Dry Hop For How Long?

[brotom7]

What's the optimal time to leave the hops in the secondary when dry hopping?
I've read some leave them in for 3 days but then there are some that dry hop straight into the keg and unless in a bag they would stay until emptied.

Are there any issues with leaving dry hops too long and after how long has the maximum aroma been extracted into the beer?

 

[Nick JD]

What's the optimal time to leave the hops in the secondary when dry hopping?
I've read some leave them in for 3 days but then there are some that dry hop straight into the keg and unless in a bag they would stay until emptied.

Are there any issues with leaving dry hops too long and after how long has the maximum aroma been extracted into the beer?

I've found that there's a relationship between dry hopping in the fermenter and the type of yeast used with regards to grassiness. When using S04 yeast I dry hop for the enitre ferment duration and have never had any grassiness issues ... with US05 and exactly the same beer I get grassiness. Perhaps more attenuative yeasts metabolise more of the hop compounds?

Wonder if anyone else has found yeast to have an affect on hop aroma/flavour extraction? Or if anyone knows the science behind this.

I think there's more to it than just time in fermenter.

 

[newguy]

I try to get my dry hops in the fermenter before my yeast flocculates. This is usually 5-7 days after brewing. I'll usually leave the beer on the hops for at least a week, sometimes 2. What I try to do is leave everything alone until the hops sink to the bottom, hopefully to be covered by the yeast as it drops out so that the transfer to the keg leaves behind as much hop material as possible.

There's no real problem with leaving the hops on the beer for a long time. The original IPAs were dry hopped in England, and drank in India several months later.

 

[Bribie G]

With Pellets I chuck in on day 4 or 5 and just forget about them. With some styles such as my NZ cream ale type beers I take advantage of the NZ flowers we can buy and make up a dose of hop tea and put that in a few days before bottling of kegging.

To emulate UK cask hopping I put a UK plug into a big tea ball and throw that into the keg where it sits next to the pickup tube. :beerbang:
All plugs (even Saaz or Mittelfreuh) are made in the UK and they don't make them out of the goodness of their hearts for us home brewers. Plugs are the size and shape they are so that they can be put through the spile hole of a cask. A couple of years ago a member who had toured a UK brewery (Hook Norton??) posted some shots including workers stuffing plugs through the spile holes before sealing and dispatch.
:icon_cheers:

 

[Bizier]

I have taken to racking to a secondary, and dry-hopping at a warm temp in an attempt to get more resins out. I find that after I have had a few days of rousing the hops back up into suspension, it scrubs out much of the yeast as well kind of like finings, but this could also be solely due to the extra agitation.

I go for 5 days for IPAs. ED: sometimes much more.

What sort of beer are you making?

 

[brotom7]

Thanks for the info,
I have a lager in the fridge that just went into secondary after 3 weeks fermentation.
It will be in secondary for 3 weeks with 25g Hallertauer.
I have tried 3 day dry hopping on a couple of ales with EKG and it didn't really do much for me, I have to admit that I'm not too keen of EKG and will switch to use some other English bitter hops.

 

[Bizier]

I think you are the first person I have heard of to not like EKG

 

[manticle]

I think you are the first person I have heard of to not like EKG

You are forgetting Buttersd70.

 

[brotom7]

I tried and tried and tried, tweaking recipes and trying again but eventually figured I just don't like it.