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Additional Hops


Brad Quinn

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I will be planning on trying some real hops instead of the Brewart liquid hops soon once I've done a few more BrewPrints. I would recommend using the BrewArt hops from the BrewPrint first while you get used to the process and gain a bit of experience.
The easiest way to add the hops to the beer is to make a hop tea and then add this to the keg during kegging. Hopefully during conditioning the hops will then add more flavour and aroma to the beer.
To make the hop tea, mix 10g of hops with about 200ml of hot water and let it sit in the plunger for 10 minutes. Then use the plunger to remove the hop scum and pour half the liquid into each keg, then prime the keg and add the beer to fill the keg.
I have heard a bit of criticism about the hop liquid not being as good as real hops so will see if this hop tea turns out better.
The other thing you can try is dry hopping which is when you add the hops in a mesh bag directly to the BeerDroid and let it sit for a few days. This is a bit risky as it can contaminate the beer if you open the lid while it is still fermenting so the best time to do this is when end of fermentation is detected.
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎7‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 9:08 PM, Brad Quinn said:

Good stuff. Let me know how it turns out, I'm going to get some hops and give it a crack on my next batch 

Brad I have 2 more days to wait until my brew is ready to try.

It is a West Coast Pale Ale and not the Mountain Range IPA. I added about 50 grams of Cascade hops as a hop tea in about 250 ml of water. I know this seams like a lot of hops but I like my beers hoppy and they were not on the boil for long at all maybe a minute or 2 maximum. I have 2 kegs with the additional hops and 1 5ooml bottle with out the hop tea as a comparison. I now have the Mountain Range IPA in the Droid it is up to 9 days and 7 hours and still going strong fermenting.

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Thanks Damian. I've nearly finished my first keg of Mountain Range, really nice drop but it is definitely missing the nice hoppy taste of the IPA's that I enjoy. I will give the hop tea a try on my next batch. I can't think of  an ipa that is similar to Mountain Range in flavour

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  • 1 month later...

I bottled an American Pale Ale in the week.

I added the normal hops and also added an extra 15g of Amarillo hop pellets which I just threw in wrapped up in some of teabag type material.
Left them in for a few days.

Smelt amazing when I was bottling. Can't wait to try one.

Not sure if others have seen this list, but when adding additional hops (fresh or pellets) I'm going off this guide.

H1 - Amarillo
H2 - Centennial
H3 - Hallertau
H4 - Saaz
H5 - Hersbrucker
H6 - Galaxy
H7 - Challenger
H8 - Bitter Orange Peel and Coriander Seed
H9 - Cascade

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18 hours ago, Brad Quinn said:

Where did you score that list? The hop oil doesn't seem as strong as pellets  so I wonder if it adds as much aroma and taste? 

The aroma was much more noticeable. Won't know about the taste for another week, but I'll be sure to report back.

I got that list from a post on the Coopers forum before this official forum existed.

I expect the user is on here but possibly under a different username, but they said they compared the descriptions from the various Brewart hops to the characteristics of normal hops. Based on my APA, the smell was spot on.

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1 hour ago, Deeks said:

Ian-B, that was me that posted the list on the Coopers forum. I was gonna post the list on here as well but never got around to it. I also have the same username on here as what I use for the Coopers forum.

I thought it was you Deeks, but I couldn't remember for sure.

I'd copied the list from your post and had it in a note on my laptop and couldn't find the original post again when I went back to look.

Thanks again Deeks anyway! :)

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Banjo, my guess is that H8 is not currently used by any BrewPrints yet which would be why they don't stock it at the moment. I'm hoping they will bring out a new Witbier style BrewPrint which I think would suit the H8 hops quite well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just thought I would report back that I cracked open a small bottle of my APA last night that I had dry hopped with Amarillo hops, which should be the matching hops to the H1 pouches you get in the APA kit.

This is my 4th brew and after only 2 weeks in secondary would have to say that is my favourite brew so far. 
Has a really nice hoppy tastes without being overly hoppy.

Will definitely be doing some additional hopping in the future.

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1 hour ago, Gibbo said:

Ian-B, Do you think the hop profile of the H1 matches Amarillo?

Other brewers have mention that they find the hop pouches a little too subtle, but I am hoping you can pick if they are similar or completely different.

I think so. Kind of wish I'd tried doing an APA prior but without the extra hops in order to compare.
Based on other APA's I've tried though, I'd say it's pretty much on the money and tastes the way an APA (for my liking) should taste.

I also did have a smiff of the pouches before pouring them into the droid, and I'd say they smelled pretty similar (if not the same), but I'm no hops expert.

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  • 1 month later...

I picked up some Amarillo hop pouches today.  I'm considering another Mountain IPA batch but this time chucking in an Amarillo hop pouch when I pitch the yeast and perhaps an X5 to up the ABV a little.

I'd be interested to know if anybody foresees a problem with this.

I've made a couple of mountain IPA batches to date - they are probably my favorite but lacking a little oomph.

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I love the idea of dry hopping in the BeerDroid, if I were you I wouldn't do it when you pitch the yeast. I would do it once ferment is coming to a finish. Hop Oils are quite volatile and the CO2 being released during active ferment takes the hop aromas with it.  

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Yes Hop Teas will add flavour and aroma (bare in mind that most of the flavour is perceived through aroma) if you add the hops via a Tea it will add slight bitterness as well. Also be aware that this will water your beer down by adding the tea. 

Personally I wouldn't add the hop bag into the keg, as I fear that it would start to extract more grassy tones of the hops. I would just add a the dry hops to the BeerDroid once ferment has completed and keep them there for a couple of days then keg as normal. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well here's what I did.

Brad's thoughts kind of resonated so I started with a Westcoast Pale Ale recipe.

I added 1 x X5 to bring the ABV up to around 6.5%

At day 7 of fermentation, I just chucked in a 15g Amarillo finishing hop teabag (yeah, I forgot to make tea and maybe there will be grassy notes).  The Amarillo smelt gorgeous.

At day 11, fermentation finished and I added the prescribed 2 x H1 sachet.

I bottled it today.  I would have happily drunk the stuff "green" out of primary fermentation.  Lots of hoppy flavour and a nice kick from the extra alcohol.

Maybe it will head south during secondary fermentation but hopefully I'm on to something here.  Either that or I'm just an Amarillo junkie.

 

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