Anyone ever make "hop water"?

[NewJersey]

I've purchased this under the hoplark and lagunitas brand names and enjoyed them. (Wife & I are doing dry March again)
I haven't brewed in a while but figured boiling water for 15 minutes and packaging directly into a keg is literally as easy as it could possibly get, right? (And then just waiting for it to carb)
How'd it come out if you tried it?
Thanks

 

[Bobby_M]

I haven't done just a hop infusion but I've been messing with malt soda after drinking a swig of Propper starter wort and thinking it was delicious. I'm going to make a wort at 1.010 and steep a very small dose of hops before putting it in the keg hot. Just watch out, the glue that holds the bottom boot of a keg in place will soften at boiling temps. Don't move the keg until it's chilled down.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

The guys at Clawhammer made some recently:


A good video on Hop Tea (made with Hops and Tea):


There are a few variations out there. I have only tried once and I went with just a little bit of extract and yeast (I had read some info about that approach giving a touch more of a beer character). It turned out nice, but maybe not as much hop character as I wanted and too much lemon character (I added some lemon juice to help lower the pH.)

After my one try with Hop Water, I started just keeping a keg of carbonated water on tap that I would flavor in the glass (not with hops). I then ran out of available taps and the water got kicked aside for beer.

 

[Bobby_M]

I just boiled 2.5 gallons of water, mixed in a pound of Amber dry malt extract, added that to a keg and dropped it into some ice water. Once it got down to 70, I dropped in a bagged ounce of Motueka hops and I'm carbing it now. I like the idea of tea also, but I'm going for more of a beery soda so I really wanted some malt flavor. I'll report back tomorrow after everything settles and carbs up. I have some phosphoric acid at the ready if needed but I didn't want to add it until I tasted the acidic bite of high carbonation first.

 

[AlexKay]

I’ve made hop water a bunch of times. I stand the hops only at 165 or so for 10 minutes; no boiling, or it ends up too bitter. About 1/3 ounce per gallon of water. I add pellets loose and then filter when transferring into the keg; a good hop bag might work, too. Something to watch out for is that it’s not drinkable until a few days after making it; presumably, some of the bitter and /or astringent compounds precipitate out over that time.

 

[AlexKay]

Oh, and brulosophy has a recipe too: Link.

 

[InspectorJon]

Last time I was brewing I dropped one small hop pellet into 8 oz of hot water, maybe 160 F. Stirred and let it sit until it cooled to room temp. It was unpalatably bitter. A couple tablespoons of that added to a pint of club soda was pretty good though.

 

[AlexKay]

Last time I was brewing I dropped one small hop pellet into 8 oz of hot water, maybe 160 F. Stirred and let it sit until it cooled to room temp. It was unpalatably bitter. A couple tablespoons of that added to a pint of club soda was pretty good though.

That’s what I’m saying — you do that, but you need to let it sit a few days before you can drink it.

 

[Knightshade]

I followed the clawhammer supply YouTube and made a 128oz batch. +1 on the waiting a couple days. I’ll be making more soon, probably tomorrow.

 

[Bobby_M]

I just boiled 2.5 gallons of water, mixed in a pound of Amber dry malt extract, added that to a keg and dropped it into some ice water. Once it got down to 70, I dropped in a bagged ounce of Motueka hops and I'm carbing it now. I like the idea of tea also, but I'm going for more of a beery soda so I really wanted some malt flavor. I'll report back tomorrow after everything settles and carbs up. I have some phosphoric acid at the ready if needed but I didn't want to add it until I tasted the acidic bite of high carbonation first.

Without bringing the extract/water up to a full boil, it seems that it may stay hazy forever. One ounce of hops in 2.5 gallons, even cold steeped for a couple hours is way too intense. 1.020 is also too sweet. Adding just 10% of this into 90% seltzer is very nice. It adds just a touch of malt and hop character. I would explore this more with much less malt, probably a max of 1.003 and just steep the hops during a quick chill down.

 

[AzOr]

I make hop water quite a bit. Most of the time I dry hop only for a couple of days. Then let it rest for a couple of days while it’s being force carbed.
My favorite thing to do is to add
Bubly extract (peach and mango) to the hop water. Besides beer, it’s the best beverage in the world. My wife doesn’t always like it hopped so about half the time I just make the Bubly water.
If you do add the extract to hop water, I cut down on the hops just a bit and only use one tiny bottle for 5 gallons ( the extract is good for 3 gallons).

 

[NewJersey]

Bobby, I love your idea too.
I'ma gonna give this a shot with just hops & water first and see how I like it.

 

[marc1]

I just tried the tea one today. 22 bags of leftover tea that we get with Chinese food. Brought 5 gallons of RO water to a boil with 2.5g CaCl2, 1g gypsum, and 3g citric acid. Turned of the heat, added the tea, and steeped for 5 minutes.
Pulled the bags and let it cool to 150 then dropped in 1oz of Idaho 7 in a hop bag. Left it until mostly cooled down and transferred to a keg.
It's in the fridge now at 30PSI.

 

[NeoBrew]

I had a thread like this a few years ago. There are some more ideas shared by others in there as well.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/hop-water-anybody-make-this-before.642326/

 

[BeerFst]

I just tried the tea one today. 22 bags of leftover tea that we get with Chinese food. Brought 5 gallons of RO water to a boil with 2.5g CaCl2, 1g gypsum, and 3g citric acid. Turned of the heat, added the tea, and steeped for 5 minutes.
Pulled the bags and let it cool to 150 then dropped in 1oz of Idaho 7 in a hop bag. Left it until mostly cooled down and transferred to a keg.
It's in the fridge now at 30PSI.

What’s the pH target with the 3g citric? 4.5 like a kettle sour?

 

[marc1]

What’s the pH target with the 3g citric? 4.5 like a kettle sour?

I didn't see one in the video and didn't really care to measure. I figured it would help make it taste a little brighter.

 

[jklett]

Just watch out, the glue that holds the bottom boot of a keg in place will soften at boiling temps. Don't move the keg until it's chilled down.

Not to hijack the thread but I wonder if this would work to re-glue loose boots and handles? I think I know what I'm trying when I get off work today.

 

[AlexKay]

I just tried the tea one today. 22 bags of leftover tea that we get with Chinese food. Brought 5 gallons of RO water to a boil with 2.5g CaCl2, 1g gypsum, and 3g citric acid. Turned of the heat, added the tea, and steeped for 5 minutes.
Pulled the bags and let it cool to 150 then dropped in 1oz of Idaho 7 in a hop bag. Left it until mostly cooled down and transferred to a keg.
It's in the fridge now at 30PSI.

My experience carbonating tea is that it tastes terrible. Some combination of tannins and carbonic bite just goes wrong. I do keg tea, but I push it with food grade N2.

 

[AlexKay]

On the other hand, hibiscus tea carbonates just fine. Hibiscus with Galaxy or Huell Melon, highly carbed, is delicious.

 

[marc1]

My experience carbonating tea is that it tastes terrible. Some combination of tannins and carbonic bite just goes wrong. I do keg tea, but I push it with food grade N2.

I pulled a little sample this evening. Not completely carbed yet. Very light tea flavor, no tannic flavors... I don't think 20ish bags was nearly enough if I wanted 5 gallons of actual tea. But for this, pretty good. Some hoppiness and background tea flavor. Tasted fine, I'm curious to see how it ends up after a week or 2. It pretty much only cost an oz of hops, so very much worth the experiment.

 

[marc1]

Tried it again. This is pretty good. A nice change up from seltzer water.
I put a little foam when I poured and it stuck around.
Not bitter. Hoppy flavor and then some faint tea background. Not nearly up to 30psi carbed yet, but getting there.
I think next time I'm going to add a lot more gypsum. I think the drying flavor it gives to the aftertaste would go well with it.

 

[NewJersey]

Tried it again. This is pretty good. A nice change up from seltzer water.
I put a little foam when I poured and it stuck around.
Not bitter. Hoppy flavor and then some faint tea background. Not nearly up to 30psi carbed yet, but getting there.
I think next time I'm going to add a lot more gypsum. I think the drying flavor it gives to the aftertaste would go well with it.
View attachment 761964View attachment 761965

You're carbing to 30psi??!?

 

[Bobby_M]

You're carbing to 30psi??!?

That's where seltzer/soda lives.

 

[marc1]

You're carbing to 30psi??!?

Yep.

 

[rtstrider]

I've read that you should use 2 grams hops per gallon of water. Add the hops at 170f and let them steep for 10-15 minutes or so. Also I read that lemon juice should be used to drop the PH down to 4.6.

I'll be trying this in the next few days. My plans are to use tap water treated with Campden, fix the PH while the waters at room temp, bring to boil for 10 min, cool to 170F, steep 10 grams hops for 10-15 minutes, then pour into a keg using two paint strainer bags and the filter on a carboy funnel. Figure the keg could handle the warm beer and I'd put it on gas/put in the kegerator while the keg was hot and let the kegerator finish chilling. I initially worried about creating a vacuum as the keg was sealed and cooled down but then I figured keeping it on gas would keep the pressure in there to prevent a vacuum. Would that be a good idea or should I just let the hop water cool first then keg?

 

[rtstrider]

I've read that you should use 2 grams hops per gallon of water. Add the hops at 170f and let them steep for 10-15 minutes or so. Also I read that lemon juice should be used to drop the PH down to 4.6.

I'll be trying this in the next few days. My plans are to use tap water treated with Campden, fix the PH while the waters at room temp, bring to boil for 10 min, cool to 170F, steep 10 grams hops for 10-15 minutes, then pour into a keg using two paint strainer bags and the filter on a carboy funnel. Figure the keg could handle the warm beer and I'd put it on gas/put in the kegerator while the keg was hot and let the kegerator finish chilling. I initially worried about creating a vacuum as the keg was sealed and cooled down but then I figured keeping it on gas would keep the pressure in there to prevent a vacuum. Would that be a good idea or should I just let the hop water cool first then keg?

Also I have a TON of Cascade hop pellets. Would Cascade be a good single hop for hop tea? If not I have some really old Mosaic in the freezer or some Simcoe pellets that are old too but sealed up in the freezer. Outside of that I have a bit of Centennial, Cluster, noble hops (really not thinking those would work too well), Amarillo whole cone, Magnum, Columbus whole cone, and that's about it.

 

[AlexKay]

I've read that you should use 2 grams hops per gallon of water. Add the hops at 170f and let them steep for 10-15 minutes or so. Also I read that lemon juice should be used to drop the PH down to 4.6.

I use closer to 10 grams per gallon, added just like that. I'm not sure lemon juice is a good idea, as the sugar will make it more perishable. Straight lactic acid might be better.

Don't know about Cascade; you'd have to try it. I had good luck with Strata and Nelson Sauvin, so-so with Calypso, and Polaris was nasty. To generalize ... maybe super-fruit-forward hops are best?

And again, you'll need to let it sit for a couple of days to mellow before drinking it.

 

[rtstrider]

I use closer to 10 grams per gallon, added just like that. I'm not sure lemon juice is a good idea, as the sugar will make it more perishable. Straight lactic acid might be better.

Don't know about Cascade; you'd have to try it. I had good luck with Strata and Nelson Sauvin, so-so with Calypso, and Polaris was nasty. To generalize ... maybe super-fruit-forward hops are best?

And again, you'll need to let it sit for a couple of days to mellow before drinking it.

I just found a ton of mosaic in the freezer. Hoping to get this kegged up either tomorrow or Wednesday evening. Figure it’ll sit till the end of the weekend at the very least for cold conditioning/carbonation time. I have a good bit of lactic acid and have no problem using that. Lemon juice sounded interesting but if your experience is better with lactic acid I’ll go that route. Thanks for the help!

 

[AzOr]

I use closer to 10 grams per gallon, added just like that. I'm not sure lemon juice is a good idea, as the sugar will make it more perishable. Straight lactic acid might be better.

Don't know about Cascade; you'd have to try it. I had good luck with Strata and Nelson Sauvin, so-so with Calypso, and Polaris was nasty. To generalize ... maybe super-fruit-forward hops are best?

And again, you'll need to let it sit for a couple of days to mellow before drinking it.

+1 on Nelson. Mosaic is good too though.
Also +1 on letting it rest for a couple of days. First time I made hop water, the hop bite was so strong that I thought it would be a dumper.

 

[rtstrider]

+1 on Nelson. Mosaic is good too though.
Also +1 on letting it rest for a couple of days. First time I made hop water, the hop bite was so strong that I thought it would be a dumper.

Should I use a floating dip tube or just the regular keg dip tube? I have both and am not partial to either. Thinking the floating dip tube might be better here but that’s just a hunch

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I've read that you should use 2 grams hops per gallon of water. Add the hops at 170f and let them steep for 10-15 minutes or so. Also I read that lemon juice should be used to drop the PH down to 4.6.

I made some hop water on Saturday morning since my plans were cancelled due to the snow. It is not bad. It is mostly carbonated by now and some say that hop water improves over a week or two. I feel like the level of hop flavors and bitterness is about right. I do get a bit of a "cut grass" kind of character from the hops. I am not sure if that flavor will lessen with time, is something I could fix in the future, or just a character of hop tea.

My process:

• Treat 2.5 gallons of water with campden (for chlorine/chloramine) and lower the pH with Phosphoric Acid. My target was a pH of 4.5, but after my second addition of acid I measured 4.2.
• Bring 1 gallon of the treated water up to 180F.
• Add 1 oz (28 g) of Azacca hops (in a hop bag) into the heated water.
• Steep for 20 minutes stirring a few times. The ending temp was 162F.
• Transfer into my 10L keg with the other 1.5 gallons of water.
• Move to my fridge to chill and carbonate.

I wonder if some lemon or lime juice would improve the flavor. When I first tried a batch a few years ago I used 8 oz Lemon Juice in a 5 gallon batch. It tasted more like "lemon water with a touch of hop character", but I also only used 20 g of hops for a 5-gallon batch.

I am also curious about adding hops to the keg. I am just a little worried about either adding more grassy flavors, or ended up with hop particles in each glass. I do have a floating dip tube I could use though.

 

[rtstrider]

I made some hop water on Saturday morning since my plans were cancelled due to the snow. It is not bad. It is mostly carbonated by now and some say that hop water improves over a week or two. I feel like the level of hop flavors and bitterness is about right. I do get a bit of a "cut grass" kind of character from the hops. I am not sure if that flavor will lessen with time, is something I could fix in the future, or just a character of hop tea.

My process:

• Treat 2.5 gallons of water with campden (for chlorine/chloramine) and lower the pH with Phosphoric Acid. My target was a pH of 4.5, but after my second addition of acid I measured 4.2.
• Bring 1 gallon of the treated water up to 180F.
• Add 1 oz (28 g) of Azacca hops (in a hop bag) into the heated water.
• Steep for 20 minutes stirring a few times. The ending temp was 162F.
• Transfer into my 10L keg with the other 1.5 gallons of water.
• Move to my fridge to chill and carbonate.

I wonder if some lemon or lime juice would improve the flavor. When I first tried a batch a few years ago I used 8 oz Lemon Juice in a 5 gallon batch. It tasted more like "lemon water with a touch of hop character", but I also only used 20 g of hops for a 5-gallon batch.

I am also curious about adding hops to the keg. I am just a little worried about either adding more grassy flavors, or ended up with hop particles in each glass. I do have a floating dip tube I could use though.

This is mainly why I wanted to try lowering the ph with lemon juice. That way it's a bit more flavor than just hops and water lol

 

[rtstrider]

Ended up making a batch of this last night. Treated 5 gallons tap water with campden and got the ph down to 3.9 with lactic acid. Boiled for 10 minutes then let cool to 170f. Used 50 grams mosaic and let sit for 20 minutes. Chilled in ice bath and racked into a cleaner/sanitized keg. Ended up a gallon short due to leaving the hop “crud” behind. Boiled another treated gallon of water and just dumped that into the keg. The keg was warm to the touch but not “hot”. Put gas on the keg, purged a few times, and off into the kegerator it went. Going to give it a few days to a week to carbonate and condition before doing a taste test. The mosaic was old so not too sure how flavorful it’ll be. Either way I’ll post results on sample day!

 

[rtstrider]

I'm getting impatient here. The keg is at serving pressure and it's getting rolled on it's side for a few minutes every half hour until the gas stops. Want to try the hop water today! It'll most likely be a tad rough around the edges but figure it will smooth out over the next week or so.

 

[rtstrider]

Well I'm drinking the hop water now. It's not bad but it's not out of this world amazing either lol It's La Croix with hops

 

[sibelman]

Well I'm drinking the hop water now. It's not bad but it's not out of this world amazing either lol It's La Croix with hops

Thank you for your tasting notes. Now I don't have to clear a space in my kegerator to try this myself!

'course, to get closer to amazing, you could try adding some malted barley and yeast

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Well I'm drinking the hop water now. It's not bad but it's not out of this world amazing either lol It's La Croix with hops

Yeah, that is kinda what Hop Water is! A light and refreshing carbonated beverage with a touch of hop flavor. Overall I am pretty happy with how mine turned out. I have tried adding lemon juice to a glass. It is nice, but changes the character and covers up a lot of the hop flavors. If I was going to add lemon, lime, or other fruit/citrus I would increase the amount of hops.

The question that I don't yet have an answer to is: Is hop water better than other flavored carbonated water? For a while I had a keg of carbonated water on tap. I would mix that with a glass of lemon + lime with some zest and it was quite nice. I then swapped over to mostly using some of the "water enhancers" (this one from Target is good and cheap, but has artificial sweeteners like most of these products: Strawberry Watermelon Liquid Water Enhancer - 1.62 fl oz Bottle - Market Pantry™).

There is some food, maybe a burger or tacos, that I find go really well with a beer. The carbonated hop tea seem to fit into that spot nicely (especially during lunch). I have significantly reduced the amount of beer that I drink with dinner or food, and instead focused more in enjoying beer by itself.

 

[rtstrider]

Coming back to this. It's been 6 days and this is much more palatable. The carbonation is right where it needs to be and it is holding. This has definitely helped as a beer replacement for a bit. Would definitely consider making a keg or two of this every once in awhile. It's dirt cheap, or in my case free, so it's worth it! This is not something I went into and said...Whoa this is can't have stuff! It's been a developed palate for sure. Can say I wouldn't go out of the way for this but since it's there it's nice. 10 grams of hops per liter was definitely the right call here. Any less and it'd just be La Croix

 

[marc1]

The hopped tea is a great change up from seltzer water. I've been enjoying it.
I would recommend more high beer levels of carbonation, though, rather than seltzer levels. It has amazing persistent foaminess, unlike seltzer.

 

[Dexlor]

I did the Brulosophy recipe but added some wine tannis and substituted Citric Acid for the lactic acid since I did not have lactic. We found some hoplark in the grocery store and I was surprised how similar they were in flavor.

The hop water definitely needs a week or two to mellow out but is extremely refreshing.