Not so "dry" hopping

[Nuggethead]

I was discussing dry hopping with a friend today and he asked what my procedure was for using whole hops. Afterward, he told me that his technique worked well and that I should try it, but I haven't heard of this before and wonder if anyone else does it.

He takes a half ounce of whole hops and lightly wets them, then packs them in a coffee filter and puts them in a drip coffee maker and runs a cup of boiled water over them into the coffee pot. Then repeats with another half ounce. Then takes the total ounce that was used and packs it together into a filter, pours the the 2 cups of hop tea back into the coffee maker and runs it back over the ounce of hops again.
When finished, he cools the 2 cups of hop tea to fermenter temp and gently pours it in. He claims that it has the same effect as dry hopping without the possibility of oxidation and filtering issues. The APA that I tried tasted comparable to my dry hopped version.

Any oppinions or thoughts or concerns about this ??

 

[Walker]

i would argue that he is introducing MORE oxygen than someone who just tosses the things into the fermenter, but I'm sure his method works for getting fresh hop aroma in.

 

[samc]

It sounds like it would be more like a flameout hop addition as he is using boiling water. I'd say try it and compare. But it is easier to toss hops in at the end of boil, I prefer dry hopping.

 

[badneighbor]

I can't find it for the life of me, but there was a DIY thread recently about drying hops that suggested temperatures in excess of 100 degrees would kill some of the acids (similar to this thread). I would suspect the same applies to making a hop tea at high temperatures.

Edit: Derp. It was right in front of me.

 

[Nuggethead]

I posted this mainly out of curiosity and am not considering it as an option. I always dry hop with whole cones and don't use any filtration, just careful racking and my results are great and beers are crystal clear. I figured if it was a viable option, I would have heard more about it in the past. He wanted to argue that his technique was superior to the time proven method that most of us use, but I didn't have enough info to debate it.

 

[BoxofRain]

I've heard that people will do it with a french press too but before fermentation at flameout.

 

[Nuggethead]

French press would probably be more efficient than a drip.

 

[BoxofRain]

French press would probably be more efficient than a drip.

I would say so. I actually have a french press that I use from time to time when I run out of keurig pods. It makes a really good coffee. The body the coffee is almost oily.

 

[beeber]

I call it wet hopping and do something similar with good results. I boil some water, then add pellets and steep for 5 minutes or so. Then I add this to the fermenter. The boiling drives off any oxygen.

 

[smizak]

The second that hot water hits the hops it changes the character. I've late hopped a bunch of beers, as well as hop teas. Nothing gets that raw, nose-in-a-bag-of-hops character unless you dry hop.

 

[beeber]

smizak, point taken. However for us paranoid brewers who like to play it safe, it's as close as you can get.