Hop Tea and time saving possibilities

[Tinpanharry]

WoodlandBrew shared some interesting information in a recent article regarding a time saving technique with hop bittering
at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/bittering-hops-in-15-minutes.html.
There was also a previous article on "brewing beer in 15 minutes at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/four-tips-making-great-beer-15-minutes.html which had chart for adding so much cold water to boiling water to reach a certain pitching temperature.

Does this mean that I could make an extract brew much more quickly? Could I for instance cold-steep the steeping grains the night before, make a hop tea the night before, and on brew day add DME to it. I would be boiling dme, hop tea and steeped grain water for 15 minutes in a condensed batch - say 2 gallons, and top off with cold water. I suppose I could even do a small mash and boil it during at this time and add it to the boil.

It might be an interesting experiment.

 

[TheMilkMan]

Ya you could do this. I've read somewhere, though I don't know how valid it is, that boiling hops in water vs boiling hops in sugar water gets different results. Worth googling. Anywho, let us know if it actually saves you time.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

The procedural article should be done in a few weeks. It feels more like cooking than brewing. I'm in and out of the kitchen in 15 minutes. I use a pressure cooker for the bittering hops, one sauce pan for the flavor hops, and another for the steeping grains. After the grains reach 150°F I strain them into the sauce pan with the flavor hops and let it get back up to a boil.

 

[lazarwolf]

The process is pretty well described in the book. The book is a very interesting look at what i call "truth vrs. tradition" Steven lets science inform the reader, rather than tradition.

Yes you can brew in 15 minutes. for me... uh... I kinda like my longer sessions. but here is what i really take from the Hop Tea and Grain tea information. You can make corrections and subtle changes to a beer all the way up to carbonation.

very exciting stuff

 

[timeforazj]

James spencer at basic brewing radio did a segment on making a hop tea with extract in it and making a hop tea with just water and adding extract later. I can't remember exactly which episode it was but I do remember him saying that there was a noticeable difference in flavor between the two beers.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Thanks for the kind words Lazarwolf. I've been playing with some ideas for tweaking beers all the way up the when they are served. I call it beer bending. I'm also working on techniques that involve parallel fermentations and blending to fine tune recipes in one iteration.

The hop tea made in a pressure cooker with water may not taste exactly like a 60 minute boil with extract. I haven't done a side by side comparison. The beers I have done this way have come out as I would expect them based on the recipes and independent of process. That's just my experance and opinion. I love to hear how this process works for others.

 

[lazarwolf]

Thats really cool stuff. almost like blending musts to form a new wine...

I defy anyone to tell the bitter aspects of a hop tea from a 60 minute hop. Bitter is the least powerful of the taste receptors. Now Flavor and Aroma sure, i get it. I wont argue that point. But bitter, give me a break. bitter is bitter. I knew a guy who made a gruit with black walnuts to provide the bitter. No sure how safe it was, but it was bitter and Im still here.

I have a cream ale that Im sure is going to come out too sweet. Nice to know I can save it with some hop tea.