Hop Tea Vs Dry Hop

[bevdawg]

OK so I've made an AIPA which is going well. Just moved to secondary and was supposed to dry hop with 19g of Cascade, but I decided to put them in a coffee plunger with 500ml of water, let sit for 15 min then drain and pour in. I read this is just as good as dry hopping, but I'm not so sure.

Would this give me the same as 19g of hops sitting in a hop bag in the secondary for a week? I love things hoppy so should I also put some directly in?

 

[razz]

Over a period of time it may give you the same effect bevdawg. I've done this a couple of times now and the noticeable thing was an increased bitterness in the beer a few days after kegging, give it a few weeks and it smooths out nicely. If you love your beers hoppy and bitter then give it a go. You did not say what temp the water will be in the plunger, I used 90 degrees water, next time I will try it it cooler.

 

[BjornJ]

No expert, by my understanding of the difference between dry hopping and "tea hopping" is that the dry hopping adds aroma while the hop tea will add flavour and aroma.

That when dry hopping there is no heat involved, no way of getting bittering into the beer from the hops.
Only the essential aroma oils are to a certain extent extracted into the beer.
This will give more hop aroma, some hop flavour but no bittering.
(and may or may not give hazy beer due to particles and oils from the hops)

The tea hopping is using hot water, so extracting more of the essential flavour/aroma hop oils than dry hopping.
You will get a more intense hop flavour and also some hop aroma.

There should not be a lot of bittering coming from this as the hops are not actively boiling.
But I've seen lots of comments of people adding hops to a NoChill cube and saying that it definetly makes the beer more bitter.
That even though the hops are not boiled, bittering is extracted in the hot water.
So maybe this will add some bittering.




It probably comes down to if you want a subtle hop aroma from the dry hopping or more of a hop flavour addition?


Even better, split the batch and try half with dry hopping as well


thanks
Bjorn

 

[jacknohe]

I've done a fair bit of both. It really depended on the beer style and taste I was after. I initially found dry hopping a bit full on for some beers and it also left a slight grassy taste. Definitely not a good idea for Lagers (I found out the hard way...).

I moved to using Hop tea for aroma to balance the beer according to my tastes. Used that method for some time, but I'm recently going back to dry hopping. Just picking the right beers really. An AIPA would a good example of a Dry hop candidate.

So to answer your question, Dry hopping and Hop tea are not the same. So pretty much what BjornJ was saying. Hop tea for an aroma addition or Dry hop for aroma and some hoppy flavour. Somtimes the dry hop flavour can add a slight spiciness to it which can be mistaken for bitterness.

Anyway, give it a try both ways. Dry hopping isn't for everyone.