Hops tea with pellets

[puttster]

I've been thinking of making a hops tea. Researching, there are suggestions about how much hops to water but its not clear if the hops are fresh or dried.

So, for sake of discussion, say you like 1 oz bittering and 1oz flavor and 1 oz aroma. How would you make a hops tea to substitute for this schedule?

 

[MVKTR2]

What are you making this for? A beer or sensory experiment or something else? What do you want to accomplish with this?

 

[oli-aus]

I'm doing a hop tea for the first time next weekend for a saison.
I'm using beer which will be about 90 degrees c.
This will be my first hop tea but surely you would want to use beer (as to not water the beer down) and add the tea just before bottling (as to include volatile aromas).
I was planning on drawing 750ml or so of beer and adding it to a French press for 30 mins before blending it back in to the bottling bucket.

I have never done a hop tea before and it seems a great way to add hop character.
However it doesn't really seem to be talked about much which makes me suspicious...

 

[puttster]

What kind of hops and what hops to beer ratio?

 

[oli-aus]

I have 3 gallons of Brett saison which is getting 40g of 'Idaho 7' hops in 500ml of the beer (heated up to 90 degrees c) and left for 30 mins.
I'm also dry hopping with 90g of Idaho 7.

There are some threads on this subject with mixed opinions, some love it some don't. I'm looking forward to trying it though.

 

[oli-aus]

Actually more like a litre of hot beer in the hop tea I think.

 

[puttster]

How does

40g in a tea,
90g dry hopping
x grams as bittering-flavoring/aroma

compare?

 

[oli-aus]

I can't really say at this point. I will update in this thread in 2/3 weeks when I know.

It shouldn't deliver any bitterness really as hops need boiling temps to extract the alpha acids (I think this is correct but there could be slight extraction at 90c).

I would be interested to hear any advice before I commit to the hop tea on Saturday though.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

I'm not 100% clear on what you want to do this for?

I did this just recently for an IPA. It got 1 oz of centennial steeped in 100 to 200 ml of 70C water for 30 mins in a french press. If you are doing this strictly to add fresh hop aroma to a beer at bottling or kegging time, make sure the water is not hotter than approx 75C otherwise you will add significant bitterness.


On the other hand, if you are doing this to add bitterness to pre-packaged wort, I am sorry I can't help with calculations.

 

[oli-aus]

Ah great info about the temps.
I was planning on doing it as a way to use hops (flavour/aroma) more efficiently as compounds from the whirlpool would get blown off during the fermentation (especially during a hot saison ferment).

 

[bonecitybrewco]

Ah great info about the temps.
I was planning on doing it as a way to use hops (flavour/aroma) more efficiently as compounds from the whirlpool would get blown off during the fermentation (especially during a hot saison ferment).

IMHO, the whirlpool contributes flavour more than aroma and the dry hop is where you're getting most of your aroma. It's fascinating. For me, I won't do another hoppy beer with any other hopping schedule than FWH, whirlpool and dry hop/hop tea combination.

 

[oli-aus]

So do you think the hop tea could substitute for the whirlpool edition? I.e add hop flavour

 

[Ike]

I've had MUCH better response from hop teas than dry hopping or hopstands (since I can't whirlpool). My usual MO is 1 liter of 160 degree water in my french press; add the hops (usually 1 oz into the 1 liter) and let steep for 30 mins. Then press down the hops and pour into the keg or bottling bucket. The result: a metric boatload of flavor with no additional bitterness.

I tend to still dry hop, but just take the hops that I was using for the hopstand and make the tea instead.

 

[puttster]

Easy to remember formula. So water instead of wort?

 

[Ike]

Easy to remember formula. So water instead of wort?

For me, yeah. THAT SAID, I guess I just never put enough thought into it to think of actually using some of the fermented beer. Considering both options, it seems water makes the most sense to me since I can heat and steep the tea, then add to the keg or bottling bucket and use the turbulence of the transfer to mix it all in. I also only need to access the fermenter once instead of twice. At only 5% of the total batch volume, the ABV nor non-hop flavor profile shouldn't take too much of a hit.

BUT, I can also see how using water would bug some folks, and using the fermented wort would minimize changes imparted by a (even relatively small) water addition.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

For me, I use water since I can boil it first. This allows me to be certain everything is sterile. I also follow the same process as Ike other than that I only used half that amount of water. Maybe a little less.

 

[Sbe2]

Trying to come up with an idea for adding hop burst to a NEIPA and may have to sub out the hopstand for tea.


I guess this is why I am addicted to HBT.