Hop Tea Bags

[el gringo]

Hi All,

I've done a few searches about this but not found anything definitive.

I've currently got a Milestone Lions Pride kit in the FV, has had 8 days today and i will be leaving for at least another week.

After reading a couple of reviews that mentioned it needing a bit of "help" I've got a couple of Hop Tea Bags to try in this one, 20g of Goldings and 20g of Fuggles.

The instructions say to steep in boiling water for 10 mins and then add the tea and the bag to the brew.

What it doesn't say is when to add it, should it have gone in at the start of fermentation, or is it better at the end before kegging/bottling or in my case is it ok to stick in in the middle?

Also i found a couple of posts that stated when made with water the tea was pretty horrible and it would be better done with the wort.

On the other hand could i just add the tea bag as is straight into the FV?

Sorry for all the questions

Cheers

Chris

 

[winelight]

You can do any of the three, that is, make the hop tea with the wort, make the hop tea on its own, or just dunk the tea bag in the wort.

If the first two, they go in at the beginning. If the tea bag, I would put it in after the first few days of vigorous fermentation is complete (and pull it out again before you either cool the wort or rack to another vessel, whichever one you do, if any).

The difference between the three options is in the flavour you add to the brew. Make the hop tea with wort, and apparently that gives the most bitterness. I've never tried this method. Add the hop tea on its own, and in my opinion - I've tried a few - it's not that good, to be honest. Adds more flavour for sure but not the fruity/hoppy flavour, and not "nice" bitterness, either. Dry hop by dropping the tea bags straight in, and that should give you the "hoppiness" (aroma) you get from many summer-style commercial brews these days.

(edit) Lastly if you are dry hopping, you may not get much impact from 20g. 40-60g is more like it. So chuck them both in and leave for about 5 days (less and there's not enough aroma, more and it goes "grassy", apparently).

 

[alymere]

some good info here, http://hbd.org/discus/messages/46667/47301.html try listening to the podcast on the Basic Brewing Radio if you have time.

 

[el gringo]

Fantastic, thanks guys

I'll just stick the 2 bags in for 5 days

Cheers :