Hoping the Priming Sugar??

[timrussell]

I was recently having a discussion with a fellow homebrewer regarding "big hop" beers. We were talking about techniques to accomplish this like late additions and dry hopping but he had heard about another technique that I never had. He recalled a conversation he had once where someone had added hops to the priming sugar solution just prior to bottling.

Has anyone heard of this? Has anyone tried this?

It seemed odd to me but I thought I'd bring it up.

 

[corbomite]

I wouldn't think it would add anything dry hopping wouldn't. Hop aroma will dissipate over time but the difference in time between secondary and bottling is negligible. I know some people do dry hop in the keg but I don't think hopping priming sugars will give you any benefit.
But thats only my 2 cents, and it is worth exactly that.

 

[Steven9026]

Wonder if they were talking about making a hop tea? Do some searches on hop teas.

 

[Revvy]

I'd only do it with hop cones as opposed to pellets, you wouldn't want them to sludge up.

I've been doing some experiments with infusing flavors/aromas in priming solutions for awhile. I've boiled my sugar with dried/roasted/smoked chili peppers, citrus peels, cinnamon sticks and cloves, ground spices (which required careful sanitized straining-not the greatest idea) and some other things. In fact I'm planning to do it with sliced ginger on a batch I am planning to bottle this weekend, I'm not sure if I'm going to go with fresh or candied.

Never thought about hops, but it might be a great late aroma hop addition.

Give it a try and let me know.

 

[Revvy]

It just occurred to me, if you boiled your hopped priming sugar with the lid on your saucepan closed, the steam that would be normally evaporating and carrying away your aroma would condense on the lid and fall back in, further locking in the aroma/flavor.

 

[timrussell]

Thanks guys, I'll follow up with my buddy to see if I can glean any more detail...

And, yes, I think I'll try it sometime.

 

[Revvy]

"Fixing it in priming" has been a great way for me to tweak my beers at the last minute. For example if a chilli beer isn't spicy tasting, or smokey enough...it's the last chance to sneak some more in. You can also add some lactose, which will not ferment, and should sweeten the flavoring a bit more.

 

[johnnyjumpup]

I know this thread is pretty old, but I just wanted to say that did a priming hop addition for a brown ale and an IPA that I recently bottled and I believe that it is worth while. It increased the apparent bitterness significantly for the brown ale. Boiling the hops in the priming solution allows the alpha-acids to isomerize thus imparting bitterness which you cannot get from dry hopping. Hope this is useful to someone!

 

[Revvy]

I think there's a more recent discussion of this. Like within the last couple weeks. If you stumble upon it, you might want to post the same comment in there.That way the most recent folks might see your results.

 

[KayaBrew]

I think there's a more recent discussion of this. Like within the last couple weeks. If you stumble upon it, you might want to post the same comment in there.That way the most recent folks might see your results.

Here you go: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/would-idea-work-387106/