Saaz Hop Tea for Czech Pilsner

[Mike123]

I have an all grain Czech Pilsner that is approaching bottling time. Has been lagering for 4 weeks at 38F. I tasted it and it seems a little light on hop taste and aroma, and I'm considering making and adding a hop tea to the beer when I bottle it. Has anyone done this, and if so what did you do? I might just steep the hops in a French press but I don't know how much hops (pellets) to use, how much water to steep in, how much to add to the beer, and what temperature the water should be. In other words I don't know what I'm doing but I would love to hear from someone that has done this successfully. Cheers, and thanks in advance if you can help me out.

 

[Steveruch]

4 weeks isn't all that long, you could add some dry hops and postpone bottling a week.

 

[brewbama]

I’ve made a hop tea that perked up an otherwise drab beer. It didn’t make it a best of show beer but it made a good pint for around the house.

I boiled some water, poured it over an oz of whole cone Saaz hops, let it steep an hour, poured off the tea, and added the tea to the beer.

 

[Brooothru]

I’ve made a hop tea that perked up an otherwise drab beer. It didn’t make it a best of show beer but it made a good pint for around the house.

I boiled some water, poured it over an oz of whole cone Saaz hops, let it steep an hour, poured off the tea, and added the tea to the beer.

I did the same thing, but the beer DID win Best in Show! I'd brewed a Pre-Prohibition lager that kinda ended up being a "lagger" instead. I heated a quart of distilled water to 170F and put it in a French press with 1 oz of Cluster Fugget blend from Yakima Chief, steeped for 30 mins., pressed and chilled to the lagering temperature and injected it into the keg.

It tasted 'OK', so I entered it along with 5 other entries on a whim in a large local competition. It ended up bottle conditioning for a little over 2 weeks before the judging, and I was flabbergasted when it won BoS.

When I finally got around to actually tasting the tea-hopped beer, I had to agree with the judges that it turned out pretty darn good.

Brooo Brother

 

[Mike123]

I think I'll do this, based mostly on Brooo Brother's actual and very positive results. Heat 1 quart distilled water to 170F, steep 1 ounce Saaz pellet hops for 30 minutes in a French press. Press and chill and add to the beer when I bottle it. Bottle condition for 2 weeks. I'll get back on here with my results.

 

[Brooothru]

I think I'll do this, based mostly on Brooo Brother's actual and very positive results. Heat 1 quart distilled water to 170F, steep 1 ounce Saaz pellet hops for 30 minutes in a French press. Press and chill and add to the beer when I bottle it. Bottle condition for 2 weeks. I'll get back on here with my results.

Should work very well for you. Don't be put off by the flavor and/or aroma of the tea. It's pretty potent stuff, but will really rock your beer once it gets diluted into 5 gals., and then conditions for a week or two.

After you've pressed the hops, try putting the hops 'sludge' in a pint Mason jar with a jigger or two of unflavored vodka. Refrigerate it for a few weeks, then chuck it in your next brew as your bittering charge. The alcohol in the vodka acts as a solvent for the hop oils and volatiles, but the alcohol will evaporate during the boil.

Brooo Brother

 

[Mike123]

I have a modified hop tea approach that might work better than my above one, based on the hop utilization chart I've attached. I want to add the resulting tea to my Czech Pilsner at bottling time. The objective is to add flavor and aroma, and no additional bitterness.

1. Heat 3/4 quart distilled water for a 20 minute rolling boil.
2. Add 1/2 ounce Saaz pellets at the start, for a 20 minute flavor extraction.
3. Add 1/2 ounce Saaz pellets at 12 minutes from start for an 8 minute aroma extraction.
4. At 20 minutes add 1/4 quart chilled distilled water to stop both extraction processes.
5. Separate the hops in a french press and set aside in a container with cling wrap to minimize oxygen uptake until bottling time.

What do you folks think about that approach? This optimizes the flavor and aroma I'm after from the hops, and the boil also reduces oxygen. I'm wondering how much the volume of water affects the hop utilization times?

Thanks,
Mike123

 

[Jayjay1976]

I'm thinking about trying this to add some Saaz to a Kölsch I brewed a few weeks back. It's been in the keg for about two weeks now and tastes pretty damn good already, but I would like it to have more hop flavor and aroma, even if that would not be true to style.

 

[Mike123]

I'm thinking about trying this to add some to a Kölsch I brewed a few weeks back. It's been in the keg for about two weeks now and tastes pretty damn good already, but I would like it to have more hop flavor and aroma, even if that would not be true to style.

I think that is a great idea. I tried a hop tea as I mentioned above, with lackluster results, but I dry hopped a NE IPA recently and the result was simply amazing. Best beer I have brewed and I've been at this a while (20 years off and on). In my case the dry hopping was done in two phases during time in the keg. Go for it and please let me know how it turns out. I love Kölsch.

 

[Cyclman]

I am a big fan of dry hopping.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I think that is a great idea. I tried a hop tea as I mentioned above, with lackluster results, but I dry hopped a NE IPA recently and the result was simply amazing. Best beer I have brewed and I've been at this a while (20 years off and on). In my case the dry hopping was done in two phases during time in the keg. Go for it and please let me know how it turns out. I love Kölsch.

So are you suggesting I should skip the hop tea and just keg hop with some Saaz? How many ounces in 5 gallons?

 

[Mike123]

So are you suggesting I should skip the hop tea and just keg hop with some Saaz? How many ounces in 5 gallons?

Yes, my personal experience with hop teas is that you can't get an effective extraction with so little water. I would dry hop....I have had better results with that versus hop tea. I am no expert, but in my experience normal dry hopping rates are 1 or 2 ounces for a light to moderate aroma/flavor addition, and up to 6 ounces and more for a strong enhancement. Some brewers go even farther, it depends on your personal tastes and the beer style. The result can vary with water chemistry. I would suggest, given that your Czech Pilsner already tastes great, and that your tastes lean towards highly hopped beer, to dry hop with 2 or 3 ounces of Saaz pellets for the last 4 days your beer is in the fermenter. Add them after the primary fermentation is complete. I personally would start there since you already have a great beer - you can't undo the dry hopping if you don't like the result. If you have careful notes of how you made this, you can always make it again and crank up the dry hopping rate until you hit your "mark" on the taste you are after. Meanwhile you are drinking great brew and dreaming of the perfect pilsner (for you). As a reference point I just made a New England IPA and the dry hop schedule was very high (my opinion). During the last 7 days in the fermenter I added 3 ounces pellets for 4 days, removed them, and added 3 more ounces for the final 3 days. During the dry hop I stir the pellets daily (I use a hop filter submerged in the beer), then when I remove the pellets I squeeze as much liquid out of them as possible. Note: this beer was hazy, which is OK by me. The result was amazing, but remember an NE IPA is inherently highly hopped (flavor and aroma, not bitterness). Good luck and cheers! Let us know how it turned out?

 

[Wolfbrau]

I would dry hop with 1 ounce of some noble variety. A few days is plenty of time. The results will be good, the process is easy, and it'll give you a repeatable benchmark for future batches.