Hop tea vs boil and steep

[Titans19]

Hi all,

I'm planning on doing a hop tea for my next brew instead of boiling water, using the sock, and steeping for 20 minutes.

Will there be a big difference if I just do a 20 minute hot tea in plunger compared to 20 minutes steep after bringing pot to boil?

Reason is a hop tea using a plunger will be easier to manage with kids running around my legs.

Cheers

[UncleStavvy]

I decided to chill the hop tea after pressing by removing the glass and putting it in a jug with ice water. This did not end well. Exit one plunger. Today I boiled up in a sauce pan then added hops to steep for 15 min. Poured that through a clean chux and sieve into a sanitised jug and put in freezer to chill. I'm only taking these steps so as to get a 23L wort as close to 22 deg as I can get to quickly pitch the yeast. Up until I buggered the plunger I was doing just as you suggested and it works fine.

You can always refrigerate your water if you need colder temps for lager yeasts

[Shamus O'Sean]

4 hours ago, Titans19 said:

Hi all,

I'm planning on doing a hop tea for my next brew instead of boiling water, using the sock, and steeping for 20 minutes.

Will there be a big difference if I just do a 20 minute hot tea in plunger compared to 20 minutes steep after bringing pot to boil?

Reason is a hop tea using a plunger will be easier to manage with kids running around my legs.

Cheers

I would not think there would be much difference.

[Titans19]

4 hours ago, UncleStavvy said:

I decided to chill the hop tea after pressing by removing the glass and putting it in a jug with ice water. This did not end well. Exit one plunger. Today I boiled up in a sauce pan then added hops to steep for 15 min. Poured that through a clean chux and sieve into a sanitised jug and put in freezer to chill. I'm only taking these steps so as to get a 23L wort as close to 22 deg as I can get to quickly pitch the yeast. Up until I buggered the plunger I was doing just as you suggested and it works fine.

You can always refrigerate your water if you need colder temps for lager yeasts

Thanks guys.. I'll give this a go later in the week then.

Stavvy I have issues with getting my water temp down as I live in tropics and the cold waters about 1,000° out of the tap, so I bought a 30l water container that I half fill with water and put in my fermenting fridge the night before and use that in the FV when filling up to 23l. Works a treat.

[jamiek86]

@Titans19 i do same with my fermenter the night before fill half way and set to fridge temp. In regards to the hop tea I use a small pot that holds maby a litre or a bit more of liquid and add water from a kettle that was boiled about 10 minutes before hand. Fill it too 3/4 mark add hops and stir with sanitized spoon. It then goes into the top of the fridge freezer and sits for a good 15 to 20 minutes until I strain it into fv. I usually do this on day 4 or 5 of brew. I have been getting good results strong flavour but I fear if bottled better drink it early. I have done this with bookmaker pale ales which are quite bitter and last night drank one at 5 weeks in bottle and found alot of the flavour was disappearing compared to 2 weeks ago. I knew to expect this for dry hopping but hoped the tea would last longer than this. Maby its just my conditions like stored in room too warm who knows im not sure if other people have this problem at 5 week mark or drink them early so not matter.

Edited January 3, 2021 by jamiek86

[lickedthestamp]

I have just done a hop tea in my last brew (Fair Drinkum pale ale). As I did another Fair Drinkum the brew before as well - but dry hopping as per the recipe - I thought it would give me a good comparison. 

This is the first time I have done a hop tea but so far my initial impression is that the flavour is holding better at the same point than the dry hop I did before. I will definitely do a hop tea rather than dry hopping again

Edited January 3, 2021 by lickedthestamp

[Shamus O'Sean]

I added a coffee plunger hop steep to half a Fresh Wort Kit (FWK) on brew day.   This brew was kegged and 7 weeks later I can still taste and smell the effect of this addition.

The next brew I added the coffee plunger hop steep to the keg on kegging day.  I have not got this keg into the kegerator yet to give it a try.  I am expecting a more noticeable effect than adding the steeped liquid on brew day.  This is because the brew day addition goes through the fermentation process that has been said to strip away some of the flavour and aroma from hops.  It also is two weeks "older" than adding the steeped liquid when kegging.  I will let folks know my thoughts on the flavour and aroma effects when I get to this beer.

[jamiek86]

@Shamus O'Sean i suspect I will be fine now I'm kegging I just noticed a huge difference between 3 and 5 weeks in bottle.

[jamiek86]

2 hours ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

 

The next brew I added the coffee plunger hop steep to the keg on kegging day.  I have not got this keg into the kegerator yet to give it a try.  I am expecting a more noticeable effect than adding the steeped liquid on brew day.  

probably a good idea did you put the hop tea in first and then run beer into keg to mix it?

[Shamus O'Sean]

1 hour ago, jamiek86 said:

probably a good idea did you put the hop tea in first and then run beer into keg to mix it?

Yep.  That's exactly what I did.

As an aside, I also snuck 60g of sugar into the boiling water so it would prime and carbonate the beer in the keg (it was a half filled keg).  I knew it would be at least two weeks before I could tap this keg.

[Titans19]

I didn't know you could add the tea when kegging. I was just planning on doing it on brew day.

I'll give keg day a go in the future.

For the brew I'm planning this week I'll be doing galaxy hops for the hop tea and then dry hop more around day 7.

Its going in the Coopers Hefe wheat tin with Light Malt extract tin. US05 yeast.

[Journeyman]

On 1/2/2021 at 5:23 PM, Titans19 said:

Hi all,

I'm planning on doing a hop tea for my next brew instead of boiling water, using the sock, and steeping for 20 minutes.

Will there be a big difference if I just do a 20 minute hot tea in plunger compared to 20 minutes steep after bringing pot to boil?

Reason is a hop tea using a plunger will be easier to manage with kids running around my legs.

Cheers

I've been doing a hop tea for some time, at yeast pitch time. I stated because I did an XPA and the hop hit was so strong I couldn't drink it for a couple of weeks after it should have been right to go. (keg) It smoothed out nicely after that and having read about how hops fades - which is why I kept it a while instead of sinking it - I went investigating hops effects & figured instead of dry hop, use a tea.

I tried the tea and was very pleased with the next batch. I've done a couple that way and the hops seems to last longer that dry hop effects. I do a 20 mins at 85° in a coffee plunger. I think the boiling water & steep would have a different result than the lower temp tea version. I'm not sure it would work for large hop additions but I never do over 50g anyway. To do more you'd probably want 2 plungers.

I've got plans for the next XPA to do the tea as a dry hop - the one after that I might try at kegging time - I had thought about it but I'm not sure if it might be too strong a hops hit without the time in the brew. Maybe you and @Shamus O'Sean can let us know how it goes?

[Tricky Micky]

Slightly off topic so I apologise. I have a really simple Aussie style lager i do which is pretty simple. Just wondering if there is a hop which might suit this beer to add a bit of hop flavor (Dry or steeped)

Coopers Lager tin, Coopers BE3 , 500 grams LDME. Yeast W34/70 - Volume 20 liters. ferment temp @ 12 degrees.

Is there a hop I could add to this recipe that might add something? I've tried POR and Super Pride as a steeped addition but wondering if there is another hop that i could add late for flavor rather than bitterness. Cheers 

[Stickers]

13 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Slightly off topic so I apologise. I have a really simple Aussie style lager i do which is pretty simple. Just wondering if there is a hop which might suit this beer to add a bit of hop flavor (Dry or steeped)

vic secret is worth a go as a dry hop

[Pezzza]

41 minutes ago, Mickep said:

Is there a hop I could add to this recipe that might add something? I've tried POR and Super Pride as a steeped addition but wondering if there is another hop that i could add late for flavor rather than bitterness. Cheers 

Hey Mick - another possibility - EKG maybe - East Kent Goldings... I used it in a Summer Ale and somehow it reminded me of some Aussie beers... and @MitchBastard Mitchie posted a nice Aussie Lager AG Recipe... and there.... lo and behold.... is EKG again... so maybe it would be worth a try?  You already got PoR.  And then there's Golden Cluster that some of the guys pointed me toward when discussing nutty flavours in XXXX years ago... 

 

[Tricky Micky]

3 hours ago, Stickers said:

vic secret is worth a go as a dry hop

 

Thanks mate will give this a crack

[Tricky Micky]

2 hours ago, Graubart said:

Hey Mick - another possibility - EKG maybe - East Kent Goldings... I used it in a Summer Ale and somehow it reminded me of some Aussie beers... and @MitchBastard Mitchie posted a nice Aussie Lager AG Recipe... and there.... lo and behold.... is EKG again... so maybe it would be worth a try?  You already got PoR.  And then there's Golden Cluster that some of the guys pointed me toward when discussing nutty flavours in XXXX years ago... 

Cheers Graubart,

I might give this a go sounds good. 

[Tricky Micky]

15 hours ago, Mickep said:

18 hours ago, Stickers said:

vic secret is worth a go as a dry hop

 

 

Thanks mate will give this a crack

Sounds good.

http://www.hops.com.au/downloads/141120 HPA Vic Secret Product Sheet.pdf

[Tricky Micky]

15 hours ago, Mickep said:

18 hours ago, Graubart said:

Hey Mick - another possibility - EKG maybe - East Kent Goldings... I used it in a Summer Ale and somehow it reminded me of some Aussie beers... and @MitchBastard Mitchie posted a nice Aussie Lager AG Recipe... and there.... lo and behold.... is EKG again... so maybe it would be worth a try?  You already got PoR.  And then there's Golden Cluster that some of the guys pointed me toward when discussing nutty flavours in XXXX years ago... 

Cheers Graubart,

I might give this a go sounds good. 

Definitely sounds the goods according to this:

https://brulosophy.com/2020/11/19/the-hop-chronicles-east-kent-golding-2018/

[Hairy]

EKG is a great hop, it’s a regular in my English Bitters.

Not long ago I tried some Coors that had each been dry hopped with various hops. The EKG was surprisingly good in the Lager.

[jamiek86]

@Hairy thanks for that I also like EKG in bitters but will now try and add a bit to a lager also. As a late addition or hop tea was your experience?

[Hairy]

11 minutes ago, jamiek86 said:

@Hairy thanks for that I also like EKG in bitters but will now try and add a bit to a lager also. As a late addition or hop tea was your experience?

My experience with the Lager was someone popping the cap on a bottle of Coors, dropping two pellets in and re-capping. It was experimental tasting.

[MitchBastard]

@Graubart howdy mate, I think POR and EKG are the same lineage. I think I read that somewhere. I guess that’s why they pair well. 

[Tricky Micky]

Okay, my bad but Vic Secret and Super Pride don't go well together in a dry hop just sayin' - Goddamn awful combo at least for my taste.

On the other hand thanks to @Hairy Hairy's 2:1 Cascade / Galaxy hop combo I could not have asked for a better result in my latest pale ale- Outstanding stuff Hairy  -thank-you.

[Pezzza]

23 hours ago, Mickep said:

On the other hand thanks to @Hairy Hairy's 2:1 Cascade / Galaxy hop combo I could not have asked for a better result in my latest pale ale- Outstanding stuff Hairy  -thank-you.

Late hop Mick?  And amounts in around 20L?  of the Casc-Gal?