Forgot Hops

[zieglesh]

I brewed a beligan dubbel about two weeks ago and just found the hops in my freezer that were supposed to go in the recipe. Apparently I must have got distracted and forgot to add my hops. I hit everything else perfect and fermentation went perfect. I'm going to taste it soon, but wondered if it is most likely trash? I was going to rebrew next week and re-pitch the yeast from the first batch. Any ideas on how to salvage this beer?

 

[fowlintent]

Dry hop for 4-5 days, then bottle?? That will help the aroma and maybe add some flavor, but you are not going to get the bitterness that you should have had from boiling the hops.

 

[jro238]

I would take a sample to see if it was drinkable. If it isn't good (or you want to split the batch to try something)...

I have absolutely no idea if this would work but maybe try a 60 minute boil with your hops (just with water,maybe aim for a half gallon or so final volume) then add this to your fermenter. Again this is all just guess work by me and i have no idea what would actually result.

 

[watersr]

Boiling the hops then adding the hop "tea" isnt a bad idea. Fortunately this style doesn't have a lot of hop character so you just need a bit of bittering. You could also look into the hop extracts sold by some of the bigger homebrew shops.

 

[Toga]

Add some hop extract when you bottle or keg. If you do not wish to go this route make a hop tea as suggested.

 

[JohnSand]

I made a hop mistake with a saison extract batch. I calculated hops originally based on a full boil, but I used only enough water for the early extract addition. I fixed it by boiling hops in a quart of water with some more extract, adjusting for the low volume, and added the hop tea to the wort. It worked fine.

 

[NewJersey]

i just learned something from thsi thread, so thank you original poster!

 

[BGBC]

I was going to rebrew next week and re-pitch the yeast from the first batch. Any ideas on how to salvage this beer?

If you have the extra fermenter space, you could rebrew and blend the two beers prior to bottling. You could increase the bitterness on the second brew, then blend it with your no-hop version to even it out.

 

[zieglesh]

Lots of great responses....thanks! Originally I was going to rebrew this recipe and rack it onto some Sour Cherries. Now I am thinking that I might rack the unhopped version to Sour Cherries to see if that helps mask the lack of hops. I'm also considering buying a hop shot from Northern Brewer and putting it direct into secondary with the Sour Cherries.

 

[zieglesh]

To revisit my thread, I decided to do nothing. My beer actually turned out really nice. This recipe was a belgian dubbel and only asked for 2 oz of hops total. I think I will enter this beer into a hopless beer competition in the future. I rebrewed with hops and I almost like the hopless version better. I served to several people in my homebrew club and no one was able to pick up on the missing ingredient. I guess sometimes leaving it alone is best.

 

[JohnSand]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Starderup]

To revisit my thread, I decided to do nothing. My beer actually turned out really nice. This recipe was a belgian dubbel and only asked for 2 oz of hops total. I think I will enter this beer into a hopless beer competition in the future. I rebrewed with hops and I almost like the hopless version better. I served to several people in my homebrew club and no one was able to pick up on the missing ingredient. I guess sometimes leaving it alone is best.

That's very interesting, and good to know. 2 oz. in how many gallons?
Just don't try this with IIPAs!

 

[goodmojo]

... and then I read this.

 

[jro238]

Wow. Cool to hear that it turned out well (better even) because I really would have thought that no hops at all would have hurt the balance a lot. to good mistakes