I've been browsing the forums a lot, and I noticed a few threads dealing with poor hop utilization in wort with a high starting gravity. I'm did a partial wort boil (boil gravity - 1.152) for an IPA and project my IBU's to be about 35. I'm a hop fiend, so I was going to dry hop when I racked to the secondary, but I want to boost bitterness, too. Hop tea sounds like it would do this, but I'm not entirely clear on everything I would need to do.
What mass of hops in what volume of water should I use to prepare the tea? I don't want to water down my beer, but I don't know how much water is needed to efficiently extract and isomerize the alpha acids.
Will it work with plain old distilled water, or do I need to adjust the pH or solute concentrations?
When should I add the tea? To the secondary, when I dry hop? To the bottling bucket?
I was thinking about picking up some chinook and citra for dry hopping. They have pretty high AA percentages, so they should go well in the tea?
What mass of hops in what volume of water should I use to prepare the tea? I don't want to water down my beer, but I don't know how much water is needed to efficiently extract and isomerize the alpha acids.
Will it work with plain old distilled water, or do I need to adjust the pH or solute concentrations?
When should I add the tea? To the secondary, when I dry hop? To the bottling bucket?
I was thinking about picking up some chinook and citra for dry hopping. They have pretty high AA percentages, so they should go well in the tea?
