Hop tea to emulate hop-back

[mysterio]

Just tried the hop tea technique described on this website:

http://www.stpats.com/hopsinfo.htm#hop%20tea

I was looking to give my IPA a bit more aroma because the dry hopping hadn't really given it much in the secondary for some reason. I used Centennial because I had loads I wanted to use up, and significantly less water because I didn't want to dilute my beer too much (even though the website says it's essential to use a lot of water). Then I just sloshed the hop tea into the cornie and shook it a bit.

Anyway the aroma is definately better although still not as overwhelming as I'd like it. However, the added hop flavour is amazing and very fresh tasting, a big improvement on an already great beer.

I recommend trying this as an experiment that only took about 5 minutes to do.

[Seveneer]

Might try that some time. Sounds good.

/Phil.

[Frothy]

Love the IPA's. As you say I've also had limited sucess with dry hopping- will give this a go for sure.

thanks
Matt

[mysterio]

Hop Tea Instructions
1. Hop tea is added at bottling. You must allow for the 1/2 gallon hop tea by fermenting only 4.5 gallons.
2. Bring ~1/2 gallon of water to near boiling
3. Steep 1-2 ounces of hops in the pot of hot water (lid on) for 6-8 minutes.
4. Immediately add to fermenter.
5. Prime and bottle.

Its generaly recommended to add a few teaspoons of extract to the wort to improve utilization.

I think that's only if you're wanting full bitterness from the hops, while the wort is to acidify the water slightly so that less harsh tannins are extracted from the hops. Plus was adding this as an afterthought to an already fermented batch.

[deadlydes]

just a though why not just make a hop back?
they can be really simple.
the outflow from my boiler goes into the top of a plastic cylinder (with the hops in and a splatter gaurd strainer in it. the bottom of the cylinder has the out tube which goes off to the cooler.
easy as that

[Andy]

Des - sounds good, how about a picture ?

[deadlydes]

i just knew someone would say that!
next time i do a brew i wil take pictures. either this week or early next

[norman]

How about these,Bottom of page.
http://www.hopshopuk.com/cgi-bin/browse ... hopenhance

[deadlydes]

allot more expensive and not the variation you get with using hops

[tribs]

I've tried the hop tea before and it works to an extent but the problem is you cannot dissolve enough of the aromatic oils in such a small amount of water.

I still think that dry hop gives the best aroma but the quality and freshness of the hops is crucial. The compressed brick type hops aren't that great for this purpose IMO as the aroma does not seem that strong and they seem to have too much vegetal matter that I believe causes grassiness. I find the Brupaks hops work well and the Amarillo pellets I used to dry hop the Amarillo IPA gave it an incredible aroma, just what I was looking for. I plan to dry hop with pelllets more in the future.

I think if the stronger the aroma the hops have before you add them to the beer, the stronger the aroma they will impart.

[mysterio]

I like the sound of the home made hop-back des. Get a picture up!

The thing which I like about this hop tea is the freshness of flavour it imparts, which made it taste closer to some of the nicer commercial hoppy ales.

But you're right, the aroma isn't the same as a dry hop.

[Seveneer]

Do you have to sterilise the hops or do you run boiling wort through the hopback into another, sterilised, vessel before cooling?

/Phil.

[deadlydes]

Phil.
hops are naturally anti infectious anyhow.
but what i do is chuck the hops (unsterililsed) into the homemade hop back (unsterilised). this i connected at the top to the boiler and the bottom the chiller.
so the boiling wort come from the boiler, hits the hops and then exits the hopback and is chilled
ok?

[deadlydes]

here is a picture of a hop back similar to mine (taken from smartgroups)



mine is plastic but its the same principle

simple, easy to make and works a treat