[flbrewer]

I saw a video about using a french press to infuse hops into finished beers (similar to a randall). Has anyone done this? I have some extra pellets I wouldn't mind experimenting with.

[Jeff M]

Just make a hop tea!

[flbrewer]

Mystery over...enjoy my experiment below (multiple pictures).

Dumped 10g of Cascade pellets into Jai Alai and waited 5 minutes. The results were very little change in aroma, possibly way too much hops as it was bordering on unpleasant, and I ended up with 75% volume. Meh.

http://imgur.com/IDdqG9b,pGajv1Z,kDCk4SS#0

[el_capitan]

I also tried this technique a while ago, since I have so many homegrown hops.  After thoroughly cleaning the French press, I steeped some beer in hops and poured.  Disappointing.  I didn't actually notice much of a change at all.  Also, the beer lost a fair amount of carbonation.  Meh +1.

[erockrph]

This is on my list of things to try with my IPAs in the future, but not at serving time. I think the issue is that extraction takes longer at cooler temps, so unless you use a crapload of hops you won't get much hop oil in solution. And then you get all the organic material and other undesirables ending up in the beer.

My plan is to do this with my priming sugar right before bottling. I'm planning on using DME to prime, then adding hops to the french press once it gets down to about 170. Essentially doing a mini hop stand at bottling time. This way any organic material has time to drop out before serving time.

[reverseapachemaster]

I haven't attempted this yet but since I got a french press for Christmas I've been reading on it and thinking about trying it out over the summer. I think the issue there is that you need to let the french press sit for a few hours to extract the hop oils. Think about dry hopping: if you could dump the hops in for a few minutes and get the aroma then why do you let it sit for several days before packaging?

Losing carbonation seems to be an unavoidable consequence. Seems like the best set up is to add some beer to the french press along with your hops (or whatever you want to use) and then blend back the beer in the press with a fresh pour.

[coastsidemike]

I'll add one wet hop as an IPA garnish, it's fun to bite on when getting near the end of the glass.

[flbrewer]

Just bumping this to see if anyone has given this a go.