Hop Pellets Into Bottles

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DKS

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I brewed a Morgans Blue Mt and in a few bottles put in either one, two or three amarillo hop pelets for an experiment. Cracked a bottle tonight, what a little beauty, better carbed, better head than others, working better and tastes great. Its got floaty bits but so what ? Has anyone done this or is it not the done thing? Any pros /cons, your thoughts. :icon_cheers:
(Im still waiting to try my wheat which is what I had the amarillo for in the first place)

DAZ
 
Cool. I was actually thinkin this same thing last night though I wasn't going to use that large a portion - maybe just a quarter of a pellet per tallboy. Interested to see the responses you get
 
I bought a box of tuborg (the cheapest beer you'll find) when I was in Denmark, I took the cap off each bottle and put one pellet of saaz, cascade or fuggle in all of them, then recapped them all.
This is what became....

-They all tasted better
-you needed to pour it into a glass, and even then you'd get loads of little hop bits floatin' around.
- It was fun to try and pick the different hops

I've heard of people bringing isohop to football games and throwing a few drops into the filth they serve there...

Good luck with it, experiments are always fun :)
 
Cool. Hop flavour usually lessens with time. How long were they in the bottle for before you cracked the first one? And how long before you try another to compare? I'd be interested to know whether or not/how much the flavour mellows out with this method.

Jono.
 
One of the IBU case swap entries from /// had 2 aus cascade hop flowers per stubbie

They were delightful

I've dry hopped in the keg and the flavour blast is awesome

Shame about the floaties though :(

Cheers
 
You may be better off using liquid hops in conjunction with an micro syringe. Just follow the directions or add to your taste.
Liquid hops are sometimes available at your LHBS but more likely from a well-known sponsor above.

TP :beer:
 
Anyone compared liquid hops side by side?
I had some samples of oils from Barth-Haas a while ago and tried them, but didn't get to compare side-by-side with dry-hopped-in-the-bottle samples :)
Personally, however, I think I prefer the flavour of the dry hops.

MFS.
 
Liquid hop oils?
Interesting. This will definitely not have any floaties around but I was wondering during the oil extraction process, will aroma or flavour be affected?
 
Nah I think the point is that theyre all about just the flavour and aroma, not the bitterness... There are few generic blends, but also some specific hop flavours I think.
 
One of the IBU case swap entries from /// had 2 aus cascade hop flowers per stubbie

They were delightful

I've dry hopped in the keg and the flavour blast is awesome

Shame about the floaties though :(

Cheers


Cortez, use a nylon hop sock, and you get zero floaties. I've done this quite a few times with no floaties whatsoever. I tried a hopsock after completely clogging up a keg a few years ago with fuggles. Pain in the arse.
 
I've used hop balls from craftbrewer in the past and while they hold back the majority of the hop matter some does escape

It doesn't bother me but aesthetically some of the punters get concerned

I'll have a look at a nylon sock

Cheers
 
Cortez, use a nylon hop sock, and you get zero floaties. I've done this quite a few times with no floaties whatsoever. I tried a hopsock after completely clogging up a keg a few years ago with fuggles. Pain in the arse.

hey mate im interested in what you have to say
do you leave the hop sock in the keg for the whole time your drinking it or remove it after a sertain period of time ??

cheers.
 
hey mate im interested in what you have to say
do you leave the hop sock in the keg for the whole time your drinking it or remove it after a sertain period of time ??

cheers.

First let me clarify what i call a hop sock. Its about 5 inches x 5 inches, made of nylon, and looks like a pocket, just a square shape, with an open end. I whack my hops in there, i reckon i could fit easy 50g if not more no problems. Then i basically tie a knot in it, which is a bit tricky, but not that hard. Whack it in the keg, and leave it there til its empty. Simple.

I got mine from mel at ESB a few years ago. I think he calls them a hop bag, so sorry if you're thinking of something else.

So, yes stevenk, just whack it in, and leave it there mate. Works sweet as, and no floaties.

Cheers

P.S just checked the ESB website, they are called a hop strainer bag. 10 bucks
 
Cool. Hop flavour usually lessens with time. How long were they in the bottle for before you cracked the first one? And how long before you try another to compare? I'd be interested to know whether or not/how much the flavour mellows out with this method.

Jono.

Hi Hefty. Bottled this 27/04 I reckon the un-hopped ones are still a good two weeks to a month off being their best and I didnt make that many with hops in so Ill wait another two weeks to try another. Going by the stength of the 1st one Id say a peice about 1/4" ( 5mm) long per tallie would be nice to my taste. It may well be a diferent story aftera few weeks or with other types of hops. As yet I havent worked out which hops tastes like what. Hence the experiment but given this result Ive added it to my APA made with coopers cultured yeast, its gonna be a ripper. :icon_cheers:
DAZ
 
Nothing wrong in my view. In relation to the bottles, what you'll find is that initially the flavour will increase with age as the oils leach from the hops. Then, when maximum contact is achieved, the flavour will lessen. In short, it gets stronger before it gets weaker.
cons: floaties, and in bottle the only thing you can do is give it time, it will eventually settle. Then you need to treat the bottle with kid gloves. Unless you don't mind them.
pros:
the flavour will continue to change, moreso than when dry hopping in secondary and then removing off the hops prior to bottleing. I list this as a pro, cos its interesting to have your beer change on you.

Better carbonation. It wasn't your imagination. what happens is that you get a more effective ferment of the priming sugars, as the yeast has more surface area (ie the hops) to cling to during ferment. (this is also one of the principles of oaking, for the same reason. Rough surface of wood, more surface area than a smooth vessel etc)

More co2 activity in the glass. Hop matter works as nucleation points for the co2 bubbles to form.More co2 activity contributes to the head forming (as long as the temperature is cool enough to promote retention of the gas in solution. a head is, afterall, gas bubbles trying to break free from solution, and failing)

Variety. Doing the individual bottles means that you can vary your hops throughout the same batch of beer, trying different hops, and different combinations, without having to do a seperate batch for each.

So the pros outweigh the cons by a large margin. I guess the main determining factor to this is the floaties, and how well you can control them. Having done it myself, if you refrigerate the bottles for an extended period of time prior to drinking, they will settle, and if your not rough on the pour, it's fairly minimal, anyway.

Some good points and info there butters. Interesting about oaking.
Just thought added bonus, floaties would deter non HBs bludging and I wonder how this would work in commercial beers given no yeast ect. :icon_cheers:
Daz
 
First let me clarify what i call a hop sock. Its about 5 inches x 5 inches, made of nylon, and looks like a pocket, just a square shape, with an open end. I whack my hops in there, i reckon i could fit easy 50g if not more no problems. Then i basically tie a knot in it, which is a bit tricky, but not that hard. Whack it in the keg, and leave it there til its empty. Simple.

I
I steal my wife's little stockinette, the ones they use when wearing jeans. If you knock off the pair, she doesn't seem to notice, then weight it down with a stainless nut. Works perfectly!
 
My nuts won't do then... they're already stained :)
Sorry... someone had to say it... :p
 

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