Hopped or unHoppped

[mikul0923wp@aol]

as a new comer to home brewing i was wondering the difference between hopped and unhopped malt extract what difference does it make in taste ect.?

 

[Yeast Infection]

as a new comer to home brewing i was wondering the difference between hopped and unhopped malt extract what difference does it make in taste ect.?

Hey there, and Welcome,
Not to be rude at all and I really do mean good, but by the nature of the question, you have a lot to learn about brewing and beer. A short answer to your question, hopped extract will give "some bitterness" to your sweet extract. So now for more info....Beer is has four ingredients
1) Water 2) Barley/Grain/Extract (the sugars which get fermented into alcohol and many many other things like flavor, body, head retention, color ect) 3) Yeast, which do the fermenting 4) Hops. In brewing, the extract is boiled (called wort) for usually 60-90 mins. During this boiling process, the brewer adds hops, which have bittering compounds called alpha acids. The longer you boil hops, the more bitterness they are going to introduce into the sweet wort. The shorter you boil hops, the more flavor and aroma they are going to contribute to the beer. Hops provide a bitterness to mellow out and balance the sweetness of the sugars. With out any hops, the fermented extract would be very sweet and well...just bad. So if you used unhopped extract (which most do) you must add hops while you are boiling the wort. If you used hopped extract, the hop/bitterness has already been introduced into that concentrated syrup, therefor you could probably get away with out hopping the wort. But...and i say but.....your beer will 10000% better if you hop your own beer. Plus its much more fun and much more close to actual brewing, then just diluting a beer syrup.
Im sorry if you know most of this already, but im slightly drunk, and just kept typing.
Most beginners are directed to this website: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html
Its a great website, start there. And again welcome to the addiction.

 

[mrk305]

Hopped malt extract is exactly what it says. Good for your first beer. It is malt extract wih hops already added. You add water, boil and cool and add yeast and wait a couple weeks and you have beer. Prime with priming sugar, bottle and wait a couple weeks.... chill and enjoy!

Malt extract is also exactly what it says. The extract of malted grains. You would add hops to this and also other ingredients and follow a recipe.

This would be good for your second beer. Buy a beer kit that includes steeping grains and follow the instructions.

Try making a 5 gallon batch every week and reading the beginers forum here while you wait!

 

[Mr Nick]

Well I am going to chime in here too, because this is a question I also have. And if I have a lot to learn....so be it...It is only part of the parcel that comes with being a beginner.

Does anyone know if the hops add anything more than bitterness to the flavor of the beer?

Or do the hops just mask or cover the sweetness of the beer?

 

[Danek]

I'm sure someone wiser and more experienced will be along in a minute to give a proper answer, but as I understand it, hops contribute three things: firstly, as you say, bitterness. To extract bitterness from the hops, you boil them, generally for about an hour. Secondly, hops also contribute flavour - though if you boil hops for much longer than 10-15 minutes the components that contribute flavour evaporate and disappear, so you'd tend to add flavouring hops with about ten minutes of the boil to go. Thirdly, hops give aroma to the beer - but the aroma components are even more delicate than the flavour components, so aroma hops are added right at the end of the boil. You can also add them to the secondary fermenter (dry hopping) to add more aroma.

I gather hops also help with head retention in the finished beer, and in addition have a preservative effect. So they're generally just wonderful things.

 

[david_42]

Hops add bitterness, flavor and aroma, depending on when they are added to the boil. Any kit with unhopped extract will need hops for the boil. Without hops, you have a gruit or gruet. Kits with hopped extract tend to be lacking in hop aroma, but there are styles (bitters) where that is normal.

 

[malkore]

hops definitely help 'balance' the sweetness in a beer, and that's really a defining factor between two beer styles.

hopped extracts are generally boiled a very short time, just to sanitize. boil too long and your beer will be bitter, but have no hoppy flavor or aroma.

only hopped extract i used was Coopers, and didn't really care for the final product. but i also knew less back then, and lacked all the 'proper equipment'. mostly i like the control of adding my own hops.

 

[Cheesefood]

Hops also add an anti-biotic property to the wort that favors yeast and destroys invaders. So it keeps everything from getting contaminated, to a degree.

Other than that - bitter, flavor, aroma.

 

[TexLaw]

Everything that everyone said here is true. Making beer with the hopped, no-boil extracts is akin to making Ramen noodles, though. You heated up some reconsitututed extract, pitched some yeast, and bottled some beer. You should be proud of yourself for making beer, but you may not be too thrilled with the product.

For a little more trouble, you can add your hops, actually boil (a.k.a., brew) the wort, and add your own hops. It's better beer.


TL

 

[Mr Nick]

Hops are a flower used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, as well as in herbal medicine. [1], and contain several characteristics very favorable to beer: (a) hops contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt, (b) hops can contribute aromas that are flowery, citrus, fruity or herbal, and (c) hops have an antibiotic effect that favors the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms. While hop plants are grown by farmers all around the world in many different varieties, there is no major commercial use for hops other than in beer, Hops come from the flowers of Humulus lupulus, originally named by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia.