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Mystery - Hop Dink

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  • Mystery - Hop Dink

    At last year's ZBF fest in Belgium, Kris of De Dolle had a liquid experiment which he named "Hop Dink" - essentially a lightly carbonated hop tea. He claimed it had an ABV of .2%, and was made with only hops, water and yeast (he had four different versions to sample) My questions:
    1. What did the yeast use to achieve .2%? Are there any fermentables in hops? (I did a search on hop composition and didn't find anything indicating a sugar or carbo-string that yeast could use.)
    2. Anyone else try something similar? What process does one use to achieve this type of hop beverage?

    BTW, the "Dinks" were quite tasty - wickedly bitter - but would be quite refreshing on a hot summer's day.

  • #2
    My first thought is how did he measure the 0.2% alcohol? That is a very low percentage to analyze, but not impossible. Most non-alcohol beers are 0.5% or lower (actually one brand is much lower than that). Assuming the 0.2% is a good figure, the alcohol probably came from the yeast that was added. Remember yeast slurry is yeast + beer (as long as yeast was cultured in beer).

    Spin some of your yeast down in a test tube, and see what you get. In my experience yeast solids are usually below 45% in normal operations with the average being about half of that, depending on your process, ale yeast, lager yeast, etc.

    My guess is that the yeast added some "character" from the beer along with it. The majority of the bitterness came from the hop teas. Yeast also carries bitterness that is easily absorbed into the next batch, or in this case, the water. The majority of bitterness probably came from the hops. Also, there is no malt sweetness to balance the bitterness out, so that could be a reason for the highly bitter taste.

    Some large brewers have "washed" yeast in "adjusted water" which is deaerated carbonated water in order to reduce the IBU content to pitch into a low IBU brand--Different from acid washing.

    As for the second question, try it out! You could have the next biggest selling product. You never know! As for the process, you just described it! Hop Tea, cooled, carbonated, add enough beer yeast to flavor, settle, filter/carbonate, and serve.

    Have fun! & let us know how it turns out...
    B

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    • #3
      I'd like to hear more about this adjusted water yeast washing business if anybody has any more in-depth information.

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      • #4
        I do recall reading something before about hops containing a small amount of fermentable materials, I think it was is princibles of brewing science (fix). Dont know if it was enough to produce .2%
        Sláinte!

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        • #5
          Pitching yeast will always contain a certain amount of alcohol, and if it is good viable yeast, will continue to produce a small amount from the stored glycogen in the yeast cells.

          At one place I worked, we reslurried the excess pressed yeast in water, pressed the slurry and then obtained filtrate with approx 5 % alcohol in it, which could then be blended back or sold off for say malt vinegar production. I don't think the hops will contribute any significant amounts of fermentable sugars, and expect the 0.2 % alcohol to have come from the yeast.

          Cheers
          dick

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