Ready in 24 hours
Serves 7 – 8 oz. drinks
0.0% A.B.V.
0 Calories
About a year ago, I had my first hop water and I was hooked. It was a chamomile hop tea from Hoplark, a fizzy, hoppy drink with 0.0% A.B.V. and 0 calories.
At that time, the internet didn’t have many hop water recipes, and what I did find often relied on brewing equipment, yeast, or took a long time to make. I wanted a quick recipe that I could customize easily at home. Using this base recipe, you can endlessly combine the hops of your preference (just make sure the pellet weight adds up to 7 or 8g). My hop of choice here is Citra. It’s a mainstay in many commercial hop waters, and it’s one of my favorites for producing a bright citrusy aroma and hoppy flavor.
The first batch of this will be decidedly more expensive than the second. Go shopping, buy yourself the cool Drinkmate, and stay safe with your carbonation habits (then have fun carbonating other drinks). Shipping from Ann Arbor was lightning quick. If you’re local, go visit The Supply House at Cadillac Straits in Madison Heights (they will also ship to you). You may have all of the containers and vessels you need at home, look around, it doesn’t have to be the same as what I used. You will need some sort of a fine mesh strainer to remove the hop particles at the end of the steeping process. I have linked a similar tea infuser that I use below, but you could also use a fine mesh bag (also sold at The Supply House).
Ingredients
8 cups – Filtered Water
¼ teaspoon – Acid Blend from Cellar Science
7g – Yakima Chief Citra pellet hops
Method
- Fill a 2-quart container with 8 cups of room temperature filtered water.
- Add ¼ teaspoon of Acid Blend from Cellar Science and stir to dissolve.
The Acid Blend from Cellar Science includes citric, tartaric, and malic acids and provides a more complex flavor than citric acid alone.
SUBSTITUTION: Citric acid may be substituted for the Acid Blend. It will make the final hop water taste more like a lemon-lime soda.
BONUS SCIENCE STEP: Test your filtered water with a pH paper. Most home filtered water will be neutral, around 7.0. For the best tasting hop water, the ideal pH needs to be closer to 4.0-4.25. Experiment with adding the acid of your choice while testing the water after each addition. If you use the universal pH papers linked below, the papers will be bright orange leaning toward red after the acid addition. - Add 7g of Yakima Chief Citra pellet hops and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and leave to steep at room temperature for 24 hours. Stir occasionally over the course of the day.
- After 24 hours have passed, use a fine mesh tea basket to strain out the hop particles. My tea basket fits nicely right in the neck of the glass pitcher linked below. Pour slowly and plan to discard the last 5% of the cloudy water and hop sediment at the end. Refrigerate until fully chilled.
OPTIONAL: Use a dry erase marker to write the name and date of your creation on top of the plastic lid. - Using a Drinkmate Soda Maker (this brand is known for being able to safely carbonate beverages other than plain water), follow the manufacturer’s directions for carbonating your hop water. Pour and serve in your favorite glass.
Don’t skip the carbonation step! It should almost be listed as a separate ingredient. You will be surprised at what a difference it makes if you taste your hop water before and after carbonation.
Hop water, carbonated or flat will last in the fridge for quite some time. We make large batches of water and then carbonate as we are ready to drink it. I have never kept it around for more than a week because we go through it so quickly! - When you have completed the recipe and you are left with a partial bag of hop pellets, secure the bag as tightly as you can with a clip and store it in an airtight container in the freezer. For the purposes of making hop water at room temperature, it will last at least a year.
Have fun experimenting with different hop combinations and let me know how this recipe works for you. I would love to hear about your hop water creations!
Equipment & Suppliers
OmniFizz Countertop Sparkling Water and Soda Maker
Drinkmate – Ann Arbor, Michigan
Yakima Chief Citra Pellet Hops
Cellar Science Acid Blend
Universal pH Papers – Range 2.0-10.0
The Supply House at Cadillac Straits – Madison Heights, Michigan
Anchor Hocking Glass Measuring Cup
Mini Measuring Spoon Set
Arc (Luminarc) Glass Pitcher with Lid
Oxo Fine Mesh Tea Infuser/Strainer Basket
Ozeri Kitchen Scale
Expo Dry Erase Markers
Glaver’s 16 oz. Original Mason Glasses
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