Home Distilling Hop Extract or 'Hop Water'?

I was wondering if you could home distill some sort of hop extract or 'hop water' (akin to 'rose water')? I got the idea from an episode of Good Eats on Baklava. Authentic Baklava uses an ingredient called 'rose water' and Alton Brown home distills his own. So I was thinking; "Hey, you could do that with hops."

Here's how the hop water would be distilled:
You'll need one of those big enamel-coated aluminum pots with a concave lid, a clean brick wrapped in aluminum foil, and a medium size stainless steel bowl.

Place the big pot on a burner and place the brick in the pot (flat side down).
Put enough water such that it's about halfway up the side of the brick.
Turn on the burner and heat the water to just below boiling (this temp may need to be adjusted to get the most aroma).
Place hops in the pot (in the water).
Immediately place SS bowl on top of brick (right side up...this is the 'catch pan').
Place lid on pot upside down.
Put ice in a big ziplock bag and place in the 'bowl' portion of the upside down lid.

The cool lid will condense the vapors and they will collect in the SS bowl. Pretty cool little simple still...but will it capture good hop aroma?

I think it would capture some aromas and taste profiles, but wouldn't you loose the bitterness from the i-AA not being isolated by the long boil?

I think it would capture some aromas and taste profiles, but wouldn't you loose the bitterness from the i-AA not being isolated by the long boil?

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That would be awesome if it did. I would be after aroma and flavor here and if I could get it without bitterness that would almost sound too good to be true.

Well, I guess try it and report your findings. This could prove to be a very valuable resource for the small scale brewer. A 2 gal. batch with the "hop water" added instead of dry hopping, hmmmm........

Well, I guess try it and report your findings.

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OK. I tried it. I let it go for 20 minutes and got almost exactly a half pint. There was still aroma in the pot and ice left so I did another 25 minutes and collected a second jar. I immediately closed the half pint mason jars when I filled them and put them in the fridge. They've cooled now and the 'first runnings' jar has a very pungent hop aroma. The second runnings are not nearly as strong.

The Munich Helles in my sig is a full batch that only just now is really ready to drink. It has almost no hop aroma as is. I'll probably try it in that.

I didn't have the stuff to do it like I described but I think what I cobbled together works just as well if not better. Here's some pics of the still. I got lucky that my SS bowl just happened to fit that pot almost perfectly. Easy as 1-2-3.




FWIW, I used about 2 ounces of Sorachi Ace whole hops and about 3 qt. Distilled Water. I actually boiled the water for a few minutes and then let it cool down before adding the hops...then immediately capped it and didn't peek until 20 minutes. I kept the heat on the water but did not boil it during the distillation. EDIT: I didn't put the ice in a ziplock bag either since the bowl was so perfectly suited for loose, wet ice. I also used some ice cream salt. I have no idea if any of this was right/wrong-good/bad...just documenting it.

cool stuff. Interested to see how it adds to the beer. Maybe just add to half when bottling or kegging to compare?

Did it have any bitterness?

First lemme say that I'm probably a terrible judge of beer flavor in general and probably even more so wrt hop aroma/flavor.

First I tried a teaspoon in about 10 oz. of Helles and it def added a little aroma. I think it added some flavor too. I may have detected a little more bitterness.

Then I tried a tablespoon in about 12 oz. and it was too much. It was mostly aroma with (I think) some flavor and a tiny bit of bitterness.

Once you get a big whiff of hops your palate changes so it's difficult for me to isolate the aroma/flavor/bitterness without further testing.

I will say that it's a very 'raw' hop aroma...pretty much just like taking a big whiff of raw, whole hops. I guess this is what folks mean when they say 'grassy' regarding dry hopping?

TBH, I'm not sure how much I like it. I think actually liked the Helles a little better with just a teaspoon but the tablespoon was too much for me and I didn't really want to finish that beer.

Also, this aroma may dissipate fairly quickly...I thought I noticed that late into the tablespoon glass but I may have become desensitized to it. Need more testing. It def works...just not sure how useful or tasty it can be yet. I also dunno what difference it would make if you added some to a keg and let the flavors meld a bit...this is just a bit added to the bottom of the glass before pouring.

Same principle as a hop tea although many of us who make a tea use it for bittering.

Doing a 5 minute hop tea boil would result in an aroma tea, IMHO...

Are you talking about using a French Press? I make my coffee using a French Press so I have one...but I've never tried it.

I just got a wild hair and decided to try the home still.