under hopped ale...suggestions?

So I bought quite a bit of leaf hops from hopsdirect.com this year, 2011 crop. Most of them had relatively high alpha %, like cascade 8.1%, willamette 7.8%, not crazy but higher than you normally might see on these types. Problem is, I know you need slightly more leaf hops to equal the bitterness you get out of pellets, but these were rated higher alpha than normal so I thought it would all balance out. I've done a number of batches in a short time, but now I am seeing I've slightly underhopped them.

Most recently I had a lighter ale come on tap and realize I've totally underhopped it (using leaf US Tettnang @ 5.9%). I've drank plenty of "mistakes" without complaining, but I am really disappointed in this one. Any ideas? Dry hopping is all I can think of. Anyone else coming to the conclusion that these alpha ratings are not 100% accurate? Nothing bad against hopsdirect at all, just frustrated.

leaf hops are great for dryhopping, depending on your raking cane they may cause it the clog when transfering so i would bag 'um. but dryhopping is only going to give you more aroma and no flavor. if its in the fermenter or keg theres not much you can do about the flavor.
hope it works out.

Morebeer sells isohop extract. I have used it Once with good results it will add a pretty neutral bitterness and no flavor or aroma

Hoppynss

HollisBrewCo said:

Morebeer sells isohop extract. I have used it Once with good results it will add a pretty neutral bitterness and no flavor or aroma

Click to expand...

I will check that out, thanks!

Boil some hops in water and add to taste when bottling.

Steelers77 said:

Boil some hops in water and add to taste when bottling.

Click to expand...

Does that work pretty well? I've never done that. How long do you boil?

I've actually never done it but have seen people suggest it in the past. I would assume at least 30-45 min to extract bitterness from the hops. I make hop tea just by steeping (5-10min) and I get bitterness from the hops.

I made hop tea last night becuase I was thinking of adding some to a pale ale to the boost flavor. Use amarillo, columbus, and centennial. All came out overwhelmingly vegetal. Unless you are making a broccoli beer, I would not recommend it.

Mix this beer with a really hoppy beer.

tagz said:

I made hop tea last night becuase I was thinking of adding some to a pale ale to the boost flavor. Use amarillo, columbus, and centennial. All came out overwhelmingly vegetal. Unless you are making a broccoli beer, I would not recommend it.

Click to expand...

I would think that like wert, if you boiled them for an hour the flavors would be boiled off just leaving the bitterness. Just have to try it I guess.

I would think you have to boil it for at least 30-45 min to drive off flavors.

I think I am going to use some DME and boil up a mini-wort, hop the heck out of it, and then mix it it. I'll report back.

OK, just for anyone else in the same situation, here is what I did. I had a corny keg full of underhopped beer, cooled and carbed. I boiled some water and put 1.5 oz of leaf hops in it, boiled for an hour. Meanwhile I took the keg out and released the pressure several times. The "hops tea" was very fragrant at first, then less so as time went on. I let it cool and poured it in to the keg, rolled it back and forth to mix and put it back in the kegerator. A day later I tapped it, and the carbing was fine. The hops bitterness was better, but there was definitely a grassy flavor, as a previous poster warned about. I wonder if there is some kind of chemical reaction between wort and hops that is different than water and hops.

I posted that I was going to use DME to make a mini wort but then I thought, this keg is cooled and carbed, there must be a quicker way that wouldn't involve further fermenting. Anyway, that is where it is at. If this continues to taste questionable over time I will learn the lesson and move on.

As an experiment, I'm thinking you could take some hop cones(3-5 maybe) and just steep them in a 1/2 cup of boiled water, let it cool and then add it to your next pint to see what the effect is. If you like what you get,you could scale it up accordingly and add it to the keg. But I would be concerned with thinning the beer out because of all the water you would be adding.

I would imagine that would get some bitterness out of that. Due to the lack of sugar in the solution your Hop Utilization should be through the roof. In theory anyway.

EDIT: According to beersmith, if you boiled 1oz of 13% alpha hops in a 1/2 gallon of water for 5 minutes you would have 538 IBU's