Hop tea or dry hop?

[redbenson111]

I have made a large number of brews over the last 18 months from both 1 and 2 can kits. I generally like Coopers kits but have had good results from John Bull and Geordie as well. I normally brew with DME and/or brewing sugar and the majority of the brews have been very palatable. The only problem seems to be that whatever the kit, it never seems to be quite hoppy enough for my tastes but I have come to the conclusion that this is one of the drawbacks of kit brewing.

I don't have the time for all grain or the experience (yet) for extract, but would like to experiment a bit to see if I can get something a bit more hoppy.

I am going to start a John Bull lager, brewed with 50/50 light DME and brewing sugar to 20l. I have bought 100g of Saaz hops and was wondering if it would be better to make a hop tea and add at the start of fermentation, or dry hop part way through? I was guessing at approx 20g for the 20l.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Geezah]

I had the same impression as you with my first Coopers APA, nice drink but missing some bitterness.
I have just bottled up another APA but this time I added a mug of hop tea on day 4 of ferment (after the initial Coopers foam monster had subsided).
I put 40g of Fuggles (aa 4.8%) in a hessian bag and steeped it in a mug of boiling water for 20 minutes, let it cool and then tipped it in the brew.
When bottling up I had a taster and the hops bittering really came through well. Not sure how it will be after its conditioned for a few weeks, but I think 40g might just be a little overboard for my pallet, although i'm not a huge fan of bitter.

A Coopers Stout KrausMonster...

[Geezah]

...and yes, it lifted the lid on its own.

[Geezah]

Having sampled an early bottle, It seems like the initial bitterness is still there, but blending in to the brew nicely.