Extracting color from hops.

[greencoat]

In an effort to make my next hop bomb, I'd like the beer to be slightly green itself. I made a rose hefe a while ago and put an ounce of roses in vodka for a few weeks. The vodka extracted the color and flavor from the roses - would it have the same effect on hops?? I'm not too concerned about pulling flavor, but I'd love to have a green tinted IPA. A little schticky, sure, but fun none the less.

Any ideas??

 

[bovineblitz]

Having infused other related plants in vodka, yes it would turn green. I think you'd really have to use a lot of hops for the color to affect your beer significantly though. Also, be sure to strain out the plant material completely.

You'd likely be extracting a lot of the oils as well, as oils are quite soluble in high % alcohol.

 

[greencoat]

Having infused other related plants in vodka, yes it would turn green. I think you'd really have to use a lot of hops for the color to affect your beer significantly though. Also, be sure to strain out the plant material completely.

You'd likely be extracting a lot of the oils as well, as oils are quite soluble in high % alcohol.

Thanks for the reply.

So maybe use a lower AA% variety. Interesting. I imagine the grist will be mostly pale 2-row and maybe some crystal 40 to keep the initial color pretty light. I bet 3-4 oz would be enough to tint a batch. I'm not going for lime Kool-Aid here, just enough color to be noticeable.

 

[bovineblitz]

Thanks for the reply.

So maybe use a lower AA% variety. Interesting. I imagine the grist will be mostly pale 2-row and maybe some crystal 40 to keep the initial color pretty light. I bet 3-4 oz would be enough to tint a batch. I'm not going for lime Kool-Aid here, just enough color to be noticeable.

I don't know how much bitterness the alcohol would extract, you'd definitely get some flavor. I'd recommend 100% alcohol or as close to it as you can get, you don't want water soluble things like chlorophylls, they just taste nasty. You may want to do a 24h cold water soak first before doing the alcohol soak, that way you could remove a lot of the water soluble materials. I'm not positive, but I think that wouldn't remove much color, saving it for the alcohol.

 

[944play]

I have a friend who infuses vodka with all kinds of herbs, including hops. Hops contribute an orange color. Basic Brewing Video guys demonstrate (and mention that Ray Daniels says the same):
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbv05-28-08basemalt2.mp4

 

[ChshreCat]

Since yellow and blue make green, I wonder if you can formulate a nice yellow/golden colored beer and then add something that will give it a little blue to mix in. Might it be possible to add enough blueberry or something to affect the color without hitting up the flavor too much? Just my first thought off the top of my tired brain.

 

[ksbrain]

Green food coloring?

 

[cactusgarrett]

Hops contribute an orange color. Basic Brewing Video guys demonstrate (and mention that Ray Daniels says the same):
http://media.libsyn.com/media/basicbrewing/bbv05-28-08basemalt2.mp4

I second this from experience. Last year with my first year home-grown hops, i made a hop tea to test the bitterness and was fairly surprised when the pint of water i used turned reddish-brown.

 

[bovineblitz]

I'd postulate that hops in water results in an orangey brown, but hops in pure alcohol would result in green.

I was doing an ethanol extraction on some similar plant material and it was green... for some reason I thought it would be smart to add a little water to dilute it... it immediately turned red-brown and cloudy upon adding water.

 

[944play]

Okhotsk uses cyan pigment from spirulina....

 

[l3agel]

IMO using hops or anything other than food colouring would probably be a waste of money. A neat idea, but I don't know if I'd be okay with paying for hops just to use them for colour...

944play: That looks freaky!

 

[throwbookatface]

Abashiri Beer, a Japansese brand, makes a green beer too:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/new-products/view/green-beer

The company actually makes all colors of beer - pink, a red one that's hibiscus I think, and blue. I'd imagine a hint of blue food coloring would give your beer a slight greenish tint, try it! Yellow-green is what I think of as a beer label color for IPAs. It should be flavorless - Brilliant Blue coloring is.

 

[ArtVandelay]

Green beer sounds like St. Patty's day. They just use food coloring for that.