This blog provides information for educational purposes only. Read our complete summary for more info.
Hop Water Recipe - Soda Water with Hops!
This is a hop water recipe, which is like LaCroix flavored with hops. It's super light and refreshing and tastes a bit like beer. However, it doesn't contain any sweeteners, gluten, or alcohol. This means that you can chug this stuff and not get tipsy or tired. Some people want to get tipsy, and those people should check out one of our homebrew recipes. For those who don't, read on.
Hop Water Ingredients
1. Water2. Hops
We used Lemon drop hops, feel free to use any hop variety you prefer
3. Lemon juice
Full Recipe Video
Procedure
1. Add water to kettle
2. Boil for 10 minutes
3. Chill to 170F (76.7C)
4. Lower pH by adding lemon juice (to 4.6 or lower) - just a small squirt of lemon juice should be enough
Adding lemon juice while monitoring pH with a meter
5. Add hops (2g per gallon) and let stand for 20 mins (FYI: We used lemon drop hops)
Your hops will start dispersing and dissolving after a while
6. Filter out hops with cheesecloth or a mesh bag
7. Cool to serving temp
8. Carbonate
9. Drink
The final product was surprisingly clear and extremely refreshing
This recipe is super easy to make and is a great alternative beverage for folks who either don't want to or can't drink alcohol. We highly recommend making some of this stuff! Let us know how yours turned out!
I made this recipe. Fizz the water in my soda stream then stir in hop water gently. If you reverse that and fizz after adding hop water,you’ll get a large overflowing mess.
Question:
How long will my hop water keep in the fridge? I just found my 3rd quart jar in the back of the frig. It looks good. I can’t smell it cuz of Covid. Wife says it’s bad and smells swampy. It has thickened. It’s about 5 months old. Trying to get a tablespoon it is like trying to get a spoon of egg yolk. The mass pulls back into the jar what I spooned up. I used the 1st 2 quarts within a month, all good.
Thanks
late to the party, but 170 F is to extract flavor and aroma but less bitterness… It’s the way hops work with temperature. If you don’t have a way to force carbonate, You can carbonate with a bit of sugar and yeast but it will leave dregs in the bottle that you’ll have to pour carefully to avoid. let’s say 1/2-1 teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of yeast per 12 oz bottle… Cap and let sit at room temp (70-ish F) for a week or two,
What ratio of pellets vs flower for gallon?
The Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher has Nutritional Brewer’s Yeast (and some mystery natural flavors). When would you suggest adding the nutritional brewer’s yeast and what quantity (there’s is listed after the dried hops so less than the hops)
Thanks!
I’VE DONE THIS RECIPe numerous times with different hops. low alpha “citric” hops work best.
styrian golding, tettnang worked well..
azacca ctz summit did not.
i think its hard to dial in the appropriate bitterness on high alpha hops.
grassy non citric hops dont do well either. fuggle was awful! thanks for the recipe!
i want to try huell melon, hallertau blanc and that french one that tastes like cherry (loral?)
What about hop oxidation? Is the co2 carbonation enough to get rid off oxygen?
I used about 1/8 lime per liter to get ph to about 4.2. I used 2 grams whole hops (cascade) for a one liter batch. I hooked a liter bottle to a carbonation cap. Will be doing bigger batches in the future. You could do a lot with this recipe: flavorings, sweeteners, fruit, etc. skies the limit!
Do you hold the temp at 76.7 for the whole 20 mins?
If I was to use fresh hops ,how much do you think is needed per gallon of water ?
Two questions:
• What’s the purpose of boiling the water for 10 min?
• Is the lowered pH for any reason other than flavoring?
Thanks,
Irv
Instead of a ph meter I’m going to use ph paper, and use dry ice (ie. solid carbon dioxide) From the grocery store to carbonate. Just need to carefully figure out how much is needed… lol
Would lime juice work the same as lemon juice? I’d much rather have lime flavor than lemon
Anyone struggling to use lemon juice can use phosphoric acid for a fairly neutral/soda like way to drop ph. This can be bottle carbonated but like any bottle carb, will require a pinch of yeast and priming sugar at bottling and will result in some bottle lees.
The amount of lemon to use varies based on your water profile. Here in Florida my starting ph for filtered water is 7.65. I added 1/8 cup of lemon and it dropped by 1pt. So I added an additional 1/4 cup and got to 4.3-4.4. I used organic pure lemon juice not from concentrate (which didn’t have any extra ingredients- just Lemon. As for hops I used German saphir and had to use 6 grams per gallon to get even the slightest hop presence. The lemon is just too overpowering
I wonder if there is a way to charbonize if I don’t have a co2 machine? Regards from croatia:)
I wonder if there is a way to charbonize if I don’t have a co2 machine? Regards from croatia:)
I made this with 4 grams of hops per gallon instead of 2. I also added the juice of 1/2 of a medium lime. I carbonated it in my Sodastream. It came out nice especially if you like it a little hoppier.
it looks like there are several questions, regarding how much lemon. Go to the 3:50 mark in the video. The just squirt some from a “Plastic lemon,” then measure the PH.
Also curious how much lemon juice to ause
I would also like to know approximately how much lemon juice to add since I don’t have a ph meter. And I’m curious, why does the water need to be cooled to 170? I’m looking forward to making this. Thanks!!