Dry Hopping Rookie Mistake

[Charst]

2 weeks ago i brewed my 2nd BIAB all grain batch Epic Pale Clone. First batch using a temp controller and after a week in the fermentor it'd dropped to 1011 and tasted great, hoppy and nice. Now Id had issues with not enough hoppiness before and was about to drop in the 80g cascade as per recipe when i remembered about a bloke who i brought gear off telling my if i really want to maximise flavour I should put my hops in a jar the night before and soak them in vodka (Drank 3 of his beers and they were all Very nice so i took him as knowing what he was doing). He said the alcohol breaks up all the oil cells and you get a ton on flavour. So i do this and i end up with quite a bit of vodka to cover 80g of hops, over night they swell like weetbix in milk and absorb the vodka so i add a bit more to make it a little runny (total 200ml ish). Still had to digg the hops out of the jar to put them in the beer and after 4 days of dry hopping while it smells hoppy but now has a distinct after taste of surprise surpise, vodka. hot fusel alcohol and it almost drys the mouth and evaporates down the back of your throat.

So aside from me being a fkwit is the anything i can do?
Will the hot alcohol flavour dissipate in the bottle over time? before the hop aroma?
Im supposed to ad a further 80g hops when i crash chill but im worried i'll be throwing good hops after bad.

cheers

 

[ekul]

2 weeks ago i brewed my 2nd BIAB all grain batch Epic Pale Clone. First batch using a temp controller and after a week in the fermentor it'd dropped to 1011 and tasted great, hoppy and nice. Now Id had issues with not enough hoppiness before and was about to drop in the 80g cascade as per recipe when i remembered about a bloke who i brought gear off telling my if i really want to maximise flavour I should put my hops in a jar the night before and soak them in vodka (Drank 3 of his beers and they were all Very nice so i took him as knowing what he was doing). He said the alcohol breaks up all the oil cells and you get a ton on flavour. So i do this and i end up with quite a bit of vodka to cover 80g of hops, over night they swell like weetbix in milk and absorb the vodka so i add a bit more to make it a little runny (total 200ml ish). Still had to digg the hops out of the jar to put them in the beer and after 4 days of dry hopping while it smells hoppy but now has a distinct after taste of surprise surpise, vodka. hot fusel alcohol and it almost drys the mouth and evaporates down the back of your throat.

So aside from me being a fkwit is the anything i can do?
Will the hot alcohol flavour dissipate in the bottle over time? before the hop aroma?
Im supposed to ad a further 80g hops when i crash chill but im worried i'll be throwing good hops after bad.

cheers

When i add hops i get a french press, add hops and then add boiling water. Wait 5 mins then chuck it all in, hops and all, but some people use the french press to strain out the bits. If i were you i'd throw in some more hops to try cover it up. If its really bad just bottle it and let time do its thing, it might come good.

 

[felten]

Next time just add your dry-hops... dry


The hot alcohol might mellow out over time, but these super hoppy beers are best fresh so it's a bit of a conundrum.

 

[dogger]

Coupla years ago making a Double Choc Stout; I chucked in around 20ml of Choc Essence in the bottling bucket... I was horrified when I tasted it; as you say hot alcohol completely dominated, and I was convionced it was ruined... Bottled it up; warily tried a couple of weeks later - and it was absolutely fine; all that harsh, prominent alcohol had gone.... Should be fine.

 

[fcmcg]

Just wondering if the bloke who told you to do that was an old skool k&k brewer h34r:
Sounds like something they'd do lol

 

[gone_fishing]

When i add hops i get a french press, add hops and then add boiling water. Wait 5 mins then chuck it all in, hops and all, but some people use the french press to strain out the bits. If i were you i'd throw in some more hops to try cover it up. If its really bad just bottle it and let time do its thing, it might come good.

Ekul,

French press and hot water extracts nothing but vegetal flavour and chlorophyl. I note you are adding the whole lot into the brew. Then, why bother with the press?

GF

 

[Charst]

Just wondering if the bloke who told you to do that was an old skool k&k brewer h34r:
Sounds like something they'd do lol

Wont say his name but i asked you to put me in contact with him a couple months ago if you remember. Good bloke and nice beers but either i took the advice wrong or it wasn't the best advice.

Thanks for all the goss gents it looks like i might pump another 80g of cascade on it and hope for the best.
Has anyone had experience with soaking things like vanilla or oak or cocoa in vodka and if so how much did they use, could you detect any flavour of it?

 

[fcmcg]

Wont say his name but i asked you to put me in contact with him a couple months ago if you remember. Good bloke and nice beers but either i took the advice wrong or it wasn't the best advice.

Now that really surprises me... I had a look at who I told you and yes , what can I say... Surprised...
I'm guessing you won't do that again lol
Cheers
Ferg

 

[gunbrew]

Adding hops at the end of the brew I nick my wifes french press.
Put the hop cones in add some just boiled water from the kettle and crush them a bit.
Turns the water yellow with lumpin.
Add that hoppy water to the brew.
Have not had a problem doing it that way.

I have soaked oak chips in vodka and the vodka became brown and took on heaps of oak flavour.
Did not measure the amount of vodka or wood chips.
Made my own oak chips from an old wine barrel.

Just a thought, have not tried this.
If you used vodka for hops or for oak chips.
You could then heat the hop/oak vodka up to about 80 degrees and evaporate alcohol out of it.
In theory you would be left with water and flavour.
Cheers.

 

[stef]

Ekul,

French press and hot water extracts nothing but vegetal flavour and chlorophyl. I note you are adding the whole lot into the brew. Then, why bother with the press?

GF

I'm planning to use the 'french press' method in the near future. Never done it before, but i've only heard good things about it. Dont think people would be using it if it added "nothing but vegetal flavour and chlorophyl". I would say ekul uses a french press even when not straining just because it holds enough boiling water etc?

 

[Bribie G]

I posted this about 18 months ago, but if you are no-chilling in a cube, and using hop flowers, an interesting tweak is to take all the flowers for that brew (say 80g) and french press them in batches if necessary, before you do the brew. Put the tea in a sterilised jar and fridge it.

Then use the pressed flowers as your bittering addition, but don't add any more to the boil. Using a hop such as Hallertau Aroma or Cascade Flowers from New Zealand I always get good bittering.

Chuck the hop tea into the fermenter on about day 4. That way nearly all the aroma component goes into the beer instead of being "nuked" in the cube during the no chill. It doesn't work so well with pellets because the french pressing takes nearly everything out of them so they are not really suitable as a bitterer, but for a more bitter beer certainly whack 20g or so of a high AA pellets in the boil as you would normally do.

 

[QldKev]

I'm planning to use the 'french press' method in the near future. Never done it before, but i've only heard good things about it. Dont think people would be using it if it added "nothing but vegetal flavour and chlorophyl". I would say ekul uses a french press even when not straining just because it holds enough boiling water etc?

I was told for many years not to do it cause hops + water = bad, hops + wort = good. One day I was bored and I tried throwing some hops in our french press, allowed it to sit for 5 mins and tasted the water. Supprise it was bitter, had a great hopy flavour and lots of aroma! It may not work for some hops like Saaz as I think it would be too grassy.

Now when I want a bit of extra hops in the kegs, I always french press them; but I don't add the extra crap to the keg just the juice. Also after the first first water, I refill the french press, stir, sit it for another 5mins, repress and add that juice as the second running is still quite strong.

I've even been thinking of adding the hops to a bowl of cold water, and heating it in the microwave, more like a FWH addition. Then using the french press to strain the hops from the juice. Probably not needed as we are not boiling it for an hour, but I think it would be a godd experiment to see if it makes a difference.


QldKev

 

[argon]

I'm planning to use the 'french press' method in the near future. Never done it before, but i've only heard good things about it. Dont think people would be using it if it added "nothing but vegetal flavour and chlorophyl". I would say ekul uses a french press even when not straining just because it holds enough boiling water etc?

yep that's certainly correct... i've used the french press method a number of times and i always get great aromas and flavours. No "vegetal flavour and chlorophy flavours" at all.

As BG says above best used with flowers or plugs. Done it a couple of times with pellets and it's a massive PITA as the pellets just absorb all the water and it's difficult to extract the tea.

slightly OT... but you could always give this a go. Comes out very nice

 

[manticle]

I suspect GF is not actually using any personal experience whatsoever to support his claim.

 

[fcmcg]

I suspect GF is not actually using any personal experience whatsoever to support his claim.

Manticle , I think your right..in fact I reckon he is basing his opinion on hops distant cousin that is only fat soluble ..or let's off a funny smelling smoke when burnt h34r:
I wonder has he ever thrown a hop flower or two into a pint or tasted a beer through a hop flower Randall ? Proves the hops will pass flavor in liquid ...IMHO
Ferg

 

[Bribie G]

Stop picking on GF, what I want to know is whatever happened to Speedie?

 

[Supra-Jim]

Stop picking on GF, what I want to know is whatever happened to Speedie?

Perhaps Speedie has 'gone fishing'....... h34r:

Cheers SJ

(to keep somewhat on topic I have used a french press plenty of times and it has worked very well!)

 

[outbreak]

slightly OT... but you could always give this a go. Comes out very nice

I can not recommend this enough! I was going to go out get all the gear to build a chiller as I was unhappy with the hop flavour and aroma I was getting from my American style Pale Ales and India Pale Ales. Luckily I did a bit of reading first and came across this method.... I have now done 1 APA and one AIPA and the aroma and taste are amazing! I had dedicated corona drinker try the APA and his comments were "it tastes like pineapple and grapefruit." My french press is just used to make tea now....

 

[super_simian]

Turns the water yellow with lumpin.

Ummm, wait...what?

 

[Bribie G]

humpin' ?