Hop Trials

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brewvac

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I was listing to the BN recently and they had the brewers from Anchor Steam in talking about their techniques. One of the brewers mentioned that the way he tests a new hop flavor is to buy a couple bottles of Bud Light, drop in a cone, recap, let it sit for a couple of days and give it a taste. I thought this was brilliant. Has anyone here ever tried this or anything similar?
 
I was floored by the idea too, such a simple and easy way to see if a hop is even in the ballpark of what you are looking for. Do twist offs recap enough to hold carbonation?
 
I heard that BN podcast too, and tried it immediately with a bunch of different hops in my freezer. It works really well. I used pellets and the beer foamed up right away but I had the capper ready. I added one averaged sized pellet per bottle, kept them at room temp for 2 days then chilled and tasted. The beer doesn't necessarily taste good, but you get a good idea of that hop's dry hop characteristics.
 
Old trick. What would really be fun would be to brew a basic Pale Ale, then ferment a 5G batch in 10 1/2G carboys, treating each with different yeasts, hops, etc. Always wanted to do it, never got around to it.
 
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