French Press for Hop Oil Extraction

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Hey guys,

First time post. Been brewing for a few months now. Now on my fourth batch.

Anywho, I was just on Austin Homebrew Supply's website and saw something that hadn't occurred to me before. Using a french press for hop oil extraction at the beginning of the boiling process.

Check it out:
http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_59_85&products_id=11659

Have any of you tried this? It sounds like it would be pretty useful. Thinking of giving it a try on my next batch.
 
i have a related question. if you use hop bags during your boil, are you supposed to squeeze/ring the water out of the hop pellets/bag in the end?

i know you are NOT supposed to squeeze hot grains. what about hops?
 
i have a related question. if you use hop bags during your boil, are you supposed to squeeze/ring the water out of the hop pellets/bag in the end?

i know you are NOT supposed to squeeze hot grains. what about hops?

Nah, don't squeeze the bag. It can extract tannins, phenols and protiens that precipitated out during the boil. Just chalk up a pint or quart or so to hop loss and adjust your volumes/fermentables next time.
 
I already have a French Press, I am going to give this a shot on my next session as long as I can find it. I will let you all know how it goes.:mug:
 
Nah, don't squeeze the bag. It can extract tannins, phenols and protiens that precipitated out during the boil. Just chalk up a pint or quart or so to hop loss and adjust your volumes/fermentables next time.

So hops are a magic tannin capturing device? Why would this add any more tannins than are already in your wort? Hops don't release tannins so there is no concern squeezing them.
 
sounds interesting. Sounds like getting the aeromatics and the bittering qualities from the hops! I like it!

but at the same time, hops are dirt cheap, so why bother?
 
Nah, don't squeeze the bag. It can extract tannins, phenols and protiens that precipitated out during the boil. Just chalk up a pint or quart or so to hop loss and adjust your volumes/fermentables next time.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that only squeezing a bag of grain will extract tannins.

As for the french press hop oil, could you refrigerate the extracted oil and then add it after fermentation is complete as if you were dry-hopping in secondary?
 
Thanks to this thread I resurected one from the dead about bag squeezing... oops...
I am a bag squeezer myself, and never thought differently about it..

To the OP: my french press is for coffee only!! I just catch my hops later, sometimes i miss some, its like a special suprise at the bottom of your bottle :)
 
Incredible idea! I'll be brewing an IPA this weekend and I'm definitely gonna try it! Maybe my coffee will taste a little like hops too. :mug:
 
As for the french press hop oil, could you refrigerate the extracted oil and then add it after fermentation is complete as if you were dry-hopping in secondary?

That's exactly what I was thinking. It sounds like a cleaner, better alternative to dry hopping.
 
I am sure the tannins would come out of the hops when you boil the heck out of them for an hour... even though I doubt there are any tannins released by hops. I rarely use a hop bag anyway... most of them settle during the cold break. And I leave the rest behind in the first and secondary fermentation.
 
Interesting, but couldn't you do the same thing with a pot of water and a paint strainer bag for about 10% of the cost?
 
I have used a French Press many times and it works great.

I add boiling water and let it sit for 45 minutes or so and press. I don't but the 'tea' into my kettle, I throw it right into my fermenter with chilled wort.

SMACK!!! BOOM!!!
 
Interesting, but couldn't you do the same thing with a pot of water and a paint strainer bag for about 10% of the cost?

I have no idea how it works for hops, but with coffee, the fine mesh actually creates and emulsion of the oil and water as it's slowly pressed. It's the difference between French Press coffee and coffee in a strainer bag in hot water.
 
I have used a French Press many times and it works great.

I add boiling water and let it sit for 45 minutes or so and press. I don't but the 'tea' into my kettle, I throw it right into my fermenter with chilled wort.

SMACK!!! BOOM!!!


What else can you tell me about your method? How does it affect aroma, flavor, and bittering? Pellets?

I've got a French press but use it rarely because I'm poor and there's something anticlimactic about French pressing Kroger Value coffee grounds.
 
All flavor and aroma. Very little bittering as you are not boiling the hops.

Pellets? I don't use pellets for anything.

Throw 3/4 ounce in your Press, add boling water and let sit for 45 minutes. Press and taste.
 
I tried using a french press recently with pellets. This was for a Berliner Weisse that has almost no bitterness. It did work, but the pellets got really thick and hard to press down. If I did it again I would only do this with whole leaf.
 
ZOMBIE THREAD TIME! get excited all your necro trolls.

Curious if after doing this technique you could then freeze the product to get a decent approximation of essential hop oils. My wife has been dying to put hop oil in just about everything from the laundry soap to the candy dish to various home recipes and i have about six pounds of whole leaf sitting here aching to be used in fun and exciting ways.
 
We had a long thread about this a while back where a guy used it to cut down on the 5lbs of hops or something that he was using in his IPA. He used that,& allegedly cut the hops down to a few ounces for more hop flavor. Might be fun to play with.
 
I use a French press sometimes when I forget to dryhop. In a few IPAs I'll just take some boiling water add a few oz hops in the french press, let it steep for 5 minutes, then press and pour into keg. I'll rack on top as normal. I've had decent results.
 
Daybis said:
I use a French press sometimes when I forget to dryhop. In a few IPAs I'll just take some boiling water add a few oz hops in the french press, let it steep for 5 minutes, then press and pour into keg. I'll rack on top as normal. I've had decent results.

Do you find that you had to use more, less or about the same amount of hops to achieve good aroma with a press?
 
ZOMBIE THREAD TIME! get excited all your necro trolls.

Curious if after doing this technique you could then freeze the product to get a decent approximation of essential hop oils. My wife has been dying to put hop oil in just about everything from the laundry soap to the candy dish to various home recipes and i have about six pounds of whole leaf sitting here aching to be used in fun and exciting ways.

I was told by a Starbucks employee not to store coffee in the freezer because freezing damages oils. If true (which I am not sure it is) then this may apply as well to hop oils.
 
maltoftheearth said:
I was told by a Starbucks employee not to store coffee in the freezer because freezing damages oils. If true (which I am not sure it is) then this may apply as well to hop oils.

Hmm, but hops are meant to be stored cold/freezing. I do imagine I'll be lucky to actually get any oil.

I'll be giving this a go this weekend.
 
Hey,I just had an idea,musing for a moment. wouldn't it be possible to can it? Since you need liquid on anything being canned,why not hop tea?
 
I use a French press sometimes when I forget to dryhop. In a few IPAs I'll just take some boiling water add a few oz hops in the french press, let it steep for 5 minutes, then press and pour into keg. I'll rack on top as normal. I've had decent results.

Why not just add the hops to the keg?
 
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