Save a tasteless beer!

[Frodv]

hi, I was wondering if anyone have tried hopburst or hopshot in a finnished beer?
I made an IPA a couple of month ago for an upcomming wedding, but I fear the hop bags in the boil kettle stole most of the flavour from the hops. The beer is almost tasteless and dull, I was hoping to save it with either hopsburst or hopshot, but I have never tried it before and I don't know if it will work.
The beer is kegged and carbonated.

Any thoughts?

 

[kh54s10]

Get a hop bag or one of the cylinders and put 2-4 ounces in and put it in the keg. When I use one gallon paint strainer bags I put one ounce in each bag. I have not had them stop the flow. I have done it as a dry hop but not on beer that is already carbonated. Watch out for foaming, the hops will give a lot of nucleation points.
You may have to get it to go flat then re-carbonate.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Sounds like you want to "dry hop", which is pretty standard for hoppy beers.
Dry hopping is adding hops after fermentation, you don't need any special products, just hops.

 

[robbeh]

Could be length of time, everything I read is that IPA's should be drank early as flavour and hops will fade.

As for a solution, how long until the wedding? Can you whip up another batch? Dry hopping will be tough and really will only add aroma so I am not sure it will be a solution. But some good advice above on how to manage it.

Typically flavour comes from your malts and then the hop bitters it up, adds a little flavour and aroma.

 

[ProblemChild]

when is the wedding? If there is time, just make another batch

 

[Frodv]

The wedding is august 4th, so it is time to make another batch, but I don't have time
The thing I was planting on trying is this: http://www.totallynaturalsolutions.com/_uploads/flyers/HopShot_Flyer.pdf

 

[homebrewer_99]

August 4? You still have time for another dry hopping session. Use hop bags.

 

[jordanfrenzy]

I would depressurize the keg and dry hop in a paint bag (or similar) with a 6 oz dry hop. You will get a ton of flavor and aroma from that large of a dryhop. If you feel like that is too aggressive you could probably go with 4 oz.

Lots of NEIPAs use very little in the boil and move most of their hops to the dry hop. Tasty beers.

Edit: As a warning, if you introduce dry hops into a carbonated beer you will get a ton of foam, enough to angrily overflow the keg. I'm not aware of a way around this other than letting the beer go flat first.

 

[jschein]

Or a hop randall

 

[andrewmaixner]

I would depressurize the keg and dry hop in a paint bag (or similar) with a 6 oz dry hop. You will get a ton of flavor and aroma from that large of a dryhop. If you feel like that is too aggressive you could probably go with 4 oz.

Lots of NEIPAs use very little in the boil and move most of their hops to the dry hop. Tasty beers.

Edit: As a warning, if you introduce dry hops into a carbonated beer you will get a ton of foam, enough to angrily overflow the keg. I'm not aware of a way around this other than letting the beer go flat first.

Getting the keg as cold as possible, putting it in a tray/bucket to catch the potential overflow, and being VERY fast to get the lid on and closed. like, the lid is halfway in the keg as you carefully prepare to let the hops bag contact the beer, then close it within 1-2 seconds.
Practice on an empty keg first if you can.
As me how I know.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Hop Jizz would be perfect for this situation.

 

[AkTom]

@andrewmaixner, ok, I’ll bite. Tell me. How DO you know. lol ;-)

 

[andrewmaixner]

@andrewmaixner, ok, I’ll bite. Tell me. How DO you know. lol ;-)

I put an oz of bagged hops into a mostly-cold, fully carbed, keg -- forgetting what 'nucleation' was. It involved a rather large mess and a lot of towels. I never open a non-empty keg without a big drip tray under it, now (cement mixing tray, $5 at any home-improvement store. I have several, very handy.) At least if you mess up getting the lid back on fast enough, the tray makes cleanup easy.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Hop Jizz would be perfect for this situation.

Have you used that in finished beer? I've heard that it needs heat to properly mix, and that it (and all non-specified hop extracts) is a generic mix high-alpha bittering hops. I'd go with dry-hops.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Have you used that in finished beer? I've heard that it needs heat to properly mix, and that it (and all non-specified hop extracts) is a generic mix high-alpha bittering hops. I'd go with dry-hops.

I have. It's not as easy as dumping it in, although I'm not convinced that wouldn't work if done right. I pulled off a half liter into a liter bottle and let it sit until it reached room temperature. I then added the hop extract and squeezed the bottle until there was no head space left and capped with a carbacap cap. Hit it with some CO2 and shake it like it owes you money. Carefully pour or rack it back into the keg and you're in business

 

[bleme]

I've had beer served through a homemade randall and it definitely picked it up a notch. Since you have time, I would save the expense and just dry-hop unless you want a little more bitterness. Then I would make a hop tea.

 

[Frodv]

So none of you have tried the hopshot that I linked to? It is used for flavouring and not bittering.
Dry hopping increases the risk of oxidation and it creates too much gunk

 

[pvpeacock]

Or, make hop tea and add it to the keg a few days before the wedding. Put 160 - 170 degree water in a french press coffee maker, add hops, let steep for an hour, then press and pour out the hop tea.

 

[mirthfuldragon]

As much as I love homebrew, if your beer is dull and lifeless and you have a wedding in 18 days, I would bite the bullet and get a couple of commercial kegs and call it a day. A keg of Blue Moon and a keg of Two Hearted and everyone will go home drunk and thinking you are a the beer god.

 

[danielthemaniel]

My last batch of IPA was great for a few weeks and started losing its hoppy aroma and flavor but retained its bitterness. I sanitized some new panty hose and added 2 oz of hops to it. I threw it in the half full keg. It took about 3 days to get the flavor I desired but ever since its been great.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

So none of you have tried the hopshot that I linked to? It is used for flavouring and not bittering.
Dry hopping increases the risk of oxidation and it creates too much gunk

Hop Jizz is the same as Hop Shot - a hop extract.

 

[ThePaleAleIndian]

Never tried hopshot, but another option is to make a hop extract with some dry malt extract and hops. Just whip up maybe a quart of wort, kill the heat, steep some hops for 15 minutes in a bag, remove the bag and get the liquid in the fermenter. I would purge the keg down several times first and let it come to room temp. Couple caveats with that method, you will be essentially priming the keg. So it will make a bunch of carbonation. Once it's carbed and chilled again, you may have to purge again to get the carbonation back down to normal levels, because a quart to 5 gal in a keg is quite a bit of priming. This method will add flavor and aroma, much like kettle hopping. You could combine this with dry hopping in the keg using the methods described in other posts. Fwiw, I have keg hopped in bags and I had a horrible time with the bags getting sucked onto the dip tube opening every time I served. I use a dip tube filter and dry hop loose in the keg now, but that is much harder to set up if there's already beer in the keg. If you're not transferring to another keg, you might hang the bags with some unflavored dental floss.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Home Brew mobile app

 

[zeptrey]

Never tried hopshot, but another option is to make a hop extract with some dry malt extract and hops. Just whip up maybe a quart of wort, kill the heat, steep some hops for 15 minutes in a bag, remove the bag and get the liquid in the fermenter. I would purge the keg down several times first and let it come to room temp. Couple caveats with that method, you will be essentially priming the keg. So it will make a bunch of carbonation. Once it's carbed and chilled again, you may have to purge again to get the carbonation back down to normal levels, because a quart to 5 gal in a keg is quite a bit of priming. This method will add flavor and aroma, much like kettle hopping. You could combine this with dry hopping in the keg using the methods described in other posts. Fwiw, I have keg hopped in bags and I had a horrible time with the bags getting sucked onto the dip tube opening every time I served. I use a dip tube filter and dry hop loose in the keg now, but that is much harder to set up if there's already beer in the keg. If you're not transferring to another keg, you might hang the bags with some unflavored dental floss.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Home Brew mobile app

Just try these cryohop lupulin powder. Brulosopher did an exbeeriment with this and nearly no one could distinguish the normal hopped beer from the one with all lupulin powder. Also the Randall would work and give people something to look at and talk about when getting the beer.
Sorry forgot the link. https://ychhops.com/hop-products/cryo-hops

 

[KarmaCitra]

What's the cause of the flavor loss? Would you mind posting the recipe so perhaps someone can lend an idea of why it fell short? An IPA made a few months ago shouldn't lose that many IBUs or flavor, and neither should the malts. I know that doesn't solve your current problem, but could help for the future.

 

[rmyurick]

I have bought "aromatic hop oil" in the past. Looks like they offer 'hop doctor' Cascade hop oil at the grape and granary, my lhbs.

 

[Frodv]

What's the cause of the flavor loss? Would you mind posting the recipe so perhaps someone can lend an idea of why it fell short? An IPA made a few months ago shouldn't lose that many IBUs or flavor, and neither should the malts. I know that doesn't solve your current problem, but could help for the future.

I think the reason is that I use bags for the hops in the boil. Even if I tie the bags at the end, they get a bit compact, and I don't think I get all the goodies from the hops.

 

[KarmaCitra]

I think the reason is that I use bags for the hops in the boil. Even if I tie the bags at the end, they get a bit compact, and I don't think I get all the goodies from the hops.

Have you considered using a hop spider? Again, prob won't help you this go round, but something to think about. Gives the hops some space to move around.

In this case, I'd give the dry hopping a go and see how that improves at least the aroma.

 

[GPP33]

I’d whip up a hop tea and add 5oz of dry hop in bags. I’ve added dry hops in bags to cold carbonated beer without foaming, let it warm up to room temp for a few days then chilled it again before removing the hops, again without foaming. Sounds like a pretty easy beer to save.

 

[andrewmaixner]

I’d whip up a hop tea and add 5oz of dry hop in bags. I’ve added dry hops in bags to cold carbonated beer without foaming, let it warm up to room temp for a few days then chilled it again before removing the hops, again without foaming. Sounds like a pretty easy beer to save.

Same here, EXCEPT that I get crazy foam on adding it cold. Taking it out cold (if I even bother) tends to be less touchy, though I still use a tray -- twice bitten thrice shy.

 

[GPP33]

Same here, EXCEPT that I get crazy foam on adding it cold. Taking it out cold (if I even bother) tends to be less touchy, though I still use a tray -- twice bitten thrice shy.

It's certainly not bad advice to get a tray and move fast. Every beer is different and I've done it exactly one time so my experience with dry hopping carbonated beer is pretty limited.

 

[tbur1209]

I have used the large stainless tea balls, about a 1/4 cup pellet hops. Open the 5 gallon keg and drop it in. Doesn't clogg dip tube and works pretty well.