Dry Hopping

[balconybrewer]

hi all, about to dry hop a pale ale and golden ale,

i have in the past added boiling water to the hops in a coffee mug before pouring into the secondary and racking onto them.

just wondering what is the best practice for dry hopping, sound they be "dry" or do most people add boiling water to kill any nasties??

cheers

 

[braufrau]

hi all, about to dry hop a pale ale and golden ale,

i have in the past added boiling water to the hops in a coffee mug before pouring into the secondary and racking onto them.

just wondering what is the best practice for dry hopping, sound they be "dry" or do most people add boiling water to kill any nasties??

cheers

Just chuck 'em in.

 

[Jye]

No need to add boiling water to sanitise hops, they were originally added to IPAs to act as a preservative on their long voyage.

Have you ever smelt the hops once you have added boiling water? they are volatiles youre loosing. Adding hops dry to the beer will keep more of those volatiles in the finished beer increasing the aroma.

 

[balconybrewer]

thanks guys, both 20lt batches added the following dry

15gms amarillo in the golden
10gms cascade & 5 chinook in the pale

??? sound ok, i dont want it to be too overpowering???

cheers

 

[Jye]

Sounds good for the golden but you may want to sample to APA in a weeks time and decide whether to add more or not.

 

[Screwtop]

Reckon your on the money with both. I use a 25cm square of Swiss Voille (of BIAB fame) pop the hops in and tie the top up with a plastic twist tie (from a pack of bin liners) and toss em in. Keep tasting, if the beer begins to taste a little vegetal after a couple of weeks use a sanitised coathanger (Maori car radio aerial) bent into a hook shape on the end to fish em out.

Screwy

 

[joecast]

Reckon your on the money with both. I use a 25cm square of Swiss Voille (of BIAB fame) pop the hops in and tie the top up with a plastic twist tie (from a pack of bin liners) and toss em in.
Screwy

thats the one issue i've always had with dry hopping. they never seem to settle leaving me with lots of hop pellet particles floating in my finished beer (not that i mind, but a clear beer would be nicer some times).
and yeah, those hops sound fine to me.
joe

 

[asis]

Is it necessary to rack to a secondary to dry hop or can I just add the hops as fermentation nears the end? If i need to rack should this be done after the completion of fermentation and then immediately chilled?

Thanks

Adam

 

[Jye]

Asis, no need to rack, just chuck the hops in after primary fermentation has finished. You can then bottle/keg a week later.

 

[Ross]

Is it necessary to rack to a secondary to dry hop or can I just add the hops as fermentation nears the end? If i need to rack should this be done after the completion of fermentation and then immediately chilled?

Thanks

Adam

Adam,

No, it's not necessary to rack to dry hop - I never rack my beers & dry hop many of them.
i like the dry hops to have 3 days at normal fermentation temp & up to a week chilled.
My regime is to add the hops once final gravity hits approx 1020, this is also the point i raise the beer a few degrees to finish off the fermentation.

cheers Ross

 

[asis]

Thanks Jye and Ross. It was at about 1018 or 19 this afternoon so I'll go and chuck em in now.

Thanks again

Adam

 

[piraterum]

How long should you dry hop for?

I've heard anything from 4-7days? I assume most of the volatile oils leach out within a few days and there is no harm leaving it longer?

 

[joecast]

How long should you dry hop for?

yup, 4-7 days should be fine. maybe a taste test after 4 days, or would that be a smell test? i usually go at least a week but whether you get any more aroma after a week i couldnt say. depends when you are ready to bottle i suppose.
joe

 

[macron1]

Is it necessary to rack to a secondary to dry hop or can I just add the hops as fermentation nears the end? If i need to rack should this be done after the completion of fermentation and then immediately chilled?

Thanks

Adam

ive tried both racking to a secondary and adding dry hops at that stage, as well as adding them to the primary after... primary fermentation has tapered off. Conclusion: either is fine. i prefer to rack these days, but just cos i like playing with beer i think and to make it seem like i am doing something.

One advantage of racking tho i suppose is that you can give the beer a good "agitation" every now and then to circulate the beer through the hops, while if you were to add the dry hops to the primary, you would probably disturb the yeast cake if you did the same thing, and might lead to cloudy beer????