Eating hops

I could'nt find my other post about dry hopping, so I figured to start a new one.

I've got my batch of IPA in the primary right now, it's got about 7-10 days to go til it comes out. I'm trying to do a little "gimmick" for this batch as its going to a wedding. My first plan was to put it in a secondary and dry hop it for a while then bottle. But my buddy said it might be cool to just put a pellet or 2 in each bottle. Is this a smart idea?? I know that raw or even boiled hops a deadly to aniamls, but how about human? Will it impart any off falvors to the beer/spoil it in anyway?????

Like I said I've got more then a week til its done in the primary, but what should I do next?!

Well, I've never done it, so I'm not sure. But I did eat a piece of hops once. It smelled so awesome I took a nibble. Believe me, they don't taste good. Kind of like vanilla extract in that way. Smells awesome, but tastes as horrible as anything you can imagine.

I would only guess that if the pellets tasted that bad, it might not be appreciated in the bottle. Better to dryhop the carboy, then siphon clear tasty beer to the bottling bucket.

Don't the pellet dissolve for the most part?? Or at least fall apart into small pieces?I would think a little carful pouring might keep most of the soot in the bottle.

If it's going to a wedding, might some (uninitiated) people wonder, what is this crap floating in my beer?

Yeah. Eventually the hops should settle to the bottom of the bottle and you should be able to avoid getting them in the glass without exerting too much effort.

There's no harm in eating hops... hell if I had a fresh supply I'd probably make tea or cook em up like brussel sprouts.

I don't know about off flavors, I'd suppose the same risks when dry hopping at secondary would exist when dry hopping at bottling time. I say go for it and see what happens just know that you may be compromising the clarity of your beer.

Also I'm not sure, but wouldn't having those hops in there affect the flavor of the aging beer over time?

Well I made relativly the same batch 'around new years, and it went over pretty well. It would only be my buddy, my girl and I drinking on this batch...hmmm 5.5 gallons of beer for 3 people, good times. Umm I don't think they would object to a litte hops in there bottles.

I think it might be to intense without a real long age, but I dont have that option. I think I'll do this, I'll bottle a few with hops in them, and put half in the secondary, and I'll let you'll know how it goes!

Cheers

A hop tasting was conducted at our last group brew, or should I say that I found out about it before I could stop them. Results were not good - a very high alpha hop and reports were of taste buds that took days to recover.

As far as how to dry hop in the bottle, perhaps something similar to the Guiness widget, but for hops. Maybe some type of homemade teabag that would keep the pellets contained. If the beer is not going to be in a controlled environment (ie., you are dispensing them all) it could be made big enough so that it fits in but not come out easily. You never know when someone might just decide to go BMC-style and chug from the bottle, and this would keep it from coming back out.

BMC-style?

Just went down a list of acronyms and found "Budweiser, Miller, Coors" is that the right one? I have to assume that it's not Body Mind Centering - chug style.

Pellet hops will settle to the bottom, but they do not pack the same way yeast does. No matter how carefully you pour the beer, you will get hops bits in the beer. If someone is not too careful, they will get A LOT of hop bits in the beer.

This is someone's wedding. Find another gimmick. This will not go well.


TL

I agree. Hops in your beer glass are pretty nasty. I love me some hops, but I had an issue with a lot of hop debris in my last Murder batch, and I can't deny that it detracted from how much I enjoyed the beer. They DON'T really settle down at all, that's the problem.

You could always use whole leaf hops and pour the beer into a glass with the hop floating in it like one of those fancy restaurants.

The hop cone thing is nice if you have a fresh cone. If it is a dried and pressed cone, though, it just looks like a little turd floating around in the beer.


TL

One of the local pubs puts out little bowls of dried hops as a de-facto centerpiece at the tables. If you really want to integrate "hops" into the wedding, maybe you can work some into the centerpieces? Good luck getting that past the powers that be, though!

dirtymike1 said:

Well I made relativly the same batch 'around new years, and it went over pretty well. It would only be my buddy, my girl and I drinking on this batch...hmmm 5.5 gallons of beer for 3 people, good times. Umm I don't think they would object to a litte hops in there bottles.

I think it might be to intense without a real long age, but I dont have that option. I think I'll do this, I'll bottle a few with hops in them, and put half in the secondary, and I'll let you'll know how it goes!

Cheers

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Well, I'd suggest dry hopping the batch first, and while you dry hop, grab out a pellet and throw it in a beer that you're drinking. Let it sit an hour to kind of break up a little. You'll see what it does and how it tastes. I guess we aren't going to convince you until you taste it!

Well everything you all have said makes sense. I'll wait til I sit at home and enjoy to see how it taste's. And being that is not MY wedding, I'll leave the decorations to the powers that be!