I’m thinking to try to make hop water. Never tried a commercial version so don’t have a point of reference, but the idea of sparkling, slightly hoppy water is appealing.
I did do a water kefir with some hop tea once and it didn’t really work - I didn’t get it hoppy enough
Brülosophy and More Beer articles seems to have some good ideas.
Anyone else tried making this and have any pointers?
Also thinking to make a hop tea and mix that with Japanese cold barley tea.
Let’s see how it goes…
5L water boiled 10 minutes:
25g of 13.6%A Nectaron (should give me around 12IBUs)
2g Calcium Chloride
.7g gypsum
1.5g yeast nutrient
2 cups of grapefruit and lemon juice (1.75 was grapefruit)
25g of Nectaron steeped at 76° - steeped and strained in a large French Press
Dumped it all into a short dip tube keg and topped up with water. pH=3.33
Will pitch a packet of M84 (had a spare) once temp is right
Smells amazing already
Haven’t decided if I’m going to dry hop it or not. Maybe I’ll take a taste after a few days and see how it smells and tastes - then decide
Decided to drop in 50g of Nectaron in a hop sock. Might as well go all the way in. This is going to be super aromatic. I also purged the headspace with some CO2 in the hope that it will keep it all from turning too brown. Have not even attempted the O2 management I pursue for Hazy IPA. But might as well do a bit to remove the obvious and easy O2
Just had my first taste of my first ever batch of hop water. Not fully carbonated yet, but close. I topped it off with some carbonated water from my other tap. I make a clone of Gerolsteiner, which has a lot of magnesium.
I think I got the bitterness just right. And two cups of combined grapefruit and lemon juice is good tartness. May go for three cups next time. Just because. Aroma of the Nectaron hops is just fantastic.
Very refreshing drink. I’m hooked!
For those in the US and have the frame of reference…because of the grapefruit juice this tastes a bit like diluted Squirt with hops. I’m definitely going to put at least three cups of grapefruit juice in next time. Squirt was my favorite soft drink and I never thought to try to recreate it, much less “improve” upon it.
I have found my ultimate non-alcoholic drink other than water.
Jeff Smith スミス