[quovadisnp]

I want to extract the oil from hops and use the oil for some foods. I'm sure whatever method of extraction I find I'll have to experiment with it to get it just the way I want but I was looking for a place to start. The only methods I saw for extracting oils from flowers and vegetables was by soaking it in alcohol for a few days and filtering...etc. Are there any other methods? I was worried that soaking in alcohol might take away from the flavor and aroma. I know distillers use freeze distillation for their brewing. If I was to boil the hops and then follow the concepts of freeze distillation, would this work? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

[b-hoppy]

You could try something like this:  http://heartmagic.com/EssentialDistiller.html  .   I think you would have to use a lot of plant material to extract enough essential oil to be able to do something worthwhile with it.  Give it a go.

[tschmidlin]

I wouldn't do the boil/freeze distillation thing, either soak in ethanol or use an essential oil extractor.   Those will be your best bet, unless you have access to supercritical CO2, that would make some nice extract too.

[Bret]

Hop oil already exists as a product:
http://www.hopunion.com/varietyspecifichopoils.html

[pmallory]

It seems that alcohol extractions work well for getting useful properties out of plants for health reasons, but for flavors I think it would ruin them. It depends on what you are making. I know the THC in marijuana, which is very closely related to hops, needs to bond to a fat or an alcohol. I am curious if you could use olive oil instead of alcohol. You could use this as a base in a lot of recipes. My old roommate worked as a chef making desserts. She tried to make a beer dessert, with chocolate cover barley and candied hops.

[Will's Swill]

"She tried to make..." 

How'd it turn out?  I mean, I love hops as much as the next guy, but candied?     Scared.  Very scared.

[tygo]

If you're an AHA member this sounds like a good question for Sean Paxton in Ask the Experts this month.

[denny]

Hop candy...

http://www.hopcandyinc.com/

and

http://www.homebrewing.org/Cascade-Hop-Candy_p_1810.html

[b-hoppy]

Thanks Denny!

[Will's Swill]

Hop candy...

Ever tried them?

[denny]

Hop candy...

Ever tried them?

I haven't tried the chocolate covered ones, but I have tried the straight kinda chewy hop candy.  Very...interesting.....

[tschmidlin]

Hop candy...

Ever tried them?

I haven't tried the chocolate covered ones, but I have tried the straight kinda chewy hop candy.  Very...interesting.....

I had the hard hop candies at the NHC.  The flavor was pretty good, but it stuck with you for a LONG time.  I burped hop candy for a long time after, it stopped being fun after 15 minutes or so, got annoying after an hour.

[Will's Swill]

Sounds delicious...  Kinda...

[nonestalius]

Ever since I heard about that Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter, it got me all interested in hop oil all over again.
It seems like the major hop suppliers all have it listed somewhere, yet it's nowhere to be found.
Then I stumbled upon this on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121558322738
A good selection of different hops, too. Anyone tried them yet?

[erockrph]

Ever since I heard about that Sierra Nevada Hop Hunter, it got me all interested in hop oil all over again.
It seems like the major hop suppliers all have it listed somewhere, yet it's nowhere to be found.
Then I stumbled upon this on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121558322738
A good selection of different hops, too. Anyone tried them yet?

I've never heard of them, and something about their post has my spidey senses tingling. They don't actually mention their source or how the oil is extracted. The product also seems marketed more to the consumer than the brewer. I've had bad luck with other products meant to doctor up a beer.

I messaged the seller asking for a bit more detail about the product. If it seems legit, I may spring for a few. Citra flavored water/tea/kombucha sounds pretty tasty to me, and it would be a nice way to taste-test various dry hopping regimens on a beer.