Belgian Golden Strong Emergency! - No Bittering Hops for Boil!

[cheezemm]

Local homebrew store is closed...I'm just starting the boil (with all malt mixed in!) and you guessed it, NO BITTERING HOPS!

I realize the hops aren't going into the boil today...so I need advice on what to do here.

1) Can you buy hops boil them up and stir them in as a liquid solution to a fermenting beer? (this seems like a "no" to me)

2) Can I salvage this beer by dry hopping after it's been in the fermenter for a few weeks?


I'm assuming number 2 is the answer. If that's the case, I'm leaning towards using styrian golden, but have not dry hopped before. Any recommendations on how many ounces and how many days? ipe:

 

[Sailingeric]

If you are using extract, then I would just cover the pot and wait to get the hops and start the boil over. The boiling will kill off anything funky.

 

[d3track]

As in you have hops but they aren't the bittering hops?

 

[vincentAlpha]

You could actually make a hop tea and add it in primary. Probably won't be the same but if you are just looking for IBUs then it'll probably work.

 

[cheezemm]

Yes, extract kit.

No hops at all...unhopped liquid extract, dry malt, and some corn sugar for added alcohol content. I could let it ride and see what the belgian yeast does for bitterness.

Thanks for the help guys, this is not usual at all for this store, but I know they have some summer help

 

[kdw2pd]

I don't see why you couldn't boil hops for 60 minutes and add that solution to a fermenting beer. It'd be sterilized, so wouldn't hurt your ferment, and people add sugars to fermenting beer all the time.

Your choice of bittering hop doesn't matter, as basically all the flavor gets boiled out. You mentioned Styrian Goldings above. If you have a 1oz packet, boiling that will give you 22.5 IBUs in a 1.07 beer, which is on the low end, but acceptable for a Golden Strong.

Dry-hopping will not work, as it adds hop aroma and flavor to beers, but 0 IBUs.

 

[cheezemm]

Ok....sounds like hop tea is in order. How much water do I need to use for 1oz of styrians to get the desired IBUs for a 5 gallon batch?

Thanks gang, this blows

 

[kdw2pd]

2 quarts, maybe? Enough that you can boil for 60 minutes without boiling away all the liquid. If that's a little much, it shouldn't dilute your gravity too much.

Have you pitched the yeast? If not, I'd suggest grabbing some of your wort and re-boiling it with the hops. If yes, a quart or so of water should work. If you had a little bit of left-over DME, I'd suggest adding it to the water, as the enzymes, etc., will help with hop extraction.

To be clear, I've never done this, but I don't see any reason it wouldn't work.