how to taste many hops with 1 batch

[Mastoras007]

Hello everyone.
I want to explore different flavors of hops, but I can't wait a lifetime to try them in different batches.
I was wondering if I did the following
to make a batch of blonde ale only with bitterness lets say 24
next to buy small amounts of various aromatic hops, and then put the beer in 10-15 different bottles and in each bottle pour a very small amount of different hop,
thoughts?

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Splitting a batch is a good start. It sounds like your test is post fermentation, yes? If yes, dry hopping in a bottle along with bottling sugar might create bottle bombs. Maybe try making hop teas with the different hops for your experiment.

 

[Mastoras007]

Splitting a batch is a good start. It sounds like your test is post fermentation, yes? If yes, dry hopping in a bottle along with bottling sugar might create bottle bombs. Maybe try making hop teas with the different hops for your experiment.

ye i forgot to mention
i will keg the beer, co2 carbonatig and then frozen and tranfer to bottles slowly, i did this before many times works great
but with this way I will take a representative taste of the hops?
will be something like to late dryhop

 

[J A]

You'll only know what the hop does as a dryhop. It won't tell you anything about the boil addition or whirlpool contribution. Some hops express drastically different flavors and aromas when they're added at 20 minutes or 5 minutes before flame-out. Simcoe is one of my favorite examples. As a relatively early addition, they'll give you dense but smooth piney notes. Late in the boil and in whirlpool, they'll throw delicious mango flavors. Columbus/CTZ is another great example. As a bittering hop, it's intense and piney but smooth and pleasant. Late addition in the 15 to 20 minute range throws huge dank pot flavor at flameout and in whirlpool, it'll give more of that dank character in the aroma and really push some spicy citrus into the flavor and aroma as well.
Even dry-hopping at different temps makes a difference. Adding after fermentation but still at higher temps will express subtle or sometimes pretty pronounced differences than additions during the cold/clearing stage or in the keg.

Hops are complex and the only way to really understand what they're capable of is to dive in a little. If you can't split out before late hop additions, then a simple after-boil split batch that compares a couple of hops in the whirlpool/hopstand or fermentation stage is a pretty good way to get a good idea. Biotransformation seems to bring out a lot of interesting characteristics. The plan you described will give you some information and might let you know which hops you want to explore further.

 

[Bigbre04]

to add to JA

I wouldnt think that dryhopping in a bottle would not be the best since you will be sitting on that hop material and likely get a mouthful of it when you go to taste it.

I would consider spending time online reading the descriptions and then comparing the description to the hops you know.

the other option is buy some bags and test them out in smaller batches over time. I know this is a long slow road, but using the info online you can get a pretty good idea.

 

[Zambi]

I can see where you are coming from.
I also founnd it very hard to get my head around hops (but the same with malt)
Luckily I am not much of a hophead and I tend to stick with noble hops

Maybe you could try baby batches?
Mash a bigger amount, but boil 4 litre batches and use small kegs (4 litre oxebar kegs)
Or go smaller and use 1 or 2 litre pet bottles (like sprite or coca cola) with carbonation T?

 

[Daniel Parshley]

I was told to make a tea with the hop to explore the flavor profile. This has worked for me. You can boil and sample over a period of time, too. You can do what you were planning for the brew on a small scale. Brewing is my toy and I'll play like I want.

 

[Donoroto]

I was thinking more along the lines of @Zambi suggestion: make 25 litres of wort, then boil 2-3 liters at a time, adding hops in a predictable way, then fermenting & dry hopping in a 2 litre PET soda bottle. That gives you about 9 or 10 different brew experiments. It is more work, but fast and inexpensive.

With 9 bottles, maybe you can try 3 of each hop, adding them at different times to see the effects.

No matter what: keep very detailed notes!!

 

[Mastoras007]

I was thinking more along the lines of @Zambi suggestion: make 25 litres of wort, then boil 2-3 liters at a time, adding hops in a predictable way, then fermenting & dry hopping in a 2 litre PET soda bottle. That gives you about 9 or 10 different brew experiments. It is more work, but fast and inexpensive.

With 9 bottles, maybe you can try 3 of each hop, adding them at different times to see the effects.

No matter what: keep very detailed notes!!

thats a good idea, hard part is to carbonate but anyway i can just taste without co2, after all i just want to explore new tastes
i can brew a full batch later with faforite taste

 

[Donoroto]

Force carbonating in a PET bottle is easy.
https://brewyourownbrew.com/product/carbacap-co-2-injector-cap/

 

[Zambi]

I use the kegland one
https://kegland.com.au/products/pco-1881-carbonation-cap-tee-piece

 

[Brew Cat]

What you're trying to do is a waste of time. Somethings shouldn't Can't be rushed. The best way in my opinion if you're in such a hurry is just do 1 gallon batches
Or just buy beer that feature the hops you want to try and go from there

 

[Mastoras007]

What you're trying to do is a waste of time. Somethings shouldn't Can't be rushed. The best way in my opinion if you're in such a hurry is just do 1 gallon batches
Or just buy beer that feature the hops you want to try and go from there

Can't brew many times, I'm brewing in my kitchen, my wife every brew day is problem
Work kids wife etc can't brew often

 

[J A]

You have a daunting task - too many hops; too little time.

Brew Cat has the best answer. You're not going to get to brew enough beers to make any real assessment of a large number of hops. When I was exploring hop flavors, I went to the local craft brew store and nerded out with the manager to figure out which beers featured the hops I was interested in. It's not hard to find single hop beers or beers with combinations of popular hops. Small local breweries often describe featured hops on their menu or you might get a bartender who's familiar enough with the brewing side to know what hops are in what beer - tasters and flights are your friends. Do some research and try to get a feel for specific flavor profiles like piney, dank, tropical and seek out beers you can sample.

When it comes to brewing, if you really want to dig in, do a 5 gallon batch ( I assume you've got that capacity if you're kegging), start with very simple, neutral bittering hops(Magnum is great), split the wort into gallon-ish qwuantities with 10 or 15 minutes to go and do flavor additions at 15, 10 or 5 minutes or flameout/hopstand, depending on AA, of different hops in each batch; buy some 1 gallon jugs and ferment 5 or 6 batches with the same yeast; bottle condition instead of kegging. You'll have 6 or 8 bottles of a half dozen or so single-hopped beers and the full utilization will give you a very good picture of what the hop is doing. You can mix a couple of beers to see what combinations work.

Bottom line, there's no shortcut.