Ok, so I was curious to know what a hopless beer would taste like, so I got me a can of LME and some specialty grains for flavor, and did my bew as normal, sans hops. I used Muntons yeast for the first time in this experiment also. I left this concoction in a fermenter for 3 weeks, as I have become accustomed to doing. I bottled this beer yesterday, and it smelled and looked a bit funny, but I bottled it anyway, hoping it may get better over time. I am wondering if my ph may have been off a bit due to the lack of hops, and causing the batch to become infected (having never had an infection it may not be), but am also wondering if the Muntons yeast may just be different from the Nottingham or Windsor yeast I typically use. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Hopless beer
- Thread starter Treon
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Beernik
Well-Known Member
Find a bottle of Malta Goya. It's like non-alcoholic, non-hopped beer.
I imagine if you mixed a shot of vodka in it, it would be a good approximation.
I imagine if you mixed a shot of vodka in it, it would be a good approximation.
QuercusMax
Well-Known Member
Except it wouldn't be sweet because the sugars would have been fermented.
Actually Malta Goya IS hopped
More than likely your hopless beer IS infected, that's why it smells off. Don't you know that one of the main reasons we put hops in beer, is that they're an antispetic? They prevent spoilage in beer.
There is a whole history of non hopped beers, called gruits. They used herbs for bittering, and many of those herbs have a slight antiseptic properties as well, but usually less than that of hops. So many gruits are tart, if not downright sour.
But if you're not using anything with antiseptic qualities, then you've set yourself up for spoilage.
There is a whole history of non hopped beers, called gruits. They used herbs for bittering, and many of those herbs have a slight antiseptic properties as well, but usually less than that of hops. So many gruits are tart, if not downright sour.
But if you're not using anything with antiseptic qualities, then you've set yourself up for spoilage.
Beernik
Well-Known Member
My point is that Malta is under hopped compared to just about everything. And a beer that has little or no bittering or souring agent, even after fermented is going to be left sweet because you are leaving 25% residual sugars.
Actually, I knew a lot less when I decided to try this experiment. Since then I have learned more about why hops are used, much of which was the point made by Revvy, prior to this thread, I had not heard of gruits at all. This leads me to ask one more thing, I used a plastic bucket fermenter, as well as a plastic bucket bottling bucket, and of course the auto siphon and tubing is plastic as well. Should I even attempt to clean these out or should I just pitch them and chock it up to a lesson learned? I have starsan in them currently, but if you guys think they are at all risky to use, they are gone.
Pickled_Pepper
Well-Known Member
As long as there are no scratches in the plastic for crusties to hide, you shouldn't need to replace your equipment. Just give them a diluted bleach soak, make sure there's no solid particles, rinse well and follow your sanitizing regiment before brewing again.
I make hard cider and it has no hops in it. Wine doesn't have hops in it either and it doesn't spoil. I know it's fruit must with a different chemical makeup, but I don't know why you would HAVE to have hops in a batch. Of course hops greatly enhance the flavor of beer and provide preservative properties as well.
In most cases wouldn't the yeast out perform the natural bad guys and then the alcohol would keep most wild things in check. Am I wrong in thinking this?
I make hard cider and it has no hops in it. Wine doesn't have hops in it either and it doesn't spoil. I know it's fruit must with a different chemical makeup, but I don't know why you would HAVE to have hops in a batch. Of course hops greatly enhance the flavor of beer and provide preservative properties as well.
In most cases wouldn't the yeast out perform the natural bad guys and then the alcohol would keep most wild things in check. Am I wrong in thinking this?
ABrewingApe
Well-Known Member
The sugars in fruit, dosed with yeast that like that sort of thing, tend to ferment fast and get the ABV up to a preservative level quicker than the sugars in wort. At least that's my experience.
You can make sima with malt, effectively a very weak unhopped beer where the fermentation manifests mostly as a gentle carbonation. But sima can also sour, which is why the traditional recipe incorporates lemons. If you're fermenting malt, you're pretty much always going to need either something preservative or something to help the sour taste good.
You can make sima with malt, effectively a very weak unhopped beer where the fermentation manifests mostly as a gentle carbonation. But sima can also sour, which is why the traditional recipe incorporates lemons. If you're fermenting malt, you're pretty much always going to need either something preservative or something to help the sour taste good.
Piper, wine and ciders are not the same animal, the don't NEED hops to prevent spoilage. Lactobacillus for example is inherent to barley itself, you can't make beer with there being lacto and other things present. Hops help mitigate it. Take your grain that you steep or mash with and leave it to drop below pasteurization temps and in an hour or less you'll know the difference between wine and beer.
Or smell or taste your yeast starter after its been on a warm kitchen counter for a couple of days...again you see why you can't compare apples and oranges or barely and fruit fermentations. That's why some folks add a hop pellet or two when boiling their starters.
Op I WOULD treat the gear you used as if it were tainted. Look up bleach bombing on here. Brewers who brew sours regularly segregate all the stuff they use from the rest of their gear. Because it doesn't really matter if stuff is scratched because tubing, spigots, auto siphons all have tiny gaps in it where nasty stuff can hide.
Or smell or taste your yeast starter after its been on a warm kitchen counter for a couple of days...again you see why you can't compare apples and oranges or barely and fruit fermentations. That's why some folks add a hop pellet or two when boiling their starters.
Op I WOULD treat the gear you used as if it were tainted. Look up bleach bombing on here. Brewers who brew sours regularly segregate all the stuff they use from the rest of their gear. Because it doesn't really matter if stuff is scratched because tubing, spigots, auto siphons all have tiny gaps in it where nasty stuff can hide.
Pickled_Pepper
Well-Known Member
Excellent explanation. Thanks for the clarification on lacto.
Shred
Former Microbrewery Founder & Pro Brewer
I have a friend who is allergic to hops and gluten. I just sent her first six-pack of hop-free, gluten-free beer home with her. I used mugwort, wormwood, bitter orange peel, and juniper berries in the boil. While it's an unusual flavor for a "beer", it's actually rather fruity and refreshing.
Note - wormwood is EXTREMELY bitter. My first batch was so bitter I dumped all of it out except for 1.5 gallons and blended that with a clean, non-bittered 3.5 gallon batch to come up with this final product.
Note - wormwood is EXTREMELY bitter. My first batch was so bitter I dumped all of it out except for 1.5 gallons and blended that with a clean, non-bittered 3.5 gallon batch to come up with this final product.
I think I am going to make this my excuse to get a 6 gal glass carboy to replace the fermenter, might try to bleach bomb the bottling bucket, might just replace it. This has definitely been a learning experience. Maybe next time I will simply try a lightly hopped beer, perhaps I have already found the flavor I want in a nice Irish red ale. Thank you all for the valuable information regarding this topic.
Shred
Former Microbrewery Founder & Pro Brewer
I'd say you're probably fine after bleach bombing everything, but glass is always safest. I toss my siphon lines after every use. The stuff is like $0.30 a foot when bought in bulk (I get mine in 20' sections at Home Depot) so it's not worth the effort to me to try to properly clean it.
