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I have some cascade hop pellets in my droid right now, I put them in this morning ☺️.  My two stainless steel hop bombs are in another FV (holding onto some Nelson and Amarillo pellets) so I had to throw these cascades in commando into the droid.  The bombs are quite good because they keep all the leftover hop gunk out of your kegs/bottles, but I seem to get a more intense hit from the hops when they are commando, albeit with an very, very occasional tiny, tiny piece of hop pellet in my beer glass.

I find the dry hopping like this results in a much bigger impact to aroma than any of the hop sachets in the brewprints that I have tried.

Most of what I brew are ales and and my favorite dry hops to use in them are Cascade, Nelson & Galaxy, I tend to mainly use these ones (one or two at a time) because they are easy to get from my LHBS.  They add a great aroma to the beer.

Dry hop about 25g into the droid at about day 4 or 5 and you should notice a difference to the end result.

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  • 1 year later...
On 10/03/2017 at 1:19 PM, ray nicholson said:

i have been using a coffee percolator to make a liquid hops that i add to either bottles, keg or the droid while brewing, still tweaking it but result ain't too bad

Although an old post will comment in an endeavour to get some activity here but if not then that’s ok. I use a litre coffee plunger for steeping hops to be added to the wort and make a cold tea (in the fridge for a day) to dry hop. Works well and limits solids.


 

 
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9A8553D0-6A26-4904-88BE-247AEFD996B5.thumb.jpeg.3b6fc186f64288d792a83fe0abc7794f.jpegTo dry hop by just dropping a hop bag in can have two issues 1) it will drop and block the tap for bottling or kegging 2) at the bottom the concentration of the hop may stay near the bottom therefore not evenly distributed in the bottles or the two kegs.

So I’ve done this, sanitised before putting it in. Two pieces of tube to support the weight and float the hops on top.

 

2829123B-A931-4D9A-B863-C963DFB7324A.thumb.jpeg.176597557390df6f6b2f27da2807d9d4.jpeg410DD1FE-B667-423B-9911-FDFCA2AD67A8.thumb.jpeg.8cf050f0d50b2bfe993e8f647e274c42.jpeg

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49 minutes ago, Rob Courtney said:

So how do you make a hop tea and then how and when do you apply it to the droid?

 

Does it make much difference than the hops sachets, how so?

I make a hop tea by using a sanitised 1 litre coffee plunger. Add the hop pellets, pour in just boiled water and let it steep for 20 minutes. Now depending upon the recipe you can add the liquid to the droid before the yeast (this will be a variation from a Brewprint recipe as they stipulate adding the hop sachets at the end of fermentation). You could add a hop tea at the end as well (making sure it is cold/room temp) however if I dry hop I use a hop mesh bag and add it when fermentation has finished and leave it for the 2 days of the keg mode. Remove and then keg/bottle. Picture above shows floating tubing attached to a mesh bag, tied off at the open end.

I have worked out that 10g of Pellet hops equals one Brewprint sachet equivalent. Personally I find the pellets as a tea or dry hopped are move intense inthe flavour.

Hope I’ve made sense.

Cheers, Mark

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56 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

I make a hop tea by using a sanitised 1 litre coffee plunger. Add the hop pellets, pour in just boiled water and let it steep for 20 minutes. Now depending upon the recipe you can add the liquid to the droid before the yeast (this will be a variation from a Brewprint recipe as they stipulate adding the hop sachets at the end of fermentation). You could add a hop tea at the end as well (making sure it is cold/room temp) however if I dry hop I use a hop mesh bag and add it when fermentation has finished and leave it for the 2 days of the keg mode. Remove and then keg/bottle. Picture above shows floating tubing attached to a mesh bag, tied off at the open end.

I have worked out that 10g of Pellet hops equals one Brewprint sachet equivalent. Personally I find the pellets as a tea or dry hopped are move intense inthe flavour.

Hope I’ve made sense.

Cheers, Mark

Yeah, I have had a look on Ewe Tube to see someone do the plunger hop tea thing and I guess, my question is, if you were going to put the hop tea in at the EOF, say like I do with my hops sachet, would I make the tea that morning and then fridge it?

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8 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

I guess, I am just interested to see what the difference is, whilst I do like the beers I am brewing, I am at that stage of looking for more flavour with my brew

If you like hop type flavours then a hop tea at the beginning and a dry hop at the end will give you that. A good example is the Coopers Session Ale, I do a tea, steeped for 20min (other than the plunger a hop bag into a litre of boiled water in a sterilised saucepan works as well) and then dry hop at the end for the two days.

12.5g of galaxy pellets and 7.5g of mosaic for both hop additions is a good start.

Edited by Barrelboy
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8 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

Yeah, I have had a look on Ewe Tube to see someone do the plunger hop tea thing and I guess, my question is, if you were going to put the hop tea in at the EOF, say like I do with my hops sachet, would I make the tea that morning and then fridge it?

Yes you certainly could or cool off the outside of the plunger with cold water/ice. No problems either way.

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Cool, I caught up with the Brew shop guy today and he has some pretty good hops gear. Has hops that comes in a bag that you can make your brew first then put the tea and bag in afterwards. Glad I asked you this question previously so I didn't sound like an idiot  when he was explaining things to me.

So, in your opinion, using fresh hops makes a noticeable difference in comparison to hops sachets? At present, with the hops sachets, I keep feeling that there should be something more, for want of a better word more "body" which is probably what my uneducated pallet probably can't define as hops yet. I mean, I really like the beer I am brewing, I just want to make it  better.   

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12 minutes ago, Rob Courtney said:

Cool, I caught up with the Brew shop guy today and he has some pretty good hops gear. Has hops that comes in a bag that you can make your brew first then put the tea and bag in afterwards. Glad I asked you this question previously so I didn't sound like an idiot  when he was explaining things to me.

So, in your opinion, using fresh hops makes a noticeable difference in comparison to hops sachets? At present, with the hops sachets, I keep feeling that there should be something more, for want of a better word more "body" which is probably what my uneducated pallet probably can't define as hops yet. I mean, I really like the beer I am brewing, I just want to make it  better.   

“Body” is a good word. The fresh hop pellets do give a better result than the sachets in flavour strength and in noting the hop flavours.

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25 minutes ago, Barrelboy said:

“Body” is a good word. The fresh hop pellets do give a better result than the sachets in flavour strength and in noting the hop flavours.

Excellent, have bout another 5 brews left in my current order so should be finished those in about 3 weeks ( 2 droids), so next order, I am going to take the plunge, not order hops sachets and go to the brew shop. Sad thing is, I reckon I am about 4 months ahead of drinking with my brewing, so aside from a sneaky bottle here and there, I won't get the full benefits for a while.

 

Of course, summer is coming, so drinking should increase...

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5 minutes ago, Rob Courtney said:

Excellent, have bout another 5 brews left in my current order so should be finished those in about 3 weeks ( 2 droids), so next order, I am going to take the plunge, not order hops sachets and go to the brew shop. Sad thing is, I reckon I am about 4 months ahead of drinking with my brewing, so aside from a sneaky bottle here and there, I won't get the full benefits for a while.

 

Of course, summer is coming, so drinking should increase...

Two droids, great. Thinking about that myself. Rob, winter is a good time to practice drinking for summer. 😋. Turn your heater up. 

So you can follow the Brewprint recipes do you know what hops are for the H 1 to 7 range. There is this info somewhere in this forum. I’ll try and find it if you don’t know.

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1 hour ago, Barrelboy said:

Two droids, great. Thinking about that myself. Rob, winter is a good time to practice drinking for summer. 😋. Turn your heater up. 

So you can follow the Brewprint recipes do you know what hops are for the H 1 to 7 range. There is this info somewhere in this forum. I’ll try and find it if you don’t know.

The second droid is well worth it. I was lucky enough to have someone in my area selling one, so I was the only customer. It just means for me that even during summer, I will have plenty of beer with a long secondary for enjoyment.

 

As for winter, I just make plenty of curries, easy to prepare and easy to have some pints with, like tonight :)

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On 16/07/2019 at 6:34 AM, Barrelboy said:

If you like hop type flavours then a hop tea at the beginning and a dry hop at the end will give you that. A good example is the Coopers Session Ale, I do a tea, steeped for 20min (other than the plunger a hop bag into a litre of boiled water in a sterilised saucepan works as well) and then dry hop at the end for the two days.

12.5g of galaxy pellets and 7.5g of mosaic for both hop additions is a good start.

 

So is that for 10 lts of beer?

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On 17/07/2019 at 6:18 PM, Barrelboy said:

Two droids, great. Thinking about that myself. Rob, winter is a good time to practice drinking for summer. 😋. Turn your heater up. 

So you can follow the Brewprint recipes do you know what hops are for the H 1 to 7 range. There is this info somewhere in this forum. I’ll try and find it if you don’t know.

Second Beerdroid ordered, you beauty! Father’s Day special, $100 off plus got some ingredients. Free delivery on all, a bonus.

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On 22/03/2019 at 8:33 AM, Barrelboy said:

So I’ve done this, sanitised before putting it in. Two pieces of tube to support the weight and float the hops on top.

2829123B-A931-4D9A-B863-C963DFB7324A.thumb.jpeg.176597557390df6f6b2f27da2807d9d4.jpeg410DD1FE-B667-423B-9911-FDFCA2AD67A8.thumb.jpeg.8cf050f0d50b2bfe993e8f647e274c42.jpeg

I was wondering about whether the bag could block the tap - this is a great idea 👍

Is that just some standard tube from somewhere like Bunnings? 

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9 minutes ago, Darran Haynes said:

I was wondering about whether the bag could block the tap - this is a great idea 👍

Is that just some standard tube from somewhere like Bunnings? 

From memory it was a bottle filler tube I cut in half however gas line tubing would probably do. Or Bunnings as you suggested. Make sure you sanitise it all before using.

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Found this in my random eBay searchings - could you see this being sanitised & used for a dry hop infuser?  I would think (hope) this wouldn't block the tap like a nylon mesh bag could...

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Stainless-Steel-Mesh-Strainer-Ball-Bag-Shape-Tea-Spice-Filter-Basket-Infuser/254194978341?hash=item3b2f338e25:m:mb2uko9LVVw3ZQc3ptKg8Sw 

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On 29/11/2019 at 6:30 AM, Barrelboy said:

These work well and can’t see blocking the droid tap. I had one when using ordinary type fermenters but the hinge system broke. If you get one, and why not be gentle when opening and closing. 

Got my hop sock, some Cascade and Citra ready to do my first dry hop! 

Got the below brews ready to go once my Abbey Dubell finishes. Any recommendations?

- Bombshell Blonde Low Carb

- Coopers Sparkling Ale

- Tall Tale Pale Ale

- Spoke Amber Ale

- Bohemian Lager

- Stone & Wood Pacific Ale

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