Suggestions. No hops beer.

[arpie12008]

After bottling I have discovered that I left the hops out of my "beer". Yes! all of it. Somehow in my process it didnt go in. Any ideas what it will taste like and suggestions what to do. I thought of putting "bitters"in the glass like they use in "lemon lime and bitters"??? Surely someone else has done a similar thing. Please don't laugh too hard.

 

[Futur]

You could dry hop to add flavor, but that isn't going to add bitterness unfortunately.

If your yeast is still healthy and you keg, to add bitterness you could do a smaller boil made with possibly DME whilst adding a large quantity of hop additions for your recipe. Add this to your batch and let it ferment at the correct temperature to finish up and you should still maintain your gravity and now have your added bitterness.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Isn't that called Gruit, beer brewed without hops? I believe they would use Mugwort for bittering in those days.

 

[TimT]

It'll be fine. You've just made an old-school ale. Hopping wasn't always as widespread as it is now. Maybe drink it fresh just in case, and if you don't like the taste (you'll notice more sweet and sour, the yeasty and sugary flavours that hops tend to mask) you can add a spice when you pour it.

 

[QldKev]

I'd try some isohops/hop oil for it. A drop in the glass

 

[TimT]

Gruit was the medieval style - it essentially meant beer made with a combination of herbs. The basic gruit combo was yarrow, bog myrtle and wild rosemary, but there were many other combos - and they probably varied from house to house and village to village anyway. Nowadays brewers often use 'gruit' as shorthand for any herbal ale/ale made without hops, but that probably doesn't represent how medieval brewers thought of the term 'gruit': a singular herb didn't make a gruit - it was a combo. It's possible hops made it into some gruit combos, too.

Mugwort was a common gruit herb, true. It's a good one.

 

[nosco]

Iso hops work but go easy as it can be a bit harsh. It will cloud up your beer for a bit but it will settle after a bit.You could also try and re boil a litre or so of the beer and put it in a french coffe press. Or you could get some hop shots from Yob and do some experimenting with some warmed up beer added to the main batch.

 

[Kev R]

As you have bottled as apposed to keging your options are probably limited to treatment after serving, unless you want to open them all, put the beer back into the fermenter boil some hops to make a hop tea add to the fermenter. I think you will need to let it ferment your priming sugars before re priming and bottling. All this re handling could increase the chance of infection .
I would let it condition and see what it's like before feeding the lawn. What you could learn by tasting might be valuable.
look into the history of beer making as lots of stuff was used before using hops,herbs spices ect.and these might be more sutible for adding to the glass at serving than hops.
Remember some good stuff over the ages has been stumbled on because of mistakes and accidents.
Keep us posted i for one are interested in how it turns out

 

[danestead]

Isohop or hop extract. It'll taste like a commercial swill!

 

[Vini2ton]

Buy a flash bottle of scotch and use it to clean the palate after each wee dram. You won't regret it. Ye olden days stuff. Oh and wear a kilt.

 

[arpie12008]

I'd try some isohops/hop oil for it. A drop in the glass

I looked at "hop extract" and that looks like a possibility but the amount is a bit of a worry 33/1000ml per 330ml bottle. Not sure how to measure an amount like that. Perhaps dilute and add ?? a few drops.

 

[arpie12008]

Buy a flash bottle of scotch and use it to clean the palate after each wee dram. You won't regret it. Ye olden days stuff. Oh and wear a kilt.

I like the way you think. :kooi: :kooi:

 

[TimT]

If you don't like the taste you can also do things like
1) use it in cooking.
2) use it to make a mulled ale or buttered beer. The lack of hops is actually something of an advantage in these cases as it gives you a more neutral base to work from, and anyway, you can add hops while doing the mulling/heating.
3) Slug traps for the garden. (Look up slug pub).

 

[arpie12008]

Isohop or hop extract. It'll taste like a commercial swill!

I can live with it tasting like a commercial swill. Just don't really want to throw it out. I do too much of that already. I like experimenting and go by the "if one is good then ten will be fantastic" school of thought.......Normally doesn't work.

 

[nosco]

It works alright. Just be sparring . 2 or 3 drops to start. It tastes alright but not a smooth bitterness. The main problem is that putting it into cold beer makes it coagulate so youll have to stir it a bit but it never mixes fully. Makes the beer cloudy too but no big deal. Better than tipping out beer. Since you bottles it though you have any many methods to try as you have bottles

 

[Danscraftbeer]

and make another beer and remember to put the bloody hops in. :chug:

 

[mr_wibble]

It's harsh, but i think you should dump it - or at least not drink it.
It's not worth keeping bad beer.

The more pain, the less chance of forgetting the hops next batch.

 

[skb]

Maybe I have had a few many (in London pub right now) but the thing I want to know is what does it taste like

 

[Mardoo]

[quote name="arpie12008" post="1332834" timestamp="1447584013"I like experimenting and go by the "if one is good then ten will be fantastic" school of thought.......Normally doesn't work.[/quote]
Ha! I used to be from more-must-be-better school of thought too, in cooking. Learned my lesson with 10 ghost chiles instead of one Good one to drop.

 

[TimT]

Keep it as a test beer so you can compare hop flavoured beer to a 'neutral' flavoured beer.