Saw an advertisement for pre-hopped malt which made me think: I assume there are hop extracts on the market. Has anyone tried them? Since I do not see them marketed a lot, I am assuming the beer is not that good
Northern Brewer sells Hop Shots, which are hop extract. Freshops sells an unisomerized Cascade extract that’s used for flavor and aroma. I have can of hop extract that Hop Union produced, but it’s for a 100 gal. batch so I haven’t opened it yet!
I just used some today. Bought it from Yakima valley hops and packed it in syringes.
Curious how the “flavor” and “aroma” ones are. Could be a neat way to dry hop unless they need to be boiled for isomerization into the wort.
Isomerization is how you get bitterness. I just add the Freshops Cascade extract to a glass of beer.
Does the aroma noticeably increase? And does it come across as “fake”? I only ask b/c I sampled some cascade extract dosed in a beer at the 2013 NHC in Philly (can’t remember which supplier) and was not impressed. At least I wouldn’t have added any to my beer over dry hopping that is.
I have done a couple recipes with hop shots and they turned out great. Specifically the pliney clones from NB have them and they don’t come off as fake in the least. Biggest thing I say is don’t ever taste it before adding to the beer or you will be sorry. I would not dry hop with it as it does make a sticky mess on my brew pot that takes some elbow grease to get off.
I avoided this buy pulling about 1 gallon of into a smaller pot and stirring well to get the extract mixed in. I was worried, but at the end of the day my kettle and chiller were at the normal level of messiness.