I know we focus alot on hemp and cannabis but im wondering if there is any hops extractors here.
Im wondering what process is used in large extraction of hops and what uses the extract has asides from the standard beer…
I see people usually using c02 extract and ethanol but since the hops contains a large volume of terpenes are people also doing steam diatillation? What is the best solvent for initial extraction?
Has anyone ever used the hops extracts for products like vape pens or? How did you find the consumption of it?
I’ve attempted to have a conversation about this but I think it there isn’t enough people interested in it yet to spend time on it.
I have some interesting thoughts on this all and I have found some great hop terps companies with pure concentrated hop terps less than 3400/k
I think the bigger question relates to the race of the best solvent or solventless method with the least amount if no no amount of heat to protect the original profile yet not have all the bad stuff.
I’m pretty sure a company incame across and something my chemist us work on. Will allow to have room temperature terpene extraction without solvents like ethonal or heat.
Room temp love resin quality terp extractiion is my end goal. My chemist was the one having me look at hops terps and the company he introduced me to is ahead of the game with profiles.
We did a ton of hop extraction for process validation. I love a strong IPA but my god will the smell of straight hops terps make you want to puke when you smell a beer lol. Humulene is extremely dominant.
All in all, it’s very similar to working with hemp/cannabis
Maybe hit up @tweedledew. Not sure if they got his CO2 rig but I know he had one that was on the verge of being turned into an icecream machine. That and it sounds like he might know a thing or two about hops
So hops and cannabis are actually cousins, and certainly share some similarities; especially in the aromatics department. Not sure what you’re after for a final product, but if it’s terpenes I would probably recommend doing a light hydrocarbon or subcritical co2 extract over actually trying to pull the resins (not sure why you’d want the resin, but if you do, then I’d do a more traditional extraction).
My friend was a bit of a mad scientist and was one of the first people I knew of using co2 as a solvent (maybe 10-15 years ago?) And he’s a brewer by trade. He actually built himself a “hop gun” where he’d pressurize a co2 tube at 600psi full of hops; in his hands. He’d then “shoot” the hops into his beer while simultaneously carbonating the batch.
That is some mad science indeed! When were we’re running hops, most of the yield regardless of parameters was terpenes. Not sure if it was specific to the mystery hops we bought off Amazon but there really wasn’t too much in the way of resin (although there was a good amount of fats). Supposedly some varieties of hops do actually develop a bit of CBG/CBD (up to maybe .5%). Could be an old wives tale though
I used to do a very rudimentary hop extraction back when I worked for a brewery. It’s actually what helped me transition into this industry. IMO steam distillation is the way to go, but I recommend extracting a combination of different hops instead of just one at a time, gives you a much nicer flavor profile. Just be careful when using your extract to flavor, one too many drops of hop oil and it will instantly make whatever you’re working with nearly inedible.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned it, but a few years back absolute extracts and lagunitas brewing (both out of California) collabed on hop flavored distillate carts among other products. They claimed the hops were extracted in their CO2 machines at supercritical levels. Probably also how they extract hop terps for their THC infused hop water