Hop Water and Hopped Teas - Beverages For a Dry January

[@payne51558]

Great video! I have been drinking Hop Tea and Hop Water for 3 months now as a substitute for beer. Have been drinking nearly a 6 pack a day of the Hop Lark Hop Tea (decaf) which isn't cheap! So decided to take my 30 years of homebrewing experience and try brewing hop tea! I did much higher hop and black tea (decaf) ratios. In fact, used 75 bags steeped for 10 minutes at around 190 degrees. Hop Pellet Bill: 175 Deg: Cascade 100g Citra 20g Zythos 10g Dry Hop: Cascade 40g Citra 10g Zythos 8g Also got the Ph set to 5.5 before the entire process and used Tap water (Denver/Boulder area) Carb'ed for 36 hours at 30 PSI in the keg and drinking it as I type! Super hoppy! Would cut bittering hops probably by 1/2. And Dry hop for 24 hours. However, one thing I don't like is the lack of clarity of the Hop Tea! It is VERY cloudy. I used some Gelitin with the hopes it would help clarify the liquid. But so far no luck! Any suggestions? Thanks!

[@billytaylor3584]

Another great video! I always love it when Mike is pleasantly surprised by a beverage.

[@BrewDudes]

So am I! Cheers! -Mike

[@MadMax00215]

I drink hop tea a lot. Helps when I have an upset stomach. I have a couple bags of way too old nugget hops that a guy gave me. (Whole hops that he grew) I grab a small handful and throw them in a coffee cup. (Sometimes almost 1/2 full) Then fill it with hot water with my Keurig. I let it sit there for a few minutes, then dump it, hops and all, through a paper coffee filter, then do it again to fill my big travel mug. Add a Twinings Earl Grey tea bag and some sugar or honey to taste, and I'm out the door. Here's another tip too. Hot tea with or without hops with a sprinkle of ground cayenne pepper will ease a sore throat. Great video as always guys. 👍

[@BrewDudes]

Great comment. Cool stuff. Cheers! -Mike

[@bretonleo8740]

I made a bottle carbonated attempt from cascade hops I had left after weighing the kettle addition in the brewery where I work, and … it was a hop burn bomb and I realized that I used 10 times more hops than you used, I have to re do this properly ! the hop tea you made is an interesting idea ! Thanks for the video

[@BrewDudes]

Yeah without any malt to balance the hops I could imagine the hop intensity to be pretty high if ones not careful. Good luck. Cheers! -Mike

[@campfiretunes8598]

Straight out of the gate for 2022 and you guys are getting all experimental. Just added a dedicated tap for sparkling water, so ill try this hopped water thing. Its seems to have Mikes seal of approval.

[@BrewDudes]

Hopefully 2022 is a lot more experimental and "trying it out" stuff! Cheers! -Mike

[@curtpick628]

Who made up dry January? Is this prohibition? Pfffftt. Drink🍸 🍺 Til your happy!

[@BrewDudes]

I agree. Where does this stuff come from? If you need dry January maybe one should worry about the other 11 months. Cheers! -Mike

[@dmac3603]

I do my own version of dry January. It's called 'drink January dry'.

[@BrewDudes]

There you go! -Cheers! -Mike

[@dexterne]

Thanks for the shoutout Dudes! Fwiw, I have tweaked my recipe a bit, and I actually do it as a syrup to mix with soda so you can tune the strength to your tastes. Also Citra was one of my least favorite hops to do this with (Lemondrop was even worse), I've had more luck with lower alpha and noble varieties.

[@dexterne]

New recipe: heat 24oz water (mine has a Pilsen-esque profile, no chloramines, minimal chlorine) to 170F. Steep 1/2 oz hops for 10 minutes, add 1 cup sugar and stir to dissolve. Put a hop spider in a juice pitcher to strain (beats aero and french press by a long shot), funnel into a Torani bottle, and dispense with their pump. I like about 8 pumps in a pint of soda water. Cheers!

[@BrewDudes]

I am absolutely certain that the interaction of hop oils with malt and other compounds in beer make them better than what they are solo. Maybe that's why you're Citra experiment wasn't your fav. Thanks for replying in the comments! Cheers! -Mike

[@anujbhatia3337]

Interesting. Would it make sense to make a syrup with some Maltose, hops, and lemon to add to seltzer water? Or even a light Pilsner style beer?

[@campfiretunes8598]

Sold! Ive been thinking of trying this. I make 19L kegs of sparkling water all the time. Just have to add some hops next time. Did try a 19L batch, juice of 2 lemons and 56gr (2 ounces) of Amarillo hops at 9% AA. I used filtered tap water with a campden tablet. After 2 weeks on c02, tastes like sparkly lemon tea. On the fence if ill try again. Maybe AA too high.. not sure.

[@jonthebeau4653]

Great episodes guys. I've been contemplating hop water and hop tea not as an alternative to beer because I have no intention of doing dry any month but as a complement to it. Have a beer and couple hop waters instead of 3 beers as an example of what I mean.

[@BrewDudes]

Give it a go and let us know! Cheers! -Mike

[@dexterne]

This is precisely how I do it. It is no replacement for beer, just something nice to switch to once I've had my daily dose.

[@kenpeter3767]

Overcomplicating a very simple process. Put citra in teabag. Maybe 10 pellets or more if broken. Put bag in coffee maker( in the carafe, not the top ). Let cool. Add small amount of concentrated hops tea to large mug of cold ginger ale to taste. For me the ratio 1/4 tea, 3/4 ginger ale seems to work. Warn: hops tea can make you drowsy even with no alcohol.

[@jafarym77]

Life is too damn short to go without BEER, I'll have forever "dry January" when I'm dead. For now drink good 🍺🍺🍺 🍻🍻

[@BrewDudes]

Agreed. Cheers! -Mike

[@brianbarker2670]

The only hop tea I use is a substitute for dry hopping. As for dry January...each to their own. I'll raise a glass to you two.

[@BrewDudes]

We aren't participating in dry January either. But we wanted to explore Hop Water and Tea either way. Cheers to you! -Mike

[@diverbob33]

Stay frosty, hydrated, and safe my friends!

[@BrewDudes]

Hydration is key! Cheers! -Mike

[@PursuitForPeace]

ukeg can take up to 120 F

[@BrewDudes]

Thanks! Cheers! -Mike

[@kent714]

If the point of boiling is to remove oxygen, wouldn't cooling it down allow for oxygen to go back into solution? Is there any other point to boiling the water?

[@BrewDudes]

True, but the re-uptake isn't as fast as you think. Depends how long you let it sit around. Fancy cocktail bars do this all the time to make the clear ice cubes for their drinks. Another aspect of boiling would be to crash out residual alkalinity and hardness. But our water isn't all that hard so I don't see that as a universal advantage to boiling. Cheers! -Mike

[@kent714]

@@BrewDudes Awesome, thanks for the info. Enjoyed the video!

[@kent714]

@@BrewDudes Follow up question. If you don't boil the water before hand, how would the oxygen impact the hop flavor over time? Would any impact be noticeable?