Brewing With Hops

[unrealtb]

Okay, so I put down a European Lager (coopers) the other day, I put some hops into water and boiled it for about 15 minutes, and then just poured it into the wort...sitting in the fermentor. No mixing of the two just boiled it in water and then added it in.

What should I expect? I was going for bitterness and falvour.

 

[thelastspud]

What type of hops and how many grams?

I say you'd get more flavour than bitterness though.

 

[unrealtb]

Its Saaz,

I don't think the way I did it was the "normal" way, however I was not gonna boil everything and cool it down, no time for that.

I think it was about 20gram, not much I know, but I was gonna dry hop the other 20grams later on.

It certainly stinks, you can really smell it!

 

[kevo]

Does it stink good?

Kev

 

[yum beer]

you will get flavour and some bitterness, depends how long you boiled for, more than 10 minutes will give some extra bitterness but being saaz you wont get a lot,

its fairly mild.

you should get a nice brew from this batch, I find the coopers euro is a great kit to trick up with a little grain and hops.

 

[unrealtb]

stinks likes XXXX but very strong, almost off, but I am sure its not off, as I know how hops can smell.

Yeah I am thinking it will be a nice brew, any suggestions of my method? Just pouring in a hop tea into the wort style?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

unrealtb - it'll be fine - it's going to be more flavour based than anything.

Are you getting your hops from craftbrewer/other reasonable price place? Or buying hop tea bags? Hop tea bags are a rip off (about 6x the price per gram than buying from CB), and not as fresh.

Goomba

 

[unrealtb]

unrealtb - it'll be fine - it's going to be more flavour based than anything.

Are you getting your hops from craftbrewer/other reasonable price place? Or buying hop tea bags? Hop tea bags are a rip off (about 6x the price per gram than buying from CB), and not as fresh.

Goomba

Ah yeah, I am not particularly worried, just interested in the way that I added the hops.

Yeh I got it from Craft Brewer? over at capalaba 8 bucks for 90gm... seems expensive but yeh, not hop tea bags.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

It's actually really cheap.

Given hops are a major component of beer and I use an average of 40-60g of hops per batch at $6-10 per 90g, it's a cheap hobby. Especially when my grain comes cheap.

But if you are kitting, it might seem an expensive way to trick it up. But kits are cheap, because they are lacking a little. To get a kit good, you've got to spend a little.

It's still cheaper than shop bought beer, though.

Goomba

 

[unrealtb]

Yeh man, its so much cheaper than store bought.

Cause I have an accounting background, i did up a spreadsheet of costs, (cos it seemed like i was spending endless amounts of money on kegs/fridge co2 etc etc)

Anyway I worked it out, I spent about 500 on equipment. and each brew will cost about 30 bucks after that (worth 2 cartons)... kit/co2/cleaning etc...

It worked out after 16 kit brews... if a commercial carton costs 30 bucks (2 cartons = 60 bucks). I will start saving money on this venture. and this was a very buffered estimate... so it would prolly take less than 16 brew... But still.

Oh and i didnt mention its actually a really cool hobby. So win win..

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Yeh man, its so much cheaper than store bought.

Cause I have an accounting background, i did up a spreadsheet of costs, (cos it seemed like i was spending endless amounts of money on kegs/fridge co2 etc etc)

Anyway I worked it out, I spent about 500 on equipment. and each brew will cost about 30 bucks after that (worth 2 cartons)... kit/co2/cleaning etc...

It worked out after 16 kit brews... if a commercial carton costs 30 bucks (2 cartons = 60 bucks). I will start saving money on this venture. and this was a very buffered estimate... so it would prolly take less than 16 brew... But still.

Oh and i didnt mention its actually a really cool hobby. So win win..

I'm an auditor.

There is a saying around the forum that "home brewing is an expensive way to make cheap beer" - because the costs you pay for equipment tends to jack up the per carton price (if you amortise the equipment over the first x cartons you make).

But, it doesn't take into account the qualitative aspect, which is, you have a hobby you do for fun. It will cost money. I tend to leave the equipment as the cost of the "hobby" and work out my per Litre based on the cost of the ingredients.

Having said that, there are ways to reduce costs - I bought bulk hops from the US for 1/3rd the cost here, bulk buys of grain (when I can get one at the right time), re-using yeast. I can cut costs further, I suppose.

Goomba

Goomba