Cold Stirred Hop Tea Experiment

[rosenblatt]

Hi,

I have brewed today my NEIPA with only 50g Galaxy at Whirlpool (75C), and it is currently in the fermenter. Originally I was planning to dry hop with simcoe (100g) and citra (80g) at krausen. After some recommendations, I am planning to substitute the Dry Hopping by a hop tea added directly to the Corny, that way I also reduce oxigen contact.

Due to my gf preference, I would like to add a lot of aroma keeping bitterness very low. For that, I was planning to do a cold hop tea (at room temp) probably in my Erlenmeyer with the magnetic stirring plate and leave it at room temperature for a full day. Has anyone tried this? Do you think it is a good idea? I promise reporting results

 

[Kickass]

It seems slightly unnecessary, to me. You’re going to dilute your wort, even if just slightly, and likely to introduce more O2 than dropping hops in toward the end of fermentation.

As far as effectiveness of flavor/aroma contribution, I’d guess this adds nothing extra, at best and a lot less, at worst.

 

[BucksIPA]

You will need to extract these oils at an elevated temp, think like a whitlpool. Some vodka may help.

Hop resins/ oils are available to purchase. You can do some research on what type and brands may be best for you. These can add flavor and aroma, low chance of oxidation and vegetal flavor. For these juicy ipa, you can do all hop extract from the beginning as well. Youd be suprised at how much extract larger breweries use.

 

[rosenblatt]

Thanks for your responses. I think I disagree with the two responses. My arguments below.
- @Kickass I know I am going to dilute the wort, but I am ok with that. I don’t see how by doing a hop yea and adding it to the corny I am adding more O2 than with DH. I can pour the hop tea, purge the o2, and close-transfer my beer from the fermenter. With that, if correctly done, there is nearly 0 O2 contact.
- @BucksIPA I don’t want to extract alpha acids, I am substituting dry hopping by hop team.DH is done at room temp. Good point on the hop extract for a potential future experiment.

 

[Kickass]

I can pour the hop tea, purge the o2, and close-transfer my beer from the fermenter.

Looks like you have a good plan for O2. That said, for a style that’s as susceptible to oxidizing, even small amounts can have considerable impacts. It may be negligible but I think middle to late fermentation dry hop, then closed transfer to a purged corny would introduce less O2.

As far as the hop tea itself, I don’t know if water is a more effective medium than wort when it comes to aroma extraction. Maybe someone else with more chemistry knowledge will weigh in.

 

[Jag75]

Your taking a hop tea thats been on a stir plate full of o2 then dumping it in your beer. Dropping hops in a fv is less risky. To get nice aroma and light bitter you need to whirlpool. Room temp water won't get you there.

 

[RCope]

@rosenblatt I think you are failing to realize that water has a significant amount of dissolved O2. And a stir plate is designed to maximize that DO for yeast propagation. A simple dry hop with a CO2 flush (if possible with your system) will minimize O2 more than adding a hop tea. And you will get little, if any bitterness from a dry hop. And a NEIPA without a dry hop is simply not a NEIPA

The LODO guys even de-oxygenate the water used to make their Starsan.

The only hop tea I've made is to add to a sour to stop the souring and add a bit of balance and flavor. But I boiled that tea for 60 minutes...

 

[deuc224]

I made a hop tea, just heated water to 150, used 2 oz per liter of water and dumped it in the keg before transfer. Dont over think it.

 

[BucksIPA]

Thanks for your responses. I think I disagree with the two responses. My arguments below.
- @Kickass I know I am going to dilute the wort, but I am ok with that. I don’t see how by doing a hop yea and adding it to the corny I am adding more O2 than with DH. I can pour the hop tea, purge the o2, and close-transfer my beer from the fermenter. With that, if correctly done, there is nearly 0 O2 contact.
- @BucksIPA I don’t want to extract alpha acids, I am substituting dry hopping by hop team.DH is done at room temp. Good point on the hop extract for a potential future experiment.

There is some alcohol in finished beer to aid in dry hopping at low temp. What you want from the hops is more soluable in alcohol than water. Try something like a little vodka in your tea.

Boil, cool, add vodka/hops, seal . Allow the soak and alcohol extract. You want to prevent as much dissolved oxygen as possible. The oxygen will first attack the taste and aroma that you’re after and not much o2 is needed. The other issue is if you do add alot of these oils, and there is o2, they will oxidize into alot of off flavors, there is just more to oxidize. This tea would be good to add at the end of fermentation.

Try the extracts in the future, theres alot of comm breweries out there using it to get these juicy beers, they have been used even longer for low bitter high hop aroma taste northwest ipas. Sometimes their outward appearance of dry hopping and whirlpooling is just to cover up they extract, as the word is suited for their branding, or a diversion tactic for their recipies.