Extracting Hop Flavor

Hey All-

I know we've mulled this over and over......

Some folks are using french presses to extract "hop tea" to add to their beers for extra bitterness.

I'm thinking about putting an oz. thru my espresso maker and seeing what happens.....

Anyone try this? Will I have hop flavored coffee from here on out?

Well, hop flavored coffee sounds really good anyway, doesn't it?

I just got my BYO last night, and there is an article in there about this exact thing- using the french press to make hop tea for more hops flavor with less hops, not bitterness, though. BYO says that the purpose is to yield a lot of late hop character with a small amount of hops.

I don't have a french press- but I've used them. I think the difference is in the way it works- the french press presses hot water through the grounds, extracting the coffee color and flavor. The expresso machine "steams" the grounds, right? I think that the expresso machine would not work the same way to make the hop tea because of this, but I don't have facts to back that up.

Steam extraction was how hop extracts & oils were made until liquid carbonic became the method of choice. A few companies in Europe still use that system.

How it would work in an espresso machine can only be determined by experiment.

hmmmmm....we shall see.....

Steam extraction requires fractional condensation, Also called distillation. Each element has a different boiling and thus condensing point so the fractions may be separated. If a expresso machine capture the vapor in the filtrant(hops) with little release to atmosphere it would probably work but since steam is hotter than water what else might be extracted? I'm interested in the results. Scuba I hope you try this.

I tried it! Check it out:https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=76447