First try at a hops tasting process

[davekippen]

Well, here is what I did today to try and find a process which will allow our HB club to do hops tastings to refine our pallet's and better understand what individual hops taste like. Pics first, then some thoughts...

I only used 2 hops for now. Centenninal and EKG. My scale apparently is not fine enough to weigh very small amounts of anything, so I just guesstimated how much to use and then eyeballed a few pellets of each.

I measured 250ml of water and 250ml of 1040 DME wort for each hops. I wanted to see how different hops in water vs hops in wort tastes.


Then I placed the wort and water jars in a pot of water. I assumed that the boiling water would make the water & wort in the jars boil, but it never did so I added the hops after the water had been boiling the jars for about 30 minutes. I planned on boiling with the hops added for 20 minutes, but because it never boiled I let it go for 30.


Here are the samples after they came out of the "steep"


I let it cool some, and then filtered into clean jars through coffee filters. That worked well. Finally, a brew buddy and I split them up and did some tasting.


Thoughts and learnings...

I was shocked at how bitter the water versions were. I've read a bunch of times that the sugar in wort helps isomerize the hops, but i can tell you that the water version was plenty bitter. Too bitter really to get any flavor. The wort version was sweet of course and hid the bitterness to some extent

I think next time I will either cut down the amount of hops, or cut the "steep" time to see if I get more flavor and aroma.

I did not taste a huge difference between the 2 varieties as I thought I would. Maybe because of the process, maybe because my pallet is not as refined as I hoped! :cross:

Im not sure where this leaves me in the end. Probably will try it again with a shorter steep. I wont use water, thats for sure. A lot of folks have suggested to just brew a SMASH with each hops, but fully boiling, fermenting and bottling 15+ varieties is a LOT of work, and I am trying to find a suitable solution that is easier!

Feedback is welcome!

 

[davekippen]

And if anyone has any ideas why the liquid in the jars wont boil even though it is in a pot of boiling water, I am all ears!!!

 

[Yooper]

And if anyone has any ideas why the liquid in the jars wont boil even though it is in a pot of boiling water, I am all ears!!!

Don't know about that!

A thought on the isomerization, though- you get plenty of IBUs in plain water (people who say otherwise obviously haven't tried it and are parroting what they've heard)- BUT, the bittering is harsh as you've found. You can use a French press, as an example, to extract some bittering to add to an underbittered beer. But you get a smoother bitterness if you boil the hops in wort. As to why, I'm no chemist and won't even hazard a guess!

 

[WoodlandBrew]

How about adding the bittering tea to a lightly hopped beer? Boiling 1 oz of 15% alpha acid hops in 1 quart of water for 60 minutes will produce a tea that can be used to add bitterness to a finished beer. It's pretty strong. One teaspoon of this tea will add 25 IBUs to a 12 oz bottle of beer. To make a hop flavor tea just bring it up to 170°F and then cool it. More details in my book.

 

[davekippen]

Im not really looking for the bitterness. I'm going for flavor. That is kind of why I wanted to stay away from adding hops to an existing beer as many have suggested. However, that may be something I try just to see the difference. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[davekippen]

Really trying to isolate just the hops flavor

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Nice pictures of your process. I'm sure anyway you do it will be a valuable experience.

You may not be able to completely isolate the flavor from the bitterness, but bringing it to 170°F and cooling it or the French press will keep more of the flavor than boiling. Adding the hop tea to a pale lager allows you to taste the nuances in context.

The jars of water in the larger pot of water will never quite reach the temperature of the boiling water surrounding them much the same way the pot never reaches the temperature of the flame. The water in the pot will only be able to reach boiling because after that it will vaporize. Hence the jars never really boil...

 

[Cbaddad]

I have never done this but it is on my list of things to do with my brew club. You might get a better understanding of the hops flavor by dry hopping some bud lights as noted in this post. Perhaps you already read this, but I thought to pass it on.

http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html?m=1

 

[davekippen]

I think I will try it to see how it works but I was hoping to really just get the flavor of the hops. Although BMC's are pretty much just water anyway

 

[tagz]

I have been experimenting with adding hop varieties to a pale ale I have on tap with good success. I fill a small jar off the tap, add some pellets, cap it, let sit a room temp for 24, cold crash, and sample. Essentially I'm just dry hopping, but you get a good sense of the flavor, especially when doing side by side tasting. I know people use bud to experiment with hops but I feel like using a hoppy pale ale base gives me a good sense of what a real recipe would taste like. Plus with a kegerator it's really easy.