Hop tea idea

[BmillaTheBrewzilla]

Aloha. I've been dry hopping a lot lately and I've been wondering if there might be a more efficient way to get great hop aroma. So I've been doing a lot of reading around here about hop teas, but I'm not sure I saw anything about using a hop tea the way I've been thinking about using one. I saw a thread where someone boiled their hops and added them after fermentation, which would add to the bitterness.

So what I've been thinking about trying is this: While I am brewing up a batch, bring about a liter of water to a boil to make sure it is all sanitized. Then let the water cool to 160 or 170- I believe this is the upper range at which isomerization takes place. Then add an ounce or two of hops- this would be my hop tea. I'd let it sit in the warm water while the wort finishes boiling.

I would still use a normal 60 or 90 minute hop addition to the wort for bittering, then another 5 or 10 minute for flavor. Later, when my wort has cooled quite a bit, I would add the now cool hop tea, straining the hops and pressing some of the goodness through the strainer into the wort.

I was thinking I would sparge with a little less water to make up for the fact that I'd later be adding some liquid via the hop tea. My hope for this method would be that I could get some really great hop flavor and aroma out of the tea and it would save my from having to dry hop.

Anyone try anything like this? Any thoughts or recommendations before I proceed?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

You'd do this instead of the flame out addition? Or in addition to?

I'm trying to think about why this would give more hops flavor than adding the hops at flame out or as whirlpool hops. I must not be understanding what it is you're trying to do here.

 

[BmillaTheBrewzilla]

You'd do this instead of the flame out addition? Or in addition to?

I'm trying to think about why this would give more hops flavor than adding the hops at flame out or as whirlpool hops. I must not be understanding what it is you're trying to do here.

I think I would do this instead of the flame out addition- I would still do a bittering and one or two late boil additions. However, you're probably right- it probably would just give a very similar effect to adding hops and then doing a whirlpool. I was thinking maybe that giving the hops some quality time in some warm (but not boiling) water might somehow impart some extra aroma beyond what a flame-out or whirlpool addition would give. I'm a few credits shy of my hop chemistry degree, so you'll have to forgive me if my idea doesn't make much sense.

I read in a post somewhere- somewhere I can't find now, of course- that they felt a hop tea resulted in more aroma than even a great amount of dry hopping. They may have been talking about adding a hop tea after fermentation. I guess a better way to state what I'm looking for in this thread is this: has anyone used a hop tea in place of dry hopping and gotten great results? And if so, how??

 

[rexbanner]

I guess a better way to state what I'm looking for in this thread is this: has anyone used a hop tea in place of dry hopping and gotten great results? And if so, how??

I have. Check out my sig. I did almost exactly what you are talking about. I heated a litre of water to 170 and mixed it with an oz of hops in a french press. I added it right before kegging. It worked fantastically. Much better and cheaper than dry-hopping.

 

[tdoft]

If you add the hop tea BEFORE pitching yeast then its basically the same as a flame out addition BUT if you add the hop tea AFTER fermentation as rexbanner has done...then I think it really could give you the dry hop zing without the mess. I think it's a GREAT idea! It will take some playing around with temperature and time to extract the most flavor I suppose. I'm in for my next batch.