Distill the hops

[Demy]

There are many products on the market (especially in recent years) to flavor beer. As home distillers, has anyone experimented with extracting aroma from hops using some kind of distillation? In the past I have made tinctures (short maceration of hops in alcohol), I wonder if simple distillation by steam or maceration + distillation is a useful process to extract an acceptable amount of aromas. Thank you all.

[still_stirrin]

Demy,
I have stripped the alcohol from many, many commercial beers (expired, and not “sellable”) and all too often, the hop flavors and bitterness carries over in the distillate. The aroma from the hops carries over also, but to a lessor extent.

However, I was trying to recycle the alcohol and not the hop qualities. So, I typically double and triple distill the salvaged alcohol to reduce the hops character. I don’t care for the hop bitterness, flavor, or aroma in the spirits, so I try to eliminate it. Of note, aging in charred oak does help minimize the hops, but it doesn’t eliminate it.

Recognizing my anecdote is different (yet similar) to your questions, I would suppose that either a maceration or vapor path distillation would extract some of the qualities you’re desiring from the hops. So, give either a try and see if you like what you get.
ss

[Demy]

Demy,
I have stripped the alcohol from many, many commercial beers (expired, and not “sellable”) and all too often, the hop flavors and bitterness carries over in the distillate. The aroma from the hops carries over also, but to a lessor extent.

However, I was trying to recycle the alcohol and not the hop qualities. So, I typically double and triple distill the salvaged alcohol to reduce the hops character. I don’t care for the hop bitterness, flavor, or aroma in the spirits, so I try to eliminate it. Of note, aging in charred oak does help minimize the hops, but it doesn’t eliminate it.

Recognizing my anecdote is different (yet similar) to your questions, I would suppose that either a maceration or vapor path distillation would extract some of the qualities you’re desiring from the hops. So, give either a try and see if you like what you get.
ss

Thanks, yes I actually wanted the opposite effect to yours. I must specify however (I apologize for not having done this before) that I was talking about the cones ... I have some hop plants and as a distiller I thought about the distillation of hops, as for other plants .. but the characteristics of the plant are different from other common plants.The purpose is to flavor a beer not a distillate.

[CopperFiend]

As far as I'm aware, over 80 degrees C, hops oils are isomerized and therefore become bitter, losing their aromatic qualities to some extent. I feel like boiling them for the length of time you'd need to for making an essence would end up with a very bitter liquid. Never heard of it being done though and haven't tried it myself so can't comment if this is true or not, just my understanding of home-brewing!

[bluedog]

If you make beer you know the hops that are boiled 1hr or more are your bittering hops, and are reduced down to bitter Alpha acids. I've made a lot of beer, and distilled a fair bit of it too. The beers I've distilled aren't super alpha acid bitter like i'd expect and was mentioned in other posts, but the hops character definitely change when you boil them for a long time. Think skunky, oxidized, or sun affected hops, or weed. Sounds bad, but I actually quite like it.
If you're trying to capture the true flavor of the hop, you'd probably want to load it in a gin basket. Even that might be too much heat, and you'd need a vacuum still, which is my guess how those commercial products are made.

[NZChris]

I've never tried making a hop essence, but I have used a few fresh cones in gin and that was nice.

If you have spare hops, put them in the pot and run it to see what happens. If you want to put them in a basket, you'll need a huge basket, preferably a Carter Head so that flavor components can't reflux down into the pot where they would get boiled.

[Demy]

Thanks for your interventions. I should better articulate my question probably. What I ask is hop essential oil, this oil will then be used to flavor a beer. I know well the production of beer, hops and the Alfa and Beta acids but this is another story.
In the past I extracted the resins of hops (and with them acids) through alcoholic maceration, I was thinking of a similar process but using steam distillation, just as the production of essential oils for other plants does.
My head tells me that it is an unproductive and perhaps not very effective process on the resins but maybe someone has tried it.

[NormandieStill]

This suggests that it has been done. I don't think that they specify the variety of hops used.

[bluedog]

Why don't you just dry hop the beer?

[whiskymonster]

It occurs to me that the hop flavour comes across just fine in beer that is mostly water. High test alcohol shouldnt be needed to carry over everything you want.

Maybe a concentrated essence could me made by simply soaking in water for an extended time?

Maybe another of the myriad uses for an ultrasonic cleaner. Holding at a suitable temperature and buzzing it for a bit seems like it would extract everything you could want from the hops.

[Demy]

Why don't you just dry hop the beer?

Of course, but as a distiller I try to explore .... dry hopping is an alternative.

[Aluda]

I made essential oil from hops. He made hydrosol by supplying steam through hop cones. At the same time, I used overripe cones. At the same time, the cones were still lying for a week, there was no time. A few milliliters have collected on top of the hydrosol bottle. Which I collected with a medical syringe. Pleasant, strong persistent smell. Hydrosol was used for washing. Here is a bottle where the inscription in Russian Khmel is visible.

There are three bottles of 0.5 lira each. How many hops were less than half a 30 liter beer keg. If I have time, I will definitely make hydrosol from hops, since you can always collect some biologically pure essential oil. Why, rinse your hair, wash your face. The smell is like from the toilet near the pub, it smells a bit of macha (pisyaki). I apologize for my English.

[LordL]

[media][/media]

Thanks for your interventions. I should better articulate my question probably. What I ask is hop essential oil, this oil will then be used to flavor a beer. I know well the production of beer, hops and the Alfa and Beta acids but this is another story.
In the past I extracted the resins of hops (and with them acids) through alcoholic maceration, I was thinking of a similar process but using steam distillation, just as the production of essential oils for other plants does.
My head tells me that it is an unproductive and perhaps not very effective process on the resins but maybe someone has tried it.

If you also distill... I'd take some high proof (the higher the better) neutral and macerate the hops. Let it sit for like five days. Then let it evaporate naturally.

Before you get a crystalline product, you would get something like a syrup I presume.

You could also try it with acetone, but then make sure it completely evaporates and leaves the lupulin.

[Demy]

[media][/media]

Thanks for your interventions. I should better articulate my question probably. What I ask is hop essential oil, this oil will then be used to flavor a beer. I know well the production of beer, hops and the Alfa and Beta acids but this is another story.
In the past I extracted the resins of hops (and with them acids) through alcoholic maceration, I was thinking of a similar process but using steam distillation, just as the production of essential oils for other plants does.
My head tells me that it is an unproductive and perhaps not very effective process on the resins but maybe someone has tried it.

If you also distill... I'd take some high proof (the higher the better) neutral and macerate the hops. Let it sit for like five days. Then let it evaporate naturally.

Before you get a crystalline product, you would get something like a syrup I presume.

You could also try it with acetone, but then make sure it completely evaporates and leaves the lupulin.

That's exactly what I did a few years ago... I evaporated on a plate to have a faster evaporation. Picking up what's left from the plate is a bit awkward. I also made a tincture by soaking the hops in alcohol and added it directly to the beer. Distillation intrigued me but I don't think it's the right way.

[LordL]

[media][/media]

Thanks for your interventions. I should better articulate my question probably. What I ask is hop essential oil, this oil will then be used to flavor a beer. I know well the production of beer, hops and the Alfa and Beta acids but this is another story.
In the past I extracted the resins of hops (and with them acids) through alcoholic maceration, I was thinking of a similar process but using steam distillation, just as the production of essential oils for other plants does.
My head tells me that it is an unproductive and perhaps not very effective process on the resins but maybe someone has tried it.

If you also distill... I'd take some high proof (the higher the better) neutral and macerate the hops. Let it sit for like five days. Then let it evaporate naturally.

Before you get a crystalline product, you would get something like a syrup I presume.

You could also try it with acetone, but then make sure it completely evaporates and leaves the lupulin.

That's exactly what I did a few years ago... I evaporated on a plate to have a faster evaporation. Picking up what's left from the plate is a bit awkward. I also made a tincture by soaking the hops in alcohol and added it directly to the beer. Distillation intrigued me but I don't think it's the right way.

Nice! Got any good results?

[Golly]

So this method doesn't use distillation, but instead freezing the whole cone hops in high proof alcohol and then evaporating the alcohol. Which I know has been mentioned above, but I feel this method is sufficiently different for someone to have a crack at. It is different to a tincture IMO.

You want to scroll down until you find some posts by a guy called Moorehops
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/ex ... on.426870/

To save someone a click: this is his initial post:

First you need 190 everclear alcohol or 151 proof. The higher the proof the better, stick with drinking alcohol to keep food quality. I stick the ethanol in the freezer into an salted ice bath to get the temperature well below freezing. The hops I'm extractimg from are also kept in the freezer. Freezing the hops ties up the chlorophyll and the other water solubles.
Next the two are mixed into a mason jar and shaken hard for 1-2 minutes and returned to the freezer for the next two minutes. Remove from freezer, shake the mix hard one last time then strain through a coffee filter into a baking dish.
Let the baking dish sit out and the alcohol will evaporate leaving behind your hop extract. Scrape with a razor blade and collect on to silicon sheet or parchment paper.

In follow up posts he provides pictures and also gets snarky with other posters questioning his method.

[Demy]

So this method doesn't use distillation, but instead freezing the whole cone hops in high proof alcohol and then evaporating the alcohol. Which I know has been mentioned above, but I feel this method is sufficiently different for someone to have a crack at. It is different to a tincture IMO.

You want to scroll down until you find some posts by a guy called Moorehops
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/ex ... on.426870/

To save someone a click: this is his initial post:

First you need 190 everclear alcohol or 151 proof. The higher the proof the better, stick with drinking alcohol to keep food quality. I stick the ethanol in the freezer into an salted ice bath to get the temperature well below freezing. The hops I'm extractimg from are also kept in the freezer. Freezing the hops ties up the chlorophyll and the other water solubles.
Next the two are mixed into a mason jar and shaken hard for 1-2 minutes and returned to the freezer for the next two minutes. Remove from freezer, shake the mix hard one last time then strain through a coffee filter into a baking dish.
Let the baking dish sit out and the alcohol will evaporate leaving behind your hop extract. Scrape with a razor blade and collect on to silicon sheet or parchment paper.

In follow up posts he provides pictures and also gets snarky with other posters questioning his method.

Yes, this post is what inspired me after reading it. The results are very good...maybe we need to improve the process.