Non-Dry Hop...Hopping.

[tsb22]

I have a Honey brown (extract kit + steeped grains) that has been sitting in primary for about 4 weeks now, and am preparing to rack for conditioning.

The half batch (2.5gal) recipe originally called for a 60min and 30min addition of 1oz hops. Not being a big fan of heavy hops character or large IBU beers, I used the just 1 oz @ 60mins. Later I found out the LHBS may have actually given me 2-1/2oz portions of pellets, rather than 2-1oz portions.

My question is, if i try a sample when I'm racking, and it is too sweet, (worried about the 1/4lb chocolate malt & 1/2lb honey) what are my options. (besides RDWHAHB )

With the style and my personal tastes, I feel like dry-hopping would not be the most appropriate choice.

Is there a way to "wet-hop"...ie actually boil some hops in water for 30-45mins and then cool, add to conditioning vessel, and rack from the primary on top?

I came up with this method because I know boiling hops allows some of the acids/oils to be evaporated. My thought was I would be adding a much less bitter hop flavor by doing this.

A friend mentioned that doing this with just water may not allow the hops to react like it usually would with actual wort, since there are little/no enzymes in plain water. So I then began to think maybe boiling water + some light LME, would allow the hops to correctly react, and that a 1/2cup addition of hops + wort, would add hops flavor, without the malt having much effect on taste.

Unfortunately Im guessing that adding fermentable wort to my secondary/conditioning, would actually create a very light secondary fermentation, even if it is only 1/2 a cup.

Thoughts, suggestions...any other ideas?

 

[Captain Damage]

1st step: weigh your remaining hops so you know for sure if it's 1 oz or 1/2 oz. Hops has to be boiled for the bittering acids to isomerize and become soluble in beer. If it doesn't boil such as when dry hopping, you'll be adding aroma, but virtually no bittering. If you taste a sample and you think it's too sweet, you could theoretically boil your hops in water for 20 minutes and add that to your finished beer. I've never done this though so I can't tell you what to expect.

 

[david_42]

A friend mentioned that doing this with just water may not allow the hops to react like it usually would with actual wort, since there are little/no enzymes in plain water.

Don't know where he got this information. The isomerization of hop resins (AKA alpha acids) has nothing to do with enzymes.

 

[tsb22]

Don't know where he got this information. The isomerization of hop resins (AKA alpha acids) has nothing to do with enzymes.

Haa, well we are both still pretty new @ brewing, so it sounded like it could be logical to me.

Kinda relieved that this isnt the case, adding more fermentables and doing some weird quasi-secondary fermentation with 1/2 a cup didnt sound like a whole lot of fun.

 

[Captain Damage]

A friend mentioned that doing this with just water may not allow the hops to react like it usually would with actual wort, since there are little/no enzymes in plain water.

Don't know where he got this information. The isomerization of hop resins (AKA alpha acids) has nothing to do with enzymes.

Boiling will destroy/denature any enzymes present in the wort.

If you do boil the hops in water, you'd actually want to boil them a little less than the 30 minutes they were supposed to boil per the recipe. This is because with no wort in the boil, you'll be extracting the bittering acids a little more efficiently. That's why I said to boil them for 20 minutes, instead of 30.

 

[ghpeel]

A friend mentioned that doing this with just water may not allow the hops to react like it usually would with actual wort, since there are little/no enzymes in plain water.

Your friend is maybe sorta right, but for the wrong reasons. Maybe.

I've heard that you never want to boil hops in plain water. Something along the lines of the resulting hop tea being very vegital and grassy when added back to the beer. Always better to boil in wort or beer, then add it back.

Buyer beware: I've never boiled in plain water, but its something I've heard people on this board caution against a couple of time.

 

[samc]

Pretty simple to test. Boil a few hops for 10, 20, 30 minutes and taste the results.

 

[tsb22]

Should have just RDWHAHB. Finally got a scale and weighed the second portion of (non-added) hops, turned out to be 1oz.

Kegged & tapped now. Nothing to worry about, 1oz of cascade came through for just enough bitterness. No real hop aroma, but that allowed you to really distinguish the chocolate malt flavor.

Will probably back down a little bit on the chocolate malt, as it was more a chocolate brown than a regular brown, and try and find a subtle aromatic hops to give this brew a little more character.

Thanks for all the suggestions tho guys. If I do ever screw a brew up, I will def. be giving this a shot.

 

[cactusgarrett]

It might be more of a pH thing? I don't know. I've heard similar things, technique-wise - years ago when i did extract only i would add all my DME with 10min left in the boil so as not to darken the wort. I did learn, then, that it was a good idea (beneficial) to add about 25% of your extract from the beginning of the boil for better hop utilization and isomerization.

One of the science guys around here (AJ?) would be better to actually explain why, though