Hot Hop Slurry Method

[Robko]

I am going to brew my first DIPA soon and I want to get most of my American Hops (those are damn expensive here in Slovakia).
I ve been thinking about using method I havent seen yet. The point is in making something like a hop slurry crossed with a hop tea.
My vision is to put all of my (previously intended) dry hops into the vacuum flask and add pre-boiled, boiling or hot water, then seal it and let sit for like 24 hours, then add to secondary.
In theory I will get some bitterness (this was not a goal) and I will extract all of the flavor and aroma compounds while not driving them off, because of the seal. This would cool very slowly (for hours) in the sealed vacuum flask, finally condensating those volatile compounds.
The goal is to get all the aroma and flavor of 20-0 additions + dry hopping.
Is there any possibility of off flavors, excessive bitterness or just lost (by some heat caused reaction) of any desired compounds?

BTW I plan to use 12oz of hops (Centennial, Citra, Amarillo, Chinook, Mandarina Bavaria) for a 6.5 gallon batch, 6oz of those being dry hops.

 

[ddicker60]

Sounds good, keep us posted!


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[AnOldUR]

It would be interesting to hear if this works. I'm not sure that the sealed flask will be enough to keep from losing the volatile aromas. The great hop character in a bottled beer will fade if left too long. You might be able to turn this around fast enough to avoid any loss. Let us know.

I see this is your first post. Welcome!

 

[Robko]

Looks like I should do a split secondary, dry hopping vs my technique, cutting down on a bittering addition. 160F to limit alpha acid isomerization should be fine.

 

[VladOfTrub]

What you are attempting is common for German brewmasters. Adjust the infusion water pH to 5.5, before tossing in the hops.

 

[Calder]

Subscribed

 

[Robko]

What you are attempting is common for German brewmasters. Adjust the infusion water pH to 5.5, before tossing in the hops.

Is there a name for this method? I d like to find more info. Thanks

 

[VladOfTrub]

Hop tea infusion, maybe? If you are attempting to do it, use 4 ounces of water per .5 ounces of hops. Use RO or distilled water. If 4 ounces of water isn't enough, slightly raise the amount of water. The leaf hops are put in a vessel and the hot infusion water is slowly circulated through the hops. The hops are gently stirred to ensure complete saturation. The hops are lightly sparged. For this reason, 4 ounces of water is used up front. It is done in a sealed system. Soon as the process is complete, the tea is pumped into post primary beer, no waiting around for hours. You are going to have to screw around to nail it down. I would start with hops that you can get locally, fresher and cheaper, until you nail down the process. The problem is; you have no idea of the age and quality of the hops. Results vary due to hop condition. DO NOT squeeze out the hops.

 

[Robko]

Thanks for information. I just wanted to put both tea and the hop trub for like 5 days to secondary, just like a common slurry dry hopping. Is that a bad idea? You recommend me filtering the hop trub and using just the hop tea right before bottling if I understand (I have to work on my english).

EDIT: We do not have any domestic hops suitable for dry hopping here. Just a SAAZ and related hops. Hope it will work fine with those american.

 

[Robko]

So I bottled both versions yesterday.
For some reason, the slurry version was much more hazy, in fact, it was as hazy as any other beer I have ever bottled. However, the common dry hopping version was crystal clear.
Whats more important, the slurry version definitely has more hop aroma, and the aroma itself is also very different. The common version is more at the fruity side, (mango, grapefruit, lychee), while the slurry method is more resinous, herbal and piney, but still having those fruity qualities.
In general I would say the slurry one is like the common one + resinous, herbal, piney.
I can not comment on flavor yet as I was quite tired of bottling, but I did not notice any bitterness difference.
I will update in a week or so when it is fully carbonated.