Another Hop Aroma question

Get advice on making beer from raw ingredients (malt, hops, water and yeast)
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Meatymc
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Another Hop Aroma question

Post by Meatymc » Wed Feb 15, 2017 10:58 am

Been following Albino's post with interest as I want to increase both aroma and taste in my IPA's. Currently dry hopping which has improved things but still not 'hitting the mark'. Have bought oils from the Malt Miller which I had intended trying in my current brew after fermentation but then came across the following from what seems to be 'a respected source' in the US.

Don't want to hijack Albino's topic so has anyone tried this specific method - I'm a bit concerned this will at least increase the risk of haze? I only bottle by the way if that's relevant.

How to Make and Use a Hop Oil Extract

For a 5.0-gallon (19-L) batch of homebrew, here’s how that might work. Let’s say you’re brewing a pale ale and you have a 1-L French press. (This is a common size.) So, you plan to add a little less than 1 L (~1 qt.) of hop oil extract to your beer in your bottling bucket. Brew your beer as you normally would, but finish with a yield of about 4.75 gallons (18 L).

Essentially, your beer would be slightly stronger and more bitter, but a little less than a quart (1 L) low in volume. If your recipe called for 5.0 oz. (140 g) of priming sugar, convert this to dried malt extract by dividing by 0.75 to account for the fact that malt extract is less fermentable than straight sugar. (This is 6.6 oz. or 190 g). A small amount of sugar is going to be lost to the hops, so perhaps add 5% to your priming amount.

Bring a little over 1 qt. (1 L) of water to a boil, boil it for 10 minutes (to reduce the oxygen content), then shut off the heat and stir in the malt extract. Add the hops to your French press. If you’re making a pale ale, try 0.50 oz. (14 g) of hops. For an IPA, try 1.0 oz. (28 g) and for a double IPA, try 1.5 oz. (43 g). Pour the wort into your French press with as little splashing as possible.

Let the hops steep in the press for 5–15 minutes. — about the same amount of time you would let them steep in a whirlpool. Then, press off the liquid, let it cool a bit and add it to your bottling bucket. Siphon your beer into the aroma extract (which also serves as your priming sugar) and proceed with bottling as you normally would.

I’ve described this method before and called it French press hopping, but that’s not a good name — you could dunk bagged hops in hot wort, then remove the bag to make the hop oil extract. The French press is just how I separate the hop solids from the liquid. Unless I can think of a better name — aroma bombing? hop juicing? — think I’ll just call it adding aroma extract.

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Jocky
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Re: Another Hop Aroma question

Post by Jocky » Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:09 pm

Not tried that method - it seems interesting, although I'd worry that the hot steeping might still remove some of the hoppy aroma, compared to dry hopping. It may well add some hoppy taste though.

To me aroma is best imparted by dry hopping, and dry hopping at a significant level is going to cause haze - the tannins in the hops combine with protein in the beer and result in haze. Given time it drops out, but by then your precious aroma is going too! Fining is the only way to speed it up.
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Meatymc
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Re: Another Hop Aroma question

Post by Meatymc » Wed Feb 15, 2017 3:49 pm

I wondered about boil off myself. Think it would need to drop to less than 70C before adding the hops to avoid losing the bulk of the oils, and if you're down to that point, what are you actually gaining over dry hoping? Might be worth a trial though if I find myself with some spare hops.

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