Does Anyone Else Throw Hops Into Fermenter When French Pressing?

[BeerSwiller]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone else throws everything into fermenter when French pressing?

 

[kelbygreen]

no harm in throwing hops in the fermenter when you dry hop you throw them all in when I was extract brewing the lot went in so if you want dont put them in eather way no harm done

 

[BeerSwiller]

I have done it a few times and the resultant beer is noticeably hippies, just wondered what other people's opinions/experiences were

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Umm, just beng a smartarse, but if you are throwing the hops in anyway.... Why press? Just tip it all in and save a step.

If you dont mind the flavour of the greenery in your beer, there isn't any reason to not tip them in... But one of the resons to "french press" is to try and emulate the flavours and aromas of late or hop back hops.. Which dont include some of the flavours your are likely to get by including the actual greenery in the mix. So... Although i was just being a bit of a dick, seriously, if you are contemplating doing this, skip the french press malarky and just use a saucepan and tip the results into your fermenter. The press is to keep the plant matter out, no need for it in this scenario.

 

[chrisherberte]

Recently I have been putting my hops into fermenter around day 3. Add 10-20g hop pellets to small Moccona jar, pour boiling water to 3/4 full put on lid. Wait for it to cool for 10 mins, watching that the lid does not get pushed open by expansion, after a while the lid get sucked on and is hard to get off. At this point let it sit for a couple hours and give it a casual shake everytime you think of it or walk past. Then the jar contents - hop soup - is poured into fermenter. I no-chill, this is the best and simplest way I've found to get a nice aroma and flavour without much grassyness.

Sounds like a lot of work but it's not really.

 

[BeerSwiller]

Umm, just beng a smartarse, but if you are throwing the hops in anyway.... Why press? Just tip it all in and save a step.

If you dont mind the flavour of the greenery in your beer, there isn't any reason to not tip them in... But one of the resons to "french press" is to try and emulate the flavours and aromas of late or hop back hops.. Which dont include some of the flavours your are likely to get by including the actual greenery in the mix. So... Although i was just being a bit of a dick, seriously, if you are contemplating doing this, skip the french press malarky and just use a saucepan and tip the results into your fermenter. The press is to keep the plant matter out, no need for it in this scenario.

Thanks for the reply TB, I dont actually 'french press' was just using that so people knew what i was talking about.
With my last brew I actually added the 0min addition to a jug of boiling water, let sit for about 10min then added all to the fermenter.

What I was thinking was, by adding the whole lot i would get a 'late hop' emulation with the hop water, then a 'dry hop' emulation by adding the hops... if you know what i mean.... not sure how this will turn out... does taste quite 'green' from the fermenter but hoping this will even out with a bit of time.

 

[ekul]

when i was bottling i would throw the whole lot into the fermenter the day before bottling, i found it made my beer noticeably clearer. mUst be all the hops falling to the bottom dragging yeast and whatnot with it.

NOw that i keg i french press straight into the keg so i don't add the vegetable matter anymore in case it blocks the outlet.

 

[milob40]

when i was bottling i would throw the whole lot into the fermenter the day before bottling, i found it made my beer noticeably clearer. mUst be all the hops falling to the bottom dragging yeast and whatnot with it.

NOw that i keg i french press straight into the keg so i don't add the vegetable matter anymore in case it blocks the outlet.

been thinkin of doing this myself, how long are you conditioning for in the keg?

 

[BeerSwiller]

Umm, just beng a smartarse, but if you are throwing the hops in anyway.... Why press? Just tip it all in and save a step.

If you dont mind the flavour of the greenery in your beer, there isn't any reason to not tip them in... But one of the resons to "french press" is to try and emulate the flavours and aromas of late or hop back hops.. Which dont include some of the flavours your are likely to get by including the actual greenery in the mix. So... Although i was just being a bit of a dick, seriously, if you are contemplating doing this, skip the french press malarky and just use a saucepan and tip the results into your fermenter. The press is to keep the plant matter out, no need for it in this scenario.

Gotta say your right TB, I've thrown the lot into the fermenter when using cascade and results were hoppy (some subtle greenness) but good overall.
Just kegged and having a glass of the fat yak clone i made up using B Saaz and Nelson, tastes like ARSE! harsh, green.... and just overall unpleasant..... wont be doing this ever again...

just thought id pass this on

P.S. The starter i made up using wort from the inital brew tasted fine and nothing like what the final outcome was...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Give it sime time, that harsh green grassy flavour can really settle down lver a couple of weeks or a month. Walk away for a while and see what happens.

 

[BeerSwiller]

Thanks TB, I was nearly going to give it to the lawn
I have made the same brew yesterday and will add aroma hops to about 600ml of boiling water, let sit for 6min (to emulate a 6min addition) then will put through a food strainer (I don't have a French press) and see how much different this beer turns out.

Cheers

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Some people think that using plain water instead of wort can lead to grassy harsh flavours. I personally dont find this to be true, but if you are still getting grassy flavours, then perhaps you could try reserving some wort to use for your ultra late hopping. Bung it in the freeezer till you're ready to use it.

I also always make sure I put the hop tea into the fermenter when there is still at east a small amount of active fermentation still happening. Contact with active fermentation seems to iron out grassiness. I add ultra late hops when my attenuation is 2/3rds of the way to my expected FG, but just bunging them in when the krausen starts to drop away is near enough to the same thing.

TB

 

[Guysmiley54]

I agree that fermentation does change the flavour of a late addition.

Many on here claim to add their french press (or similar) additions after fermentation has finished or close to it to avoid having c02 strip too much aroma from the late hops. My theory is that a traditional brewer with a chiller would have their aroma hops go through the entire fermentation process. In my experience (as a beer drinker as well as a brewer) the late hops shine perfectly well through a full fermentation cycle.

In adding a french press addition so late in the process maybe we shouldn't expect it to taste like traditional aroma hopping. Maybe it's not right to even expect the same flavour as dry hopping? I have only started doing this technique on my last two brews (one in fermenter, the other still conditioning) so my verdict is still out....

 

[pbrosnan]

What the hell is French pressing? Sounds rude. If we're talking about dry hopping, I put the hops in a piece of muslin and dangle, or "teabag" if you will. I don't find any grassy flavours.

 

[stux]

French Press AKA Coffee Plunger

Did my first hop French press this morning

30g of NS flowers, SWMBO was impressed

I used TBs dual infusion method with a 4 cup/800ml press that I got at BigW for $20

Very happy with it so far

 

[QldKev]

There is nothing like a good french pressing into the keg. I've done the double press method (hot water + hops, plunge add straight into the keg at the start of filling the keg, and refill with hot water and allow to sit for 10mins and add to the end of the keg filling. ) for a couple of years and love it. It is different from fermenter hop aditions, but since I reuse my yeast cake several times I prefer not to add to much into the fermenter.

If you have not tried it, I would recommend giving it a go.

QldKev