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You are here: Home --> Forum Home --> Brewing Forum --> Brewing Discussion --> Sierra Nevada beat me to it

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uberg33k
Charter Member
The Internet
314 Posts


www.esquire.com/blogs/food-for-men/si...

I had the idea a while back to steam distill hops and use the essential oil as a dry hop addition and then take the hydrosol, mix it with DME, and use that as the priming liquid.  I'm bummed I didn't get to do it first before it became a big brewer thing.

Anyone here ever try distilling hops to extract the oil?




Posted 34 days ago.

tracebusta
Charter Member
Somerville, MA
155 Posts


Huh, that was an interesting article. I've yet to have a fresh or wet hop beer, so I'll be looking for this when it's released. I'll be interested to hear from others how much this tastes like a fresh one or not.



Posted 34 days ago.

vinpaysdoc
Charter Member
High Point, NC
321 Posts


Judging from the two (yeah, big sample size) pale ales I've wet hopped with Cascade, the main thing I noticed was a chlorophyll-like taste that I don't get with dry hops. I'm not sure if it was because I harvested them too early or that's simply the taste wet hops imparts. I was not particularly fond of it.



Posted 34 days ago.

chino_brews
Charter Member
Eden Prairie, MN
301 Posts


I've had a couple "fresh hop" beers and I can't tell the difference. I think it was because they were shipped from California. I have yet to have a local fresh hop beer on tap at a brewery's tap room -- I think you have to drink these truly fresh for it to make a difference.




Posted 34 days ago.

homebrewdad
Charter Member
Birmingham, AL
2480 Posts


lol, I had vinpaydoc's wet hopped beers, and I also found they had a "green" note... and I LOVED it.  To each their own.




Posted 34 days ago.

uberg33k
Charter Member
The Internet
314 Posts


My thought was you'd get all the raw hop flavor without any Green/grassy notes. Still can't afford a steam distiller, so it'll remain a mystery for now.



Posted 34 days ago.

testingapril
Charter Member
Atlanta, GA
595 Posts


Fresh hop beers typically have two main characteristics to me. 1. They dont have enough hop flavor. I guess wet hops are expensive so breweries kind of cheap out on them. 2. What hop flavor is there is more grassy than its dried counterpart.

I very much like that particular grassiness, so I generally like fresh hop beers. I just always want them to be hoppier.






Posted 34 days ago.

jeffwhit
Aalborg, Denmark
2 Posts


I loved the Sierra Nevada harvest beers when I could get them, but here in Denmark Port's High Tide is the only one I've really come across. Expecting something like Mongo, I was quite underwhelmed with it, but it's possible it just didn't travel well.






Posted 34 days ago.
Edited 34 days ago by jeffwhit

zgreenside
Nowhere
34 Posts


Someone I know (I don't know if he's under and NDA or anything, so I can't get into details on him) works for a large hop manufacturer/distribution/research center, and said that the hop oil is over hyped and really not worth it. I can't remember specifically what he said, but I do remember him saying that it wasn't worth the work and effort to extract the oils, and that the flavor does not improve using the oils. He said that they sell the oil and it is extremely expensive, but the breweries they sell to swear by them he said. 

Hard to give out many details, not sure if I would get him in trouble or not in case anyone was to see this info. I need to talk to him anyways, so maybe I'll ask him what the details were on the oils again.



Posted 34 days ago.

PatrickM
Clovis, CA
3 Posts


I had some of the Hop Hunter on tap at one of my local hangouts. I found that the hop flavor was really fantastic while holding a very nice balance of bitterness to sweetness. It's really the best of both worlds. Hoppy and bitter enough for me, but not a palate wrecker. 



Posted 34 days ago.

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