Help me with my recipe! (Pseudo beer / hopped seltzer)

[KiljuBrew]

I’ve been trying to create a light pale ale “like” brew using hops, water, sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrient. A beer, a hopped seltzer, I don’t know exactly what to call it but that doesn’t matter.

I am after a quick making brew that is easy drinking, relatively high abv (6-8), limited steps, cheap, and as similar to a pale ale as I can achieve with the limited ingredients. Think hoppy Coors Light. Something I can crank out quickly for my everyday beer replacement.

My current recipe is below, it’s surprisingly tasty, refreshing and actually close to what I am after but is mostly lacking aroma. Which is where I need help. More on that in a minute.

Current recipe is as follows for a 1 gallon batch:

- 1 pound sugar
- 2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
- 1/2 packet bakers yeast boiled for additional nutrient
- 1 packet EC1118
- water to 1 gallon
- the above fermented to dry (0.990 but sometimes goes as low at 0.986)
- once fermentation is complete 2 oz frozen fresh hops boiled in a small amount of water for 5 min, strained and added to above
- bottle conditioned with 0.5 tsp cane sugar for each 12 oz bottle

Results are plenty carbonated, mostly bitter prominent, very slight hop aroma, general light beer flavor at ~7%. But it definitely needs more hop aroma.

Unfortunately the hops I am using are unknown. My dad grows hops for fun so we have plenty of them but he isn’t sure of the strain but thinks they are Cascade. He’s been growing them for probably a decade which explains why he can’t remember the strain.

Any suggestions to make the brew more aromatic?

I’m thinking same recipe but maybe dry hop an additional 2 oz for a week as an addition to the 2 oz 5 minute boil extract.

Or perhaps skip the dry hop and just limit the boil extract process to just a few minutes instead of 5.

I’m not apposed to buying pellet hops, but would like to stick with just hops, sugar, yeast, and nutrients. What would you suggest to boost the hop aroma?

Weird request, I know. Trying to keep this recipe as simple as I can while achieving reasonable results as discussed

 

[AlexKay]

I’d focus on getting the hops in contact with the full volume, rather than the little bit of water you’re using for extraction. I think dry hopping in the fermenter would be better than what you’re currently doing.

If you want hot extraction, try a hop stand — 10-20 minutes at ~160 F — again with the full volume of water (obviously, before fermentation.). I’d look at doing this too, instead of instead of.

When I make hop seltzer (very low alcohol) I use pellets, 2 oz in a hop stand and 2 that go in the fermenter right at the beginning. That’s for 5 gallons, and it’s very pleasantly hoppy. I forget the fresh-to-pellet conversion guideline, but it’s something like 5 to 1. That would mean I’m using about double what you are.

 

[KiljuBrew]

I’d focus on getting the hops in contact with the full volume, rather than the little bit of water you’re using for extraction. I think dry hopping in the fermenter would be better than what you’re currently doing.

If you want hot extraction, try a hop stand — 10-20 minutes at ~160 F — again with the full volume of water (obviously, before fermentation.). I’d look at doing this too, instead of instead of.

When I make hop seltzer (very low alcohol) I use pellets, 2 oz in a hop stand and 2 that go in the fermenter right at the beginning. That’s for 5 gallons, and it’s very pleasantly hoppy. I forget the fresh-to-pellet conversion guideline, but it’s something like 5 to 1. That would mean I’m using about double what you are.

Thank you! I’ll give that a try. I could see the benefit of a full volume extraction for sure. Easier to fit more hops in there that way too. Cheers!

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Any suggestions to make the brew more aromatic?

I cannot speak much about your water + sugar base. I would ditch the idea of using the homegrown and unknown variety hops and purchase good quality hops. I would also ditch the idea of boiling the hops.

I have enjoyed my hop water made by dry hopping a 5 gallon batch with 2 oz of hops for a day or two before kegging. I would suggest you add hops into the fermenter. You could potentially add them at the start of fermentation, a day or two in, or after fermentation is complete. I might suggest 0.5 oz per gallon as a starting amount and tweak from there.

 

[KiljuBrew]

I cannot speak much about your water + sugar base. I would ditch the idea of using the homegrown and unknown variety hops and purchase good quality hops. I would also ditch the idea of boiling the hops.

I have enjoyed my hop water made by dry hopping a 5 gallon batch with 2 oz of hops for a day or two before kegging. I would suggest you add hops into the fermenter. You could potentially add them at the start of fermentation, a day or two in, or after fermentation is complete. I might suggest 0.5 oz per gallon as a starting amount and tweak from there.

Thanks! I’ll give this a shot as well. I like experimenting so the more variations I can try the better! I’ve been thinking getting some pellet hops would be a good idea. More consistent and less likely to have bugs crawling around