Who’s Making Hop Water?

[Hoppy2bmerry]

After buying commercial hop water from the health food aisle I decided I’d make my own as the hop flavor wasn’t very prominent. This is the second batch. The last one was very concentrated and required a one to two dilution with water to be not too hoppy.
So here I am on a rainy day after picking cones from the bines I cut last night, making wet hopped hop water.

Boiling the wet hops for bitterness because they are loaded with bugs. The mystery packet was a freebie gotten at homebrew con 2019 - this seemed like a good time to use it for the hop dip.

This is the process I’m following Making Hop Water at Home! | MoreBeer

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Pitched the yeast, and chose an English ale yeast. Why yeast? Bio-transformation.
I’ll be pretty busy tomorrow, but on Monday I’ll be drinking this batch of hop water.

 

[Brushwood Brewing]

@Hoppy2bmerry Thanks! I'll check out the video.

 

[mashpaddled]

I make hopped seltzer water by loading hops into a fine mesh bag and adding it to the keg to carb up. I usually do around half to a full ounce of hops per gallon. I leave the hops in the keg until I empty it out. Sometimes I'll refill with water and get a second round out of the hops. Whole leaf works better unless you have an extremely fine mesh bag. The hop particles will leak out and potentially clog up the diptube otherwise. The water will be intensely bitter for a few days then most of the bitterness disappears. If you use less hops but a more oily variety, you'll get little to no bitterness after it settles out.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

This batch wet hopped. I still don’t know what the mystery hops were. I used the juice of 2 limes for acidifying tastes nice.

 

[AlexKay]

Styrian Dragon hop water, US-05 yeast, and a very dirty glass. Yeast and keg conditioning to scrub the oxygen and keep the hops compounds from going brown. Biotransformation is only a bonus.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I make hopped seltzer water by loading hops into a fine mesh bag and adding it to the keg to carb up. I usually do around half to a full ounce of hops per gallon. I leave the hops in the keg until I empty it out. Sometimes I'll refill with water and get a second round out of the hops. Whole leaf works better unless you have an extremely fine mesh bag. The hop particles will leak out and potentially clog up the diptube otherwise. The water will be intensely bitter for a few days then most of the bitterness disappears. If you use less hops but a more oily variety, you'll get little to no bitterness after it settles out.

The bitterness with this method is long lasting as far as I’ve experienced. I do a 60 min boil with a portion. I have about 2 gallons on concentrate which I mix 3 parts to 7 in the syphon for carbing and dispensing.

 

[AlexKay]

For 5 gallons I put in 2 oz as a hop stand at 150, and 2 oz more in the keg. Very high alpha hops give hop soda with moderate bitterness; bitterness is quite mild for most hops.

Floating dip tube to avoid clogging.

 

[AzOr]

For 5 gallons I put in 2 oz as a hop stand at 150, and 2 oz more in the keg. Very high alpha hops give hop soda with moderate bitterness; bitterness is quite mild for most hops.

Floating dip tube to avoid clogging.

Do you use a hop spider for hop stand?
Are the keg hops in a hop bag or loose?

 

[AlexKay]

Do you use a hop spider for hop stand?
Are the keg hops in a hop bag or loose?

Spider for the stand, loose hops in the keg. FlotIT dip tube has a screen (and floats!)

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

For some dry January is coming (not for me, I’m dry enough ) but it doesn’t need to be boring. Someone shared this post with me from a brewery in Lincoln NE. Hop water with locally foraged ingredients.

 

[IslandLizard]

For some dry January is coming (not for me, I’m dry enough ) but it doesn’t need to be boring. Someone shared this post with me from a brewery in Lincoln NE. Hop water with locally foraged ingredients.

It looks beautiful!

"I’m enthralled with the Ocean Spray, “White Cran-Peach” and Campari aromas wafting out of this glass."

The Campari notes get my attention!

 

[beersk]

Spider for the stand, loose hops in the keg. FlotIT dip tube has a screen (and floats!)

What do you think about doing the yeast oxygen scavenging method used in low oxygen brewing plus adding hops in a steep? Would this result in a milky or chalky tasting beer because of the yeast, do you think? Also, having the hops in the keg for the life of the keg - this doesn't get vegetal after a while?

Also, I don't understand how biotransformation can happen if there's no sugar for the yeast to ferment, to biotransform the hop compounds.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Also, I don't understand how biotransformation can happen if there's no sugar for the yeast to ferment, to biotransform the hop compounds.

Bio transformation does happen. The flavor changes. I’m not sure there is much oxygen scrubbing going on from yeast however, the hop material does have a tiny amount of sugar as most plants do. It’s not enough to see yeast activity. Yeast drops out just as it does with beer.

 

[beersk]

Bio transformation does happen. The flavor changes. I’m not sure there is much oxygen scrubbing going on from yeast however, the hop material does have a tiny amount of sugar as most plants do. It’s not enough to see yeast activity. Yeast drops out just as it does with beer.

Interesting. I may have to try this with the yeast oxygen scavenging method and add the hops at the same time, then keg. Or do it all in the keg and use a floating dip tube with a screen.

 

[AlexKay]

What do you think about doing the yeast oxygen scavenging method used in low oxygen brewing plus adding hops in a steep? Would this result in a milky or chalky tasting beer because of the yeast, do you think? Also, having the hops in the keg for the life of the keg - this doesn't get vegetal after a while?

Also, I don't understand how biotransformation can happen if there's no sugar for the yeast to ferment, to biotransform the hop compounds.

I make the hop water in a five gallon corny, and add ~150 g of sugar and a pack of US-05. Scrubs oxygen, carbonates, and any biotransformation it’s going to do.

 

[hopfenstopfen]

I make the hop water in a five gallon corny, and add ~150 g of sugar and a pack of US-05. Scrubs oxygen, carbonates, and any biotransformation it’s going to do.

Thanks for sharing this process. I was thinking of doing something similar on my second batch.

 

[beersk]

I make the hop water in a five gallon corny, and add ~150 g of sugar and a pack of US-05. Scrubs oxygen, carbonates, and any biotransformation it’s going to do.

Any reason you couldn't use bread yeast for this like is typically used in the yeast oxygen scavenging method? Or would that affect the flavor too much?
And I realized my reading skills suck. You had already basically said you used this method above and I totally missed it.

I love this because I feel it scratches a homebrewing itch since I'm more or less deciding to go alcohol-free. And I can drink it while working at home!

 

[AlexKay]

No idea! Bread yeast may well work. But I have US-05 handy, and it’s like $2.50 a pack when I order 10 at a time from RiteBrew.

I down 5 or more glasses of this stuff a day.

 

[beersk]

No idea! Bread yeast may well work. But I have US-05 handy, and it’s like $2.50 a pack when I order 10 at a time from RiteBrew.

I down 5 or more glasses of this stuff a day.

Ha! I had at least 4 earlier before and during lunch of the two quick ones I made. Then decided to make some more and put the keg on gas. Used a lot more hops this time. Did not do the yeast/sugar addition though. I know that'll add some alcohol, negligible, sure, but I kind of want to keep it ZERO alcohol. I think I'll try it with bread yeast though, but maybe US-05 would be better since bread yeast probably doesn't ferment well at, say, 66F?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Ha! I had at least 4 earlier before and during lunch of the two quick ones I made. Then decided to make some more and put the keg on gas. Used a lot more hops this time. Did not do the yeast/sugar addition though. I know that'll add some alcohol, negligible, sure, but I kind of want to keep it ZERO alcohol. I think I'll try it with bread yeast though, but maybe US-05 would be better since bread yeast probably doesn't ferment well at, say, 66F?

I agree on the zero alcohol (or nearly) I used bread yeast on my first batch, possibly not enough, then some English strain from a bulk bag that I was given and the ale yeast seemed to make more of a difference. Could be that I used more, but if you split batch or make separate attempt, please share your thoughts.

 

[beersk]

I agree on the zero alcohol (or nearly) I used bread yeast on my first batch, possibly not enough, then some English strain from a bulk bag that I was given and the ale yeast seemed to make more of a difference. Could be that I used more, but if you split batch or make separate attempt, please share your thoughts.

Thanks for the info. Yeah, I just might try that sometime. Though I'm not too serious about this. Just something to get on tap to drink during the workday. I'm not keeping notes on anything like I did for brewing beer. I do have a few packs of US-05 so I'll probably start there when I try it with the yeast/sugar addition.