs of a recent 12-gallon all-grain pale ale batch that had received no dry hopping whatsoever. The consensus among all my friends was - disappointingly low aromatics. Doubly painful, as I'd used 6 oz blend of highly aromatic hops (cascade, amarillo, centennial). I did not try vodka-infusion or any of the other suggestions in this thread. This test was limited purely to the hot water, french-press tea-infusion method I described above. Once again, a perfectly reasonable hypothesis fails to pass a simple real-life test.

How did you prepare the tea? How much water combined with the 6 oz of hops? What was the water temperature? How long was the contact time? Was this prepared in a french press? I'm curious because I'm going to do my first hop tea in the very near future and I've read my share of positive reviews around the interwebs -- yours sticks out as an example of what not to do. So, what did you do? :mug:
 
How did you prepare the tea? How much water combined with the 6 oz of hops? What was the water temperature? How long was the contact time? Was this prepared in a french press? I'm curious because I'm going to do my first hop tea in the very near future and I've read my share of positive reviews around the interwebs -- yours sticks out as an example of what not to do. So, what did you do? :mug:

BATCH DETAILS (purely from memory):
  • Pale Ale, Size: 10g, OG: 1.05, FG: 1.015, ABV: 5.0%, IBUs: 35, WYEAST 1056, Force-Carbonated in 2 Corny Kegs, Served on tap.
HOP TEA PROTOCOL:
  • 2 large press-pots (~4-6 large cups each), Pre-boiled water to minimize O2, cooled to approx 175F, Added 3oz to each sterilized press-pot, gentle stir, steeped approx 2 hrs until room temp with strainer covering the tea, siphoned one into each Corny, smell- and taste-tested by multiple beer geeks so final opinion was not just mine.

I'm hugely disappointed and baffled why it failed. I'm not saying I got no aroma, but relative to the amount of aromatics I'd put it, it was a dud. I'd tried this once before on a keg that had been standing and had de-carbonated because of a leeky poppet - and I just took advantage of the an already open Corny (I'd peaked in to see what was going on) and it worked with just 1 oz. I felt I needed to repeat the process to confirm my technique and findings but could not. Surely I must have done something wrong this time, but for the life of me can't figure out what it was. Did I make the water too hot, let it steep too long? I don't know, but I think you should go for it and like me, eliminate dry hopping or anything else that could cloud your results. Please share your results on this forum

One word of caution, alpha acids will isomerize in water well below boiling temps (down to ~ 180, if memory serves me), so adjust IBUs if you're steep temps and times are a factor.
 
I was thinking that 4-6 cups of water might not have been enough volume for 3oz of hops.?...since 1oz seemed to have worked better.
 
We make hop teas using fermented beer and they add aroma, flavor and some bitterness. Depending on the level of bitterness we want in the tea we warm up the beer a bit around 110-120. A half hour steep time does the trick.
 
My system of brewing means all hop additions are from 20 minutes or less (hop bursting or late hopping) along with a massive flameout and whirlpool addition. Finally, I would dry hop. Even with this system my first time using a hop tea really made a difference. I add it to the secondary before I rake.

I just got my blinged out 8oz french press and might consider a second tea at bottling. I use the 170 - room temp steeping method.
 
I was just wondering if the op left it to steep before pressing? 2 hours is a bit long for flavor at boil temps. But at 170F or so,I'd think that 30 minutes or so would be the max before pressing.
 
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