Hop tea in lieu of dry hopping

Bubba Wade

Bubba Wade

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Has anyone experimented with making a hop tea and using this in lieu of dry hopping? I’m considering this for an upcoming APA. My current hop ball hasn’t worked very well and I had some issues transferring from the fermenter to the keg. I ended up plugging to posts on my keg with hops.

If you’ve made a hop tea to add to a brew, what temperature did you use? How long did you let it steep? Any issues with the hop oils coming out of suspension?
 
Wouldn't you dilute your wort with the tea thereby reducing your gravity?
 
Very interesting idea. I hate having hops in my fermenter, I'll be following this one. If I were to try it, I would steep the hops around 170-180F maybe. Let them steep for as long as it takes the tea to chill down to 150F.

I would imagine it would @Frankenbrewer, but something like a 1/2 quart of tea into 3 gallons of wort would maybe only dilute it a few points? Or I guess you could stir in some DME once your hops are steeped, and pitch that in. Or dissolve the DME and then steep hops so that less bitterness (and more aroma/flavor) is extracted due to higher specific gravity
 
Sunfire96 said:
Very interesting idea. I hate having hops in my fermenter, I'll be following this one. If I were to try it, I would steep the hops around 170-180F maybe. Let them steep for as long as it takes the tea to chill down to 150F.

I would imagine it would @Frankenbrewer, but something like a 1/2 quart of tea into 3 gallons of wort would maybe only dilute it a few points? Or I guess you could stir in some DME once your hops are steeped, and pitch that in. Or dissolve the DME and then steep hops so that less bitterness (and more aroma/flavor) is extracted due to higher specific gravity
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Or just account for the volume of the tea in the recipe so that it drops your gravity to your target?? Either way, I doubt a few gravity points would really matter one way or the other.

I think it’s a great idea that will likely require a bit of trial and error.

@Bubba Wade, you sugar ferment in the keg, right? Can you add the hop tea when you prime the keg?
 
Megary said:
@Bubba Wade, you sugar ferment in the keg, right? Can you add the hop tea when you prime the keg?
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I was thinking about adjusting wort volume so that I would be transferring 2.25 gallons to the keg and add the hop tea with the sugar. I would adjust the recipe to get the final gravity after the quart of hop tea was added.
 
Seems like a solid idea. Hop absorption steals precious fermenter capacity and just generally mucks things up. one study said two days of dry hopping seemed optimal, so two days of tea brewing, ending at priming time? Hopped in water and sugar, a DME mix, or vodka? Higher temp, more bitter, lower temp more aroma, or even blend a few teas w hops steeped at different temps?
 
Interesting idea, I'll be following this thread
 
Well, I think I will try it when I brew next week. Here’s the plan.
1. Brew the APA as usual, except with one quart less water. (2.5 gallon batch)
2. Five days prior to legging, I will steep 0.5 ounces each of Citra and Lemondrop hops in 1 quart of 150 degree water. I don’t want to be any warmer as I do not want any additional bitterness.
3. I’ll let the container cool to room temperature and seal it up.
4. When I keg, I’ll add the hop tea along with the priming sugar. Two weeks in the keg should allow time for the flavors in the hop tea to meld with the APA.

Any other suggestions?
 
Bubba Wade said:
Well, I think I will try it when I brew next week. Here’s the plan.
1. Brew the APA as usual, except with one quart less water. (2.5 gallon batch)
2. Five days prior to legging, I will steep 0.5 ounces each of Citra and Lemondrop hops in 1 quart of 150 degree water. I don’t want to be any warmer as I do not want any additional bitterness.
3. I’ll let the container cool to room temperature and seal it up.
4. When I keg, I’ll add the hop tea along with the priming sugar. Two weeks in the keg should allow time for the flavors in the hop tea to meld with the APA.

Any other suggestions?
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Boil the water first and add the hops when the temp drops to 150. I'm not sure that really matters, but it would sure make me feel better. :)

Take a small taste of the tea before you add it to the keg, just as a reference, in case you try this again.
 
Bubba Wade said:
Yes, that is true. However, since I’m going to try and make the tea at 150 degrees, I am counting on little to no isomerization occurring. I’m hoping to pull the same volatile compounds as the low temperature dry hopping procedure.
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Wouldn't you want to make the tea at the fermentation temperature to replicate a dry hop addition? Why not heat the water to pasteurize it and then cool it to your fermenter temp add the hops for the # of days and then add that tea?

Just wondering, i'll continue to just add mine to the fermenter.
 
Bubba Wade said:
Has anyone experimented with making a hop tea and using this in lieu of dry hopping? I’m considering this for an upcoming APA. My current hop ball hasn’t worked very well and I had some issues transferring from the fermenter to the keg. I ended up plugging to posts on my keg with hops.

If you’ve made a hop tea to add to a brew, what temperature did you use? How long did you let it steep? Any issues with the hop oils coming out of suspension?
Click to expand...

Agree about those stainless hop balls. The hops are out by the end of the boil or swell and fill the ball during dry hopping. I switched to nylon bags with one marble per ounce of hops to keep them submerged. Still, the yeast tends to cake-up on the bag but is not a problem for late dry hopping. Share with us how the hop tea idea works out.
 
@Bubba Wade, I keep thinking back on your hop tea approach, having read an article on dip hopping. I am considering the same, but fermenting a “mirror” quart which is then dry hopped and filtered prior to combining. Am having a tough time assembling steps that get there, including filtering and hopping four days in, without oxidizing it. Thoughts on a mirrored approach?
 
Rockhead said:
@Bubba Wade, I keep thinking back on your hop tea approach, having read an article on dip hopping. I am considering the same, but fermenting a “mirror” quart which is then dry hopped and filtered prior to combining. Am having a tough time assembling steps that get there, including filtering and hopping four days in, without oxidizing it. Thoughts on a mirrored approach?
Click to expand...
I’m going to try this week if all goes well. My plan is to take 1ounce of hops, put them in a one pint Mason jar, fill to the top with 145 degree water, and seal. I plan to let it sit for about 4 days and add to the keg. I’ll post the results.
 
Okay, I've tapped this keg. Notes on the flavor and aroma:
1. Hop flavor seems to be just as robust as dry hopping.
2. Hop aroma seems to be a bit more subdued than dry hopping.
3. Overall impression is that this turned out to be a moderately dry hopped American Pale Ale. No ill affects or flavors.

Method used for 2.5 gallon batch.
1. Heated 1 pint of water to boiling. Cooled to 145 °F. Added to 1 pint Mason jar with 1/2 oz. Citra and 1/2 oz. Lemondrop hops. Sealed up and let cool. Left at room temperature for 1 week.
2. Poured into larger jar and added another pint of water. Hops swelled up more than expected. Stirred well and then filtered through a coffee filter.
3. Poured the hop tea (approx. 2 pints) into keg. Added priming sugar. Filled keg. Allowed to carbonate and age for three weeks. Normally, I would only allow two weeks, but I was out of town.
4. Tapped keg. No issued with with sediment. Flavor as noted above.

Changes for next attempt.
1. Increase water to 1quart per ounce of hops.

Final notes.
1. No adverse effects other than a more subdued aroma.
 
This is a cool exbeeriment! I wonder if this would be a good way to skip whirlpooling for flavor, but still dry hop for aroma. Would definitely shave some time off for a brew day.
 
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