Aroma hops flavour disapearing

[bonk1972]

Does any one have tips on making dry hopping aroma hops lasting longer in my bottles.... as i leave my bottles to condition for 12 weeks and i always sample one or two at 3 weeks were the hops are very aromatic but by 12 weeks all that aroma is light or not there..tia

 

[TheBlackAdder]

The solution is to not condition quite so long. Aromatic hopping will fade in the bottle.

Alternatively, you could condition longer in the FV before dry hopping and shorten your bottle conditioning time

e.g. go from 2 week FV > dry hop > 12 week bottle to 12 week FV > dry hop > 2 week bottle

 

[bonk1972]

OK that sounds abit ass about but maybe worth a try .... I also thought maybe dropping a hop pellet or 2 into the bottle before I cap

 

[Coodgee]

. I also thought maybe dropping a hop pellet or 2 into the bottle before I cap

I don't know if that would be a good idea. unless you handle your bottles really gently you'll get a glass full of hop floaties from every bottle. What might be better is to order some whole hop flowers and put a whole flower in every bottle. That would look really cool, kind of like the worm in the bottom of some tequila bottles. If you treat the flowers gently they should stay together and won't spawn an floaties.

Also, I believe you can reduce the rate at which hop aroma dissipates if you reduce the beer's exposure to oxygen. pretty hard to do in a home bottling set up. but limit splashing etc to a bare minimum.

 

[Droopy Brew]

Simple- dont leave them for 12 weeks. Hoppy beers are best fresh.

 

[bonk1972]

Ok thanks i just wonder how James Squire with hop theif or 150 lashes keep there hoppy aroma ... maybe they are very young as well

 

[Blind Dog]

I wouldn't leave the beer to condition for 12 weeks in the fermentor as you're likely to suffer yeast autolysis which adds rank off flavours to the beer. You can rack to secondary to get the beer off the yeast cake, but that adds a risk of oxidation and infection.

Adding the hops towards the end of fermentation is ideal as it reduces the risk of oxidation (yeast is still working so should scavenge any oxygen you introduce if you're careful) and infection (active yeast should outcompete any organisms on the hops plus the alcohol helps kill any bugs). Which I assume is what you're currently doing. That said, hops are often added to beer in keg or cask without issue.

You can add hops to beer as you bottle and it should settle over time. I've often done it to a 6er of bland megaswill to test new hops, but not Homebrew. Works for me if careful pouring and don't care about the odd floatie

You can try upping the hopping rate, or even try multiple dry hops. But I think DB is pretty much spot on - drink it sooner

 

[tugger]

Ok thanks i just wonder how James Squire with hop theif or 150 lashes keep there hoppy aroma ... maybe they are very young as well

They overshoot the mark to allow for the flavour fade. And pasteurisation, it fades the hop flavour but also makes it stable.

 

[bonk1972]

Just might try doubling my hop adds

 

[Rocker1986]

I'm with the drink it sooner crowd... light coloured hoppy ales I've always found to be much tastier fresh, around the 3-5 week bottled mark. After that the hop influence fades. If you're enjoying them more when they are fresher then why not just drink them then instead of leaving them for 12 weeks?

 

[bonk1972]

OK thanks everyone ... I guess drinking them earlier is the way to go besides I might get some of my shed back instead off storing 7 batches go back to maybe 3 batches infront

 

[danestead]

Condition for 3 or 4 weeks warm then put inthe fridge. Dry hop more.

 

[Matplat]

7 batches in front :blink: I can barely manage 1...!

 

[bonk1972]

Yer 7 batches its about 3 months supply for me.. reason i stocked up is i read somewhere on here the more you condition you beer in bottles the better so thats wat i was attempting to do

 

[Rocker1986]

It depends on the style of beer, not all styles of beer need to be conditioned for ages to be at their best - which you've probably learned now with this experience.

 

[Feldon]

Its the yeast settling in your bottles that drags down the hop aroma compounds. Yeast are sticky buggers and the compounds adhere to them. So your hop aroma hasn't really disappeared. It there, but sitting at the bottom of your bottle. This might also go some way to answering the question as to why the above mentioned James Squire beer can sustain its hop aroma for long periods - I assume this commercial beer is filtered before aroma hops are added. With no (or very few) yeasties to grap hold of the hop aroma compounds they are left for you to enjoy when you crack one.

The sort of filtration equipment used by the big boys is beyond most homebewers. Anyway, you need yeast in your beer if you are letting it naturally carbonate in the bottle. So some other ways we homebrewers can maximise the retention or longevity of hop aroma could include allowing more of the yeast to settle in the fermentor before dry hopping. The more yeast that are still in suspension in the beer the more aroma compounds that will be dragged down with them when they settle. So leave dry hopping to later (although some might argue that you need a little bit of active fermentation to keep the hops mobile in order to extract the most out of them).

You could also look at using a more flocculent yeast (one that naturally settles out quickly). The popular US05 is not a very flocculent yeast and stays in suspension within the beer for ages. You could go to something else like Nottingham (there are many other hi floc yeasts), but it may change the flavour profile of you beer (not in a bad way, just a bit different depending on the yeast).

Another thing to look at is your bottling process. The more air (oxygen) you trap in the ullage space at the top of the sealed bottle the more yeast will be produced. The presence of oxygen encourages the yeast to reproduce. They will scavenge the oxygen in the process but will increase their numbers, and the more yeast there are the more aroma compounds will be will be dragged down to the bottom of the bottle when the yeast settles. So try filling your bottles and leave the cap loose on top for a time to allow the CO2 in the partially carbonated beer to flush the air out replacing it with CO2. Then cap. If the beer coming out of your fermentor is pretty flat you could try giving the loosely capped bottles a swirl to cause it to outgas what little CO2 is has.

As mentioned by Tugger above, perhaps the easiest way to extend the longevity of hop aroma is to add more when dryhopping. Expect your sample to smell overly hoppy after a few weeks, but they might be just fine at twelve weeks.

 

[Feldon]

Hey, bonk1972. You might want to keep an eye on Yob's new dry hop product on this thread: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/87982-super-aroma-hop-shots/page-3#entry1336267

Seems to be an aroma hop essence that you add to finished beer. Might be the answer to everyone's dry hopping probs. Interesting development.

 

[Dave70]

OK that sounds abit ass about but maybe worth a try .... I also thought maybe dropping a hop pellet or 2 into the bottle before I cap

Don't do this.
Has absolutely zero effect other than making a mess of the beer.

12 weeks conditioning is way to long. Whats the point? Soon as they're gassed up store them as cold as possible, even if you prefer to drink them slightly warmer. Let the beer warm up in the glass if you must.
That's given me the best results for hoppy ales in regard to preserving hoppy goodness.