# Hop Drops,flavoured Lollies



## Toper (10/12/12)

http://www.hopdrops.co.uk/


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## benno1973 (11/12/12)

These have been discussed on the UK and US forums for a while and there's even a few recipes out there. I've tried to make them, but it's a bugger trying to capture the flavour/aroma without getting an insane amount of bitterness when making the toffee. I tried all sorts of things but they all just came out too bitter. I'd love to know how they do it!


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## Dave70 (11/12/12)

Kaiser Soze said:


> I'd love to know how they do it!



Possibly a tincture is made from the hops, then added to something like a hard candy base with a few drops of green food color. That's my 2c anyway.


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## staggalee (11/12/12)

Hey Kaiser
That`s an interesting concept, but they tell you bugger all on their website.
Can you give us a link to any forums that discuss it please?
Thanks.


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## benno1973 (11/12/12)

Not sure what rules there are about posting links to other forums. If that's out of line, mods feel free to remove this post. 

Hop candy


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## staggalee (11/12/12)

Kaiser Soze said:


> Not sure what rules there are about posting links to other forums. If that's out of line, mods feel free to remove this post.
> 
> Hop candy



ok thanks for that.


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## felten (11/12/12)

I think a better way to combat the bitterness is to use a commercial steam distilled essence. No bitterness in those AFAIK.


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## punkin (12/12/12)

What if you were to macerate the hops in ethanol?

You could then add it late and have most of the liquid flash away as vapour so there would not be as much boiling of the hop oils?
I don't know, just thinking aloud.


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## shaunous (12/12/12)

felten said:


> I think a better way to combat the bitterness is to use a commercial steam distilled essence. No bitterness in those AFAIK.



I know bugger all about doing this with hop flowers, but that actually makes sense to distill them as if you were making perfume or essenses from herbs etc.

Its worth a try if anyone owns a still....


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## sinkas (12/12/12)

id sasy they use the yakima chief supeer critical co2 exctrated volatiles, and use that, woudl eba alot less rooting around thatn doing it from scratch


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## punkin (13/12/12)

If the legal distillation of essences is an acceptable topic here and not breaking any rules i can say i have a legal 1 litre glass still for doing essences, but no knowledge on how to extract the oils using it.
It's powered by an open flame though and i don't think i have enough parts to convert it to steam power without getting it out and having a look at where i could put some hop material after the boiler. Maybe i could make a small stash in the column section with some muslin.

If given some advice i could certainly give it a go and report back.


If it's against the rules then i don't have such equipment at all and am only talking in theory, in fact i didn't even type any of this.


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## shaunous (13/12/12)

punkin said:


> If the legal distillation of essences is an acceptable topic here and not breaking any rules i can say i have a legal 1 litre glass still for doing essences, but no knowledge on how to extract the oils using it.
> It's powered by an open flame though and i don't think i have enough parts to convert it to steam power without getting it out and having a look at where i could put some hop material after the boiler. Maybe i could make a small stash in the column section with some muslin.
> 
> If given some advice i could certainly give it a go and report back.
> ...



Distilling essential oils as you would be with a hop flower is perfectly legal, them other things you can do with a still, well im not sure.

We distilled oil's a little when I was studying Enology, and my version would be, adding a false bottom floor to sit the flowers on, a rack of some sort, you would fill up the still with water untill just under the false bottom part, and them hop flowers would obviously sit on top of the false bottom, jam as many as you can get in there. Majority of Essential oils I remember the lecturer saying will boil off at the same boil temp of water, so it really shouldn't be that hard to do. Just see what comes out the end. Cant hurt trying it. 

This would be good if it actually worked, for people who grow their own hops, I can see why it wouldnt work.


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## hopdrops (28/12/12)

hi guys/gals

the way i do it is pretty simple really, use hop extracts in an oil format, one is a pure bittering extract (ISOHOP) the other is a Top Note aroma oil (PHA).

Both use propylene glycol (PG) as a carrier which tends to boil off when added to the sugar boil but do leave some flavour behind in the final mix.

I have also been playing with a pure hop oil without the carrier (2250 per kg). so far results are varied!

hope that helps, we are shipping our Hop Drops very soon, may even be able to ship to OZ...

cheers, PJ


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## benno1973 (29/12/12)

Thanks heaps for that post hopdrops! Let us know if you ever distribute to Australia...


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## hopdrops (29/12/12)

Will do of course!

If anyone has any other recipe ideas do let me know...


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## B-Hoppy (20/1/13)

Howdy,

felten is on the right track, a distilled product allows you to separate out the bittering compounds. I've been playing around with hop candy for about 10-12 years now and finally became official back in October 2010. If any of you know Darren (Doctor's Orders) I think he's tried it. Some local hop growers visited NZ last year to observe the organic growing methods in use down there and a friend of mine brought some candy along which was supposed to have made it's way over to Sidney. Best to use aroma varieties if you try your own and remember to 'B-Hoppy'!


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## glennheinzel (20/1/13)

My sense of smell/taste isn't great, but I had an elderflower lolly the other day and the smell reminded me of an APA. I then stumbled upon an elderflower and lemon mineral water which reminded me of an APA without the maltiness. Nice.


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