I have 5 gallons of Czech Pilsner approaching bottling time - has been lagering ~4 weeks at 38F. I tasted it and it is light on hop taste and aroma (Saaz hops all the way), and I’m considering making and adding a Saaz hop tea to the beer when I bottle it. (I used distilled water and modified it IAW EZ-Water for my grain bill.)
Has anyone done this, and if so what did you do? I realize that without boiling I won’t get bitterness…I am after additional Saaz flavor and aroma. 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. I have also read about hop creep when dry hopping so I don’t plan to do that for this batch until I understand that better.
In other words I don’t know what I’m doing but I would love to hear from someone that has done this successfully (Hop tea added to beer at bottling time). Cheers, and thanks in advance if you can help me out.
This is a bit more difficult when bottling as opposed to kegging, but it can be done:
A french press will work for hop tea. I’d keep the temperature between 170° & 180°F.
Queue up three or four glasses of equal amounts of beer (125 ml each or something). Then use a syringe or pipette to put a milliliter or two of hop tea in the first cup and adjust up or down from there for the remaining samples (1ml, 2ml, 3ml would work for side-by-side comparison).
Pick the one that tastes the best, and then you can multiply how much hop tea you need for the remaining beer. I’d probably put the tea in the bottling bucket first so it mixes thoroughly.
In my opinion I would just dry hop it. The tea in the french press idea is going to introduce oxygen back into your beer and could produce off flavors. You could boil the water first to reduce the oxygen but allowing to to cool will allow oxygen to get back the the water. An easy way to understand (Hop Ceeep) is that Hops contain trace amounts of both alpha and beta amylase as well as dextrinase enzymes. When dry hopping these enzymes can continue to convert a small amount of starch into sugars feeding your yeast. For this to occur you would have to dry hop with a lot of hops for the amount of amylase and enzymes to make a difference. Its really not that common for homebrewers and professional brewers.
By a 6-er of your favorite light beer… Drop in a known amount of hops into 2 bottles… And up the amount and repeat for the next 2 bottles… Then up the amount again and repeat… Put them in the fridge or cupboard for a few days… Serve chilled and compare the varying hop quantities of only 3 bottles… Let the others sit another week and compare… Take notes! You are going to see if can tell the difference of what the amounts do to change your brew… Try this with different hop varieties to see which one appeals to your taste…
Actually a fun X-beerment. Sneezles61
100% agree with @dannyboy58 agreeing with @damian_winter
There is a limited release Little Sumpin’ Hazy from Lagunitas that has just enough hop sediment in it that you can get 2 completely different beers by agitating the bottle or not. Let your hops runs free.
