Hops...

munkey · Post by **munkey** » Monday Feb 27, 2006 9:59 am

yeh, dryhopping a few...ie 2 days before bottling is a winner for me.

bobbioli · Post by **bobbioli** » Monday Feb 27, 2006 10:41 am

dry hopping. do you steep then strain in tea, or are you throwing the pellets into the brew. I know silly ? but

munkey · Post by **munkey** » Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 2:49 am

ahhhh, pellets??. i use the flowers. it depends on what your trying to achive, if you have made all you additions in the pan and wish to add some extra aroma then i would just add them dry "un teabagged" into the fermentor about 2 days befor bottling. but i have boiled them in the kettle for a min or so then cooled and added to the fermentor to make corrections to taste and aroma at the same stage (2days before bottling).

i normaly add hopps to the boil and to the fermentor, and sometimes to the mash, as someone said in another thread you carnt have enough hops in my oppinion

.

but just be carefull if you dont like the bitterness and if sampling your brew towards the end of fermentation no that the bitterness subsides to an exstent so you want to end up a little on the bitter side, but its all down to taste at the end of the day.

hope this helps.

MHD · Post by **MHD** » Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 8:34 am

You probably have access to some nice cones there...

In Aus, due to quarentene we are limited in our choices of fresh flowers...

You can always get Pride of ringwood...

and if you shop around you can get tetenang, pearle, nugget and cluster (tassie grown) flowers...

Unless you have a special licence (ala Little creatures and Matilda bay) you will have problems getting American fresh hop flowers (Chinook, Cascade)

I would LURVE to have some fresh cascade flowers for dryhopping pale ales!

JaCk_SpArRoW · Post by **JaCk_SpArRoW** » Tuesday Feb 28, 2006 8:42 am

MHD wrote: I would LURVE to have some fresh cascade flowers for dryhopping pale ales!

MHD, check out this link....this may be of interest to you for getting Cascade hops!...although I dont think they are fresh flowers, more likely pellets!
http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1936

munkey · Post by **munkey** » Wednesday Mar 01, 2006 1:26 am

yeh i can get pritty much averything, suppose i take it for granted. iv never seen pellets tbh

is there much difforence in taste?.

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Wednesday Mar 01, 2006 1:53 am

I know its been said 100 times in this thread but I want to be sure. So you can just put hops straight into your wort without doing anything to them? Can you do it with any hops or only specific kinds?

(Edit: Typo, don't want the Literacy Police on my back...

)

munkey · Post by **munkey** » Wednesday Mar 01, 2006 3:27 am

dam those grammer natzis. lol

yeh, let me be totaly clear for you.

hops can be added at any time and in any way you want during the brewing process. they contain a mild antibactirial substance that allows you to add them to the fermenter mid ferment without fear of infection, infact hops actualy decreace the chances of you beer becoming infected and increce its lifespan.

the aroma and a little of the flavor is soluble and transferrable to the brew without boiling them, but if you want to get some noticable flavor/bitterness additions you will benofit from boiling in a kettle or " teabagging" as it were as the acids need the heat to become isomerised so they become soluble in water 1 to 5 mins should do you for late additions for aroma and bitterness increce.

dont confuse aroma with flavor and both the former with bitterness.

Post by **Oliver** » Monday Mar 27, 2006 5:28 pm

MHD wrote:Also dont get stuck into the mindset you can only bitter with high alpha hops... You need more but lower alpha hops can be used to bitter with a very nice affect on the taste...

Indeed. I'd challenge anyone to make a pilsner as good as something like Pilsner Urquell using Pride of Ringwood hops for bittering

Lots of low-alpha hops need to be used to produce that fine, rounded taste of Pilsner Urquell. In my opinion you just can't doing that by taking a shortcut with high-alpha bittering hops.

But I'm sure someone will disagree ...

Cheers,

Oliver

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Monday Mar 27, 2006 6:14 pm

How do I know which hops to use for what kind of brew? Does anyone have a link I can look at?

kurtz · Post by **kurtz** » Monday Mar 27, 2006 8:03 pm

How do I know which hops to use for what kind of brew? Does anyone have a link I can look at?

I guess the first question you need to ask (if you are using a kit) is what sort of hops are in the kit. If the Kit is a Czech Pils then I guess it should have at least a hint of Saaz, if its a British Bitter then Fuggles or Goldings would be appropriate.
I would have thought that a, say, IPA kit would have sufficient levels of the correct hops to make a reasoanable example of what it purports to be, I would also imagine that the hopping levels, particularly for an IPA would be at the low end of the scale but I would also expect them to be within scale.

I guess the answer is not what hops to use for what kind of brew but what hops should already be present in that kind of brew.
Brew a kit to directions, taste the beer you make next to a commercial example (say Czech Pilsener Kit and Pilsner Urquell, or Budvar) compare and contrast, your beer being fresh may have characteristics that the travelled beer has not, think about it and adjust the next time.

Kurtz

K

Post by **Oliver** » Tuesday Mar 28, 2006 7:27 am

ex0ja wrote:How do I know which hops to use for what kind of brew? Does anyone have a link I can look at?

Sure do: http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/hops.html

Cheers,

Oliver

ex0ja · Post by **ex0ja** » Tuesday Mar 28, 2006 11:30 am

Oliver wrote:Sure do: http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/hops.html
Oliver

Oops, I could at least have checked this site!