Hop tea

gary

I like my beer to have a good aroma and a medium strength of bitterness,Im thinking of making a hop tea ,watched craig tube a few times looks pretty simple. Want to use a bitter kit ,just wondering anyone got any ideas about what bitter kit to use ,john  bull ,coopers etc and  what type of hops and how much ?

HBO_Staff

Hi Gary, below is a link to a guide with a bit of info on dry hopping and hop teas which may be of use. Generally hop varieties such as Goldings and Progress are best suited for bitters;

http://home-brew-online.myshopify.com/pages/hop-tea-and-dry-hopping

It recommends around 30g of dried hops for making the hop tea. The additional hop flavour is added to brews to add extra flavour, so it would make sense to maybe start with a beer kit that you already enjoy, and think needs a bit of extra flavour to make it more to your preference, and use that kit as a starting point. And we would love to hear how you get on, we think many people are interested in taking their brewing to the next level and experimenting by adding hops....

gary

Already had a coopers lager thought it lacked something ,in saying that it had a good mouth feel and good to head so maybe that will be the one to kickoff with.By the way sampled that woodfordes wherry thats been in the barrel for fourteen days now, came out with a great head on it, tastes great just a little cloudy gonna give it three weeks more to mature a little .then hallelujah! with thanks gaz  

HBO_Staff

Good news on the Wherry, once it's been left to fully clear you should notice a good improvement, if it's good already then you're on to a winner!

The Coopers lager is a good lager for people to try as a first step (and many stick with it), as it is not too strong tasting, we think they have probably designed it to have mass appeal. Therefore some of the other lagers in the Coopers range have a bit more character to them, such as the European and Cerveza, and making them with a brew enhancer like Coopers recommend really seems to improve them too. The hops best suited to lagers are varieties like Saaz, Hallertau and Progress which should compliment the lager best