[wingnut]

Anyone used the Hopshot or other Hop Extract product in the secondary? 

I have been experimenting…rolling back the IBUs in a beer I have been brewing for years…so I can find the level of bitterness that leaves the malt character as “exposed” as possible, but still provide enough bitterness to keep it from being cloying.    I now know where just over the line is, and I would like to add some bitterness back to the beer so that I have five gallons of drinkable beer.   

I could brew a bitter version and blend the two… but since I have a HopShot floating around… it sounds like a good time to experiment with that as well.

So anyone have some experience to share?  Will the HopShot be more like dry hopping?  Will the extract dissolve in cold beer?  Will the hop character just be bitterness?

Thanks!

[johnf]

Hopshot is co2 extracted hop resins. It's just like adding hops, only without the vegetal mass (so fewer losses and less of a vegetal flavor when using large quantities).

Adding it to fermented beer would be like dry hopping. It will probably not be that easy to dissolve. It is thick, sticky stuff.

Morebeer sells isomerized alpha acid extract, you can use that to add IBUs to finished beer.

I use it in IIPA, American Barleywine etc with good effect for bittering. No vegetal flavor and fewer losses to absorbtion. Never tried it as a late or dry hop. The last 4 I used, which were from two different purchases, smelled floral and piney when added to the kettle. Not sure what hop varieties are used or if the formulation changes. It is probably the same Hop Union extract Russian River and Lagunitus use though I think NB does not disclose the source. Doesn't matter though because Hop Union does not disclose what varieties go into their extract.

[jlap]

Did you find that the calculated IBU from the hopshot for your gravity seemed pretty accurate in terms of perception? 

I've been thinking about getting some of these to use for bittering additions on high IBU beers but haven't burned through all the high alpha hops I have around yet.

[johnf]

Did you find that the calculated IBU from the hopshot for your gravity seemed pretty accurate in terms of perception? 

I've been thinking about getting some of these to use for bittering additions on high IBU beers but haven't burned through all the high alpha hops I have around yet.

I think so, but then for something like IIPA or American Barleywine where I am using them the theoretical IBUs are higher than the actual is likely to be so maybe not the best test. I used to bitter these beers with something like Magnum and I used the info that came with the hopshot to target the same theoretical IBU as Tinseth said my old Magnum (or whatever) additions were giving and I think the beers are similarly bitter. For an American Pale Ale it might be harder to dial in. I wouldn't use them on that kind of beer because I do whole hops on a false bottom as a filtering medium and it works best with at least 2 ounces of hops.

There is a huge thread on the Northern Brewer forums where they gave a bunch out for free to people and had them post their response. The general impression was that it was a very clean bittering and perhaps perceived as lower than what the chart that comes in the package indicates. I noticed a marked reduction in vegetal taste in the big hopped beers and I wonder if the lack of that is what is making it seem more clean and less bitter.

[wingnut]

Cool... so Hopshot used as "dryhop" yields dryhop effects... not really IBUs. 

Looks like I can place an order for a different product of brew a beer to blend.

Thanks!

[SpanishCastleAle]

I've got some hop oils (EKG and Cascade) and some hop extract ('generic' bittering) from Hoptech in the mail.  I seem to get dinged for vegetal notes in hoppy beers so I hope this will help.  Already have some beers fermenting or in kegs waiting for this stuff, will report back.

[dmtaylor]

I've used HopShot in the secondary before.  It works great, but you really do need to dissolve it in a pint of warm (think 160 F or so) beer or wort to get it to mix in well, as it is super sticky stuff.  Otherwise it might just either sink or float.  But it does have a very nice spicy and orange citrus sort of character that I like.

[johnf]

I've used HopShot in the secondary before.  It works great, but you really do need to dissolve it in a pint of warm (think 160 F or so) beer or wort to get it to mix in well, as it is super sticky stuff.  Otherwise it might just either sink or float.  But it does have a very nice spicy and orange citrus sort of character that I like.

Thanks. I keep meaning to experiment with it in the dry hop but I have only brewed IIPA 4 times. For the last two NHC first rounds and fortuitously the last two second rounds. If I could replace part of the dry hopping with hopshot I think that would cut way down on the grassy like using it in the boil does the vegetal. Should be able to get absurd hop character, but very clean.

I wonder why Lagunitus and Russian River don't do this? Might be too hard to get it dissolved on their scale. I can dissolve it in warm water and shake the crap out of a corny.