Hops in General

[Captain 3 Droids]

Opened this up for any discussion about hops other than dry hopping as that as it’s own thread.

I have noted with the recipes for the Bavarian Lager and the Bohemian Lager the only difference is the hops. Bavarian using H3 (Hallertau) and H4 (Czech Saaz) for Bohemian. It would be interesting if someone has a bottle of each that they could do a side by side taste test.

The point is how much hops play on the outcome of a brew both in bitterness, aroma/flavour. So don’t be shy in experimentation of a recipe. My next Bohemian I may dry hop 1/2 of each as I throughly enjoy both. (why play around you might ask, well we are brewers of a sort, 🤔) 

 

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

Just had a thought - when brewing either one of the above and you keg to brewflo, put one H3 hop sachet in one keg and a H4 in the other and you’ll have a keg of each brew.

[Alan Batchelor]

Mark

I live in Connecticut USA, consequently my favorite type of beer is a NEIPA (New England). This is a cloudy Juicy beer with great aroma's.

The Pineapple Crush could be close but to create the NE Style IPA I would want to make a few changes.

Drop the Pineapple but if it works I might try a mango at a later date.

Switch yeast for Lallemand LalBrew New England This is a low flocculating yeast so should stay suspended in the brew rather than sink to the bottom. Hence giving a cloudy brew..

Dry hop with some sort Citra/Galaxy/Amarillo/Mosiac combo. I would use pellets in a Muslin bag or maybe a tea. 

The idea would be to dry hop early in the process between 24 - 48 hours into the process and then again after fermentation has finished. Since the beer fermentation is very active I was thinking maybe day 3 to add hops.

The question is to add hops early It would mean I need to open the lid during fermentation. I would do this is on my PicoBrew with no issues but I see lots of warnings to not do so in the Beerdriod.

Any thoughts about opening for a few seconds and dry hoping? Is there much chance to to spoil the beer? 

Would appreciate your thoughts and thanks for all help you have given me so far 👍

~Alan

[Captain 3 Droids]

6 hours ago, Alan Batchelor said:

Mark

I live in Connecticut USA, consequently my favorite type of beer is a NEIPA (New England). This is a cloudy Juicy beer with great aroma's.

The Pineapple Crush could be close but to create the NE Style IPA I would want to make a few changes.

Drop the Pineapple but if it works I might try a mango at a later date.

Switch yeast for Lallemand LalBrew New England This is a low flocculating yeast so should stay suspended in the brew rather than sink to the bottom. Hence giving a cloudy brew..

Dry hop with some sort Citra/Galaxy/Amarillo/Mosiac combo. I would use pellets in a Muslin bag or maybe a tea. 

The idea would be to dry hop early in the process between 24 - 48 hours into the process and then again after fermentation has finished. Since the beer fermentation is very active I was thinking maybe day 3 to add hops.

The question is to add hops early It would mean I need to open the lid during fermentation. I would do this is on my PicoBrew with no issues but I see lots of warnings to not do so in the Beerdriod.

Any thoughts about opening for a few seconds and dry hoping? Is there much chance to to spoil the beer? 

Would appreciate your thoughts and thanks for all help you have given me so far 👍

~Alan

I dry hop during the fermentation process generally near the end and carefully opening and closing the lid has been no problem. The important thing is to lift and replace lid slowly so as not to create a push of air into the fermenter thus replacing what co2 coverage you have. If all is prepared,  lid off, hop bag/ss bomb in and lid on will only take a few seconds. Note: whatever you use for the hops must be sanitised and so should your hands in preparation and placement. (US starsan is a top sanitiser)

Cheers Mark

 

[Alan Batchelor]

Thanks Mark,

I always use starsan 😀

I will make sure I sanitize the Muslin bag and my hands. 

Will open and close gently and as quick as possible. 

Thanks again. 

Alan

[Captain 3 Droids]

24 minutes ago, Alan Batchelor said:

Thanks Mark,

I always use starsan 😀

I will make sure I sanitize the Muslin bag and my hands. 

Will open and close gently and as quick as possible. 

Thanks again. 

Alan

Ps Forgot to mention, don’t do whilst droid is testing or in heat/cool mode

[Clayton Angel]

On 12/06/2020 at 6:27 AM, Barrelboy said:

Ps Forgot to mention, don’t do whilst droid is testing or in heat/cool mode

When using a boil/muslin bag for dry hops....do you just spray the starsan on it and let it dry? What is the best way to prepare it?

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

34 minutes ago, Clayton Angel said:

When using a boil/muslin bag for dry hops....do you just spray the starsan on it and let it dry? What is the best way to prepare it?

 

I have some starsan in a jar but you could use a bowl. Dunk the whole bag in, remove, wring out and then use. No need to let it dry

[Clayton Angel]

Thanks mate....1.5ml per litre...is that correct?

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

30 minutes ago, Clayton Angel said:

Thanks mate....1.5ml per litre...is that correct?

 

Yes and remember it’s reusable.

[Clayton Angel]

Does it do any harm if you have it stronger than 1.5ml? Not saying I will...just thinking if my measuring was not quite so strict?

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

33 minutes ago, Clayton Angel said:

Does it do any harm if you have it stronger than 1.5ml? Not saying I will...just thinking if my measuring was not quite so strict?

 

You don’t want to over do but a bit extra (.5ml) won’t do an harm. Out of interest I use a reusable 3ml syringe from a chemist. Good for 1 and 2 litre volumes.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Barrelboy

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Barrelboy said:

You don’t want to over do but a bit extra (.5ml) won’t do an harm. Out of interest I use a reusable 3ml syringe from a chemist. Good for 1 and 2 litre volumes.

About 80 cents from the chemist, a bit fiddly to use but like anything you eventually get the hang of it.

@Clayton Angel try to be as accurate as you can when dispensing as you're aiming to achieve a solution with the correct pH. 🍻

[Clayton Angel]

Aaah ok...so less really is more! Thanks everyone for your help.

[Robert Pretty]

Got the notification to add the dry hops. Once I throw them in, is there anything that needs to be done to the droid ? To let it know they have been added? Or it is automatically done, and after end of fermentation is detected. It will move to keg.

Heard somewhere here that it cold crushes.

Thanks

 

 

[Captain 3 Droids]

9 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Got the notification to add the dry hops. Once I throw them in, is there anything that needs to be done to the droid ? To let it know they have been added? Or it is automatically done, and after end of fermentation is detected. It will move to keg.

Heard somewhere here that it cold crushes.

Thanks

 

 

Is there anything on the Droid screen like pressing the tick button when you have put in the hops? If not it would seem it will auto go to EOF and then storage (cold storage 4C)

Cheers Mark.

[Robert Pretty]

Thanks Mark

I'm not home tonight , working in Sydney, so I was going to instruct the wife to put them in over the phone.

I did hear that you did have to press the tick.

[Robert Pretty]

How good are Brewart staff.

From Liam 

Add the hops in (do not stir) just tip them in and close the lid.

Then push the Tick on the BeerDroid.

 

The BeerDroid will sit in Dry Hop for 48 hours, then move to cold crash for a further 48 hours before sending you the End Of Fermentation Notification

[Dustin Frothman]

33 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

I'm not home tonight , working in Sydney, so I was going to instruct the wife to put them in over the phone.

Now that's how you brew. 👍

[Robert Pretty]

Thanks Dustin, with only one droid at the moment. Time can't be wasted, especially if it will be 4 days to keg and bottling after the hops are in 

[Dustin Frothman]

40 minutes ago, Robert Pretty said:

Thanks Dustin, with only one droid at the moment. Time can't be wasted, especially if it will be 4 days to keg and bottling after the hops are in 

Agreed.

@Barrelboy keeps telling me to get another Droid. He's correct.

Eventually.

[Rob Courtney]

On 17/09/2020 at 5:06 PM, Dustin Frothman said:

Agreed.

@Barrelboy keeps telling me to get another Droid. He's correct.

Eventually.

I am the only one drinking beer in my house and I grabbed a second droid just to make sure I could increase output when needed.

 

You so need a second droid it is not funny...it's what tax returns are for...