Hops kombucha

[anteater8]

Bottling my next batch this weekend. Probably going to dry hop with 100% Citra and then prime the bottles with mango juice or mango lemonade.

I'm drinking a bottle of hops n' mango (citra/mosaic/galaxy) from my last batch now, and it is one of my favorite kombuchas I've ever had.

Its been tricky keeping all the hop matter out of the bottle even when using a paint straining bag into the bottle. Using whole flowers would do the trick, but I already have a ton of pellets for beer. Things I'm going to do differently this time include using a hop bag to contain the pellets, and cold crashing the booch in the fridge the night before bottling to try to get the hop particles to settle.

 

[anteater8]

Drinking my 5th batch of hopped kombucha now.

For this one I used 50/50 black/green tea and did about ~0.3oz/gal Citra hops for some and ~0.3oz/gal Amarillo hops for the rest (I had two jars going). Then I primed with R.W. Knudsen Mango Nectar, using the sugar content on the nutrition label to work out the same amount of table sugar I'd use (almost the whole bottle for 2.5 gal booch).

This batch is fantastic. Amarillo is a great hop choice, but not quite as good as the almighty Citra. Both add a nice layer of hoppy, tropical fruit but Citra is a bt smoother. The mango juice adds quite a different character than whole mango, not necessarily better or worse. Very happy with both mango n' hop methods, I think I might try citrus zest for my next batch.

 

[coypoo]

I keg my kombucha. After primary is complete in glass I add fruit and KT to the keg and let it combine at room temp for about a week and then pull the fruit and put into the kegerator. I think I'll try to do a non-fruited one with some dry hop for a few days at room temp and see what happens

 

[charles]

Drinking my 5th batch of hopped kombucha now.

For this one I used 50/50 black/green tea and did about ~0.3oz/gal Citra hops for some and ~0.3oz/gal Amarillo hops for the rest (I had two jars going). Then I primed with R.W. Knudsen Mango Nectar, using the sugar content on the nutrition label to work out the same amount of table sugar I'd use (almost the whole bottle for 2.5 gal booch).

This batch is fantastic. Amarillo is a great hop choice, but not quite as good as the almighty Citra. Both add a nice layer of hoppy, tropical fruit but Citra is a bt smoother. The mango juice adds quite a different character than whole mango, not necessarily better or worse. Very happy with both mango n' hop methods, I think I might try citrus zest for my next batch.

If you like citra have you tried simcoe hops? They are very similar to each other. Got some simcoes in a batch of hard tea. And as for your brew do you carbonate it?

 

[anteater8]

If you like citra have you tried simcoe hops? They are very similar to each other. Got some simcoes in a batch of hard tea. And as for your brew do you carbonate it?

I use simcoe all the time in beer, but have yet to use it in kombucha. I'll most likely be trying it out at some point!

For carb, here is my process: I do all my dry hopping in my primary vessel after removing the scoby. Then I scoop the hops out. I boil some table sugar in water, let it cool, add it to my primary vessel for priming, by calculating how much I need for 2.7 vol co2 (1oz/gal). Then I bottle! 4-5 days at room temp and another 4-5 days in the fridge and they are perfect.

For the mango juice one I just posted about, the juice acted as the priming sugar.

 

[charles]

I'm hoping to have similar results from my hard tea for carbing it. I ended up adding the simcoes 15 minutes b4 to and discarded when I put it in the fermentation bucket. It's a 1 gallon glass jar with airlock. I did it this way because the opening is small and I used cones. I used a stabilizer and am going to carb and bottle it by this weekend. I'm thinking of using that mango nectar. How much do I need for 1 gallon batch?

 

[anteater8]

I'm hoping to have similar results from my hard tea for carbing it. I ended up adding the simcoes 15 minutes b4 to and discarded when I put it in the fermentation bucket. It's a 1 gallon glass jar with airlock. I did it this way because the opening is small and I used cones. I used a stabilizer and am going to carb and bottle it by this weekend. I'm thinking of using that mango nectar. How much do I need for 1 gallon batch?

I used an online priming sugar calculator to figure it out how much nectar to I'd need for 2.7 vol co2 by looking at the sugar content on the nutrition label. I can't recall the exact amount for a gallon.... but I primed 2.5 gal of kombucha with almost the entire bottle, there were only a few ounces left over.

You added simcoe 15 min before what? For dry hopping I've found 24 hrs before bottling to be the sweet spot.

 

[charles]

Before flame out. If I use half of the bottle it will be carbonated nicely

 

[anteater8]

Before flame out. If I use half of the bottle it will be carbonated nicely

I haven't tried using any hops in the boil at all, I'm definitely curious to hear how much bitterness you get and how you like it.

Doing some quick napkin math, I would use about 11 to 12 oz of the mango nectar to carb 1 gal.

 

[charles]

From my experience on hoping beers citra and simcoe hops really work well for late additions. The flavor profile is very pronounced. Hope this helps

 

[charles]

I used a blueberry juice instead of the mango. Tried a sip right after I mixed it. Looks like it should be tasty in a couple weeks. Will keep updates

 

[GregP507]

Hops aren't for me, because I can't stand the bitter taste. Apparently only 20% of the population can taste the bitterness, just like about 20% have some degree of color-blindness.
It's just genetics.

 

[charles]

Hops aren't for me, because I can't stand the bitter taste. Apparently only 20% of the population can taste the bitterness, just like about 20% have some degree of color-blindness.
It's just genetics.

Not all hops are used for bittering. Lots are used for aroma and can accentuate the taste. I personally like hopped brews. I try to balance it out because some brews might be sweet.

 

[anteater8]

Hops aren't for me, because I can't stand the bitter taste. Apparently only 20% of the population can taste the bitterness, just like about 20% have some degree of color-blindness.
It's just genetics.

Bitterness from hops is extracted when they are boiled, and the longer they are boiled the more bitterness you get. If you add hops during the last day or two of fermentation before bottling (at room temperature), you don't get any bitterness, just hop flavor and aroma. The flavors and aromas can be fruity, earthy, piney, floral etc...

For kombucha I have very little interest in boiling any hops into mine since sour + bitter = gross, but sour + fruity hop flavor & aroma = awesome.

So are you saying that you're part of a 20% that picks up on bitterness that no one else would pick up? Pretty curious about this as I've read a lot about hops and never heard anything like that.

 

[GregP507]

Bitterness from hops is extracted when they are boiled, and the longer they are boiled the more bitterness you get. If you add hops during the last day or two of fermentation before bottling (at room temperature), you don't get any bitterness, just hop flavor and aroma. The flavors and aromas can be fruity, earthy, piney, floral etc...

For kombucha I have very little interest in boiling any hops into mine since sour + bitter = gross, but sour + fruity hop flavor & aroma = awesome.

So are you saying that you're part of a 20% that picks up on bitterness that no one else would pick up? Pretty curious about this as I've read a lot about hops and never heard anything like that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

I remember reading about this a few years ago. The test consisted of placing a piece of paper on your tongue with a bitter-tasting chemical on it, similar to that of hops. Only about 20% of the population could taste it.

 

[maxtpower]

sub

 

[stout12]

I know this is an old thread, but I am interested to know if anyone on here is continuing to brew and experiment with hops in Kombucha?

I'm going to start brewing Kombucha and a hoppy Kombucha (or rather many) is definetely on my list of things to do after perfecting the standard brew. I'll update you on how it goes when I get around to it!

 

[Tyler B]

Any updates from anyone? I think I'm going to try some of the things mentioned here pretty soon.

 

[stout12]

Any updates from anyone? I think I'm going to try some of the things mentioned here pretty soon.

I have made a few batches of hopped Kombucha this year and it was delicious! The hop flavours and bitterness surprisly go well with the tartness of Kombucha.

I have been quite busy so have not had a chance to make any recently though.

I was adding the hop pellets straight into the bottles and leaving to carbonate in 2F as normal. I then pop them in the fridge and strain the hops when I pour a drink.

I was using galaxy hop pellets and roughly 2g - 3g in 450ml bottles. It was really hard to measure accurately as the scale were not good with small quantities.

I got delicious grapefruit flavour & aroma. In fact some of them tasted like grapefruit juice. I had one which had delicious passionfruit smell but mostly it had the grapefruit flavours.

I also tried mixing hops & fruit which worked really well. Blackberry & Galaxy Hops was a favourite.

In the future when I have more fridge storage space I will try bulk flavouring with hops in a vessel and then strain and bottle.

I would also like to try hop tea in addition to the dry hopping to see how that goes and would love to try making a malt & Hop Kombucha. Perhaps I might start with just steeping some crystal grains before trying liquid malt.... but these are all things to try down the track. Firstly I want to get back into making hopped Kombucha and further experiment with different techniques, quantities and hop varieties.

Feel free to ask any questions. I’m also keen to hear how you go and the results. I would have expected much more people on the forums trying this.

Anyone want to try steeping some crystal grains and adding to 2F and let me know how it goes? Or perhaps someone has already tried this?

 

[Tyler B]

Thanks for the reply and all of the information. I think first I'll try dryhopping with some of the citrusy hops.

At some point I'd like to make a kombucha beer. Not exactly sure how I'd do that though. Maybe brew a batch as normal, ferment with beer yeast, then throw a scoby and some starter liquid in. Perhaps a little extra sugar then? Let it sit for a few weeks and see how that changes over time.

I actually just brewed a simple, lightly hopped blonde ale and I have a batch of kombucha that are both ready for fruit... Maybe I'll take a little of each and mix them together.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

I am just making my first batch of experimental hoppy kombucha. The video that i watched said to add the hops after removing the kombucha from the SCOBY jar, and then let it sit for a couple of days. It was really smelling like hops, so I might have put in too much for the half gallon batch.
Anyway, to night I strained it twice, and then added a little sugar and some frozen orange juice concentrate and put it in bottles for the second ferment.
It is pretty bitter, but hoping that it turns out drinkable once it has carbonated for a few days.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

So….. today, I tried my first bottle of the hoppy kombucha, and it is actually pretty good now that it has sat in the second ferment, and then rested a week in the fridge.
I can still taste and smell the hops; but the flavor reminds me of an overly bitter grapefruit juice. I think that i like it, and will make this again, maybe less hops next time, and also try some mango or maybe pineapple in the flavoring.

Also, my little hop rhizomes have started to grow, so I am happy about that and hoping that maybe I will have at least a few blossoms by this fall.

 

[jlb922]

As a homebrewer of both beer and kombucha I have also been on a quest for a decent hopped kombucha. In addition to adding hops to the already fermented kombucha and steeping before straining them out and bottling, I have been making a fruit infused hop syrup and adding some to each bottle. This way I can adjust the amount of hop flavor to my preference and the sugar in the syrup provides food for the yeast to carbonate the bottles.

Here is my recipe: from my kombucha blog: Grapefruit Hopadelic Kombucha Recipe | Great Kombucha

Ingredients:
1 fresh grapefruit, red preferred; Pink or white also work
1 cup water
1 cup white table sugar
1/4 oz hop leaves or pellets. For pellets this is about 1 tablespoon

Instructions:
Prepare flavor syrup: Peel grapefruit and coarsely chop peel and pits. Combine with sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat on medium until the mixture begins to simmer and simmer for 15 minutes. Add hops and simmer for 5 minutes. When cool, strain into a heat resistant glass measuring cup–I used a strainer and cheesecloth to remove most of the solid material. You should have about 1/2 cup of flavored syrup which will be dark green.

Flavor: Evenly divide hoppy grapefruit syrup between bottles. About 2 Tbsp tsp per bottle.

Fill bottles: Transfer kombucha into fermentation bottles, leaving about 1 inch empty space at the top.

Give it a try and let me know how you like it!