Finish Hops Omitted - Problem?

[BeerNoob]

I forgot to do my finishing hops at the end of my wort boil and hadn't realized it until my wort was already room temperature and I was pitching the yeast. I don't imagine that it will ruin my batch but it probably isn't going to turn out as hoppy as I wanted.

I still have the hops which I've since put in the fridge. I have another bag of them for dry hopping when I rack to my secondary but I'm not sure what to do with the extra hops that I have that was meant for this specific brew.

Should I leave them out and save them for the next batch or maybe add some of them to the dry hopping when it gets to that point?

Yes, I enjoy hoppy beer, especially when it's got a nice aroma to it, I just didn't want to do something silly before asking all the gurus here Is there such a thing as adding "too many hops"? or is it simply a matter of taste?

 

[PintOfBitter]

you can make a hops tea with the finishing hops (watch out that you don't let it steep in the hot water too long - it will get bitter pretty quickly) and add that to the secondary/bottling bucket/keg.

 

[northernlad]

If by hoppy you mean bitter, that doesn't happen with late additions. Add it to your dry hop addition or save them for another batch.

 

[BeerNoob]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going to try the "hops tea" when I rack to my secondary as well as dry hopping at the same time. I'll report back!

 

[ChshreCat]

A hop tea is to replace bittering hops, not a late hop addiiton. A late addition is for aroma which is what you'll get from dry hops. I'd add it to your drop hop like the lad said rather than the hop tea.

 

[BeerNoob]

A hop tea is to replace bittering hops, not a late hop addiiton. A late addition is for aroma which is what you'll get from dry hops. I'd add it to your drop hop like the lad said rather than the hop tea.

Ah ok, i think I understand now, my regular boil hops is where the bitterness is supposed to come from and the late(or finish) hops are more for aroma.

So being that I omitted my finishing hops(but remembered my regular boil hops) which i usually allow to boil for a minute or two I won't see a huge change in the amount of bitterness I end up with.

I think I'll try splitting the difference and do 1/2 in a tea and toss the rest in with my dry hopping to get more of the aroma.

 

[kegtoe]

+1 for the dry addition

 

[JLem]

I just want to point out though that late additions is not equivalent to dry hopping. You get different flavors and aromas. Adding the extra hops as dry hops will probably result in a fine beer, but it will not be the beer you intended to make. This isn't necessarily a problem - the brew may be even better than the original recipe.

 

[PintOfBitter]

I just want to point out though that late additions is not equivalent to dry hopping. You get different flavors and aromas.

This is why I suggested the tea. Dry hopping results in very little bitterness contribution, but also very little flavor contribution. You can steep a tea for a short time and get both. It does get bitter fairly rapidly, so you have to stay on top of it.

 

[headfullahops]

This is why I suggested the tea. Dry hopping results in very little bitterness contribution, but also very little flavor contribution. You can steep a tea for a short time and get both. It does get bitter fairly rapidly, so you have to stay on top of it.

That makes sense to me. +1 on late hop and dry hop not being the same. It does seem you could boil a cup or two of water, then steep the hops for 1-2 minutes, add it to the fermenter, and replicate the late addition. Next time don't forget. LOL

 

[BeerNoob]

This is why I suggested the tea. Dry hopping results in very little bitterness contribution, but also very little flavor contribution. You can steep a tea for a short time and get both. It does get bitter fairly rapidly, so you have to stay on top of it.

I think I'm definitely going to try the tea method. And next time I won't forget! promise!

Although at this stage, because I'm still newish to brewing it would be interesting to split the batch into 2 when I rack to my secondary, use 1/2 the hops to make a tea in one half and dry hop the other half and see how they turn out. I love being able to do experiments and compare the results to what it "could have been".

Maybe I'll go pick up some smaller containers for this purpose. Has anyone done anything like that before or have any suggestions on a good container to use as a secondary for roughly 12L of beer?