Epic's 5 – 10 – 15 Rule for Dry Hopping

[eldertaco]

Apparently their rule of thumb for dry hopping at Epic is 5g/L for pales, 10g/L for IPA and 15g/L for IIPA.

https://www.epicbeer.com/the-5-10-15-rule/

I've never gone quite that hard but I've got an IPA and a DIPA in the ferment fridge at the moment, so I think I'll have a stab and see what happens.. Not looking forward to the losses though, might have to see what I can rustle up and do half the dry hop in the keg.

 

[Lyrebird_Cycles]

Ridiculous.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Explains why they're so expensive.

 

[eldertaco]

Interesting, didn't expect it to be quite so contentious!

So what are the highest levels of dry hopping people around here go for?

 

[laxation]

I think there's a few breweries who skip bittering hops and just do whirlpool/dry hops. that ends up with a shitload of hops added late - is that what this guy does?

i'd be keen to give it a shot. makes for an expensive beer... so it better be good!

 

[BKBrews]

Interesting, didn't expect it to be quite so contentious!

So what are the highest levels of dry hopping people around here go for?

I pretty much don't bother with anything under 5g/L these days. Done less, done more... found this to be the sweet spot for me. Also really depends when/how you dry hop (at what point of fermentation, temperature, duration etc etc)

 

[user 35653]

makes for an expensive beer

I wouldn't agree it's expensive, you're talking 50c (approx) extra on a pint.

 

[mstrelan]

Most I've done is 12.5 g/L but around 6 g/L is reasonable.

 

[Mardoo]

If you want to brew beers like Epic's , it'd be worth taking on board. I'd be solidly chuffed to even come within spitting distance of many of their beers.

I myself would likely split the doses up into 5g/l amounts, i.e. 1 dose for pales, 2 for IPA's, 3 for IIPA's. I would guess that the ability to dump spent doses would be good once you're looking at the 15g/l level, but it sounds like Epic does it in one dose.

I've dry hopped at 10g/l, but it can take weeks for the phenols to ease up to the point of drinkability. Then again, the Heady Topper-ish I brewed was drinking great at a week out of the fermenter at 9g/l.

 

[2cranky]

huh!
My IPA are around 90-100g and IIPA about 135g for 19 l keg.
no wonder they are so delicious!

 

[malt junkie]

So many people want to label everything, I taste from the fermenter, check gravity, check what I have on tap, check stocks, then decide how hard to go with dry hop. Usually between 3 and 5g/L but as low as 1.5 and up to 12 (can't mention the beer at 12, Nelson is way too pricey atm). I have a decent range of taps, I don't need to blow my head of with hops on every one, some restraint and relief at times is required.

 

[eldertaco]

I've dry hopped at 10g/l, but it can take weeks for the phenols to ease up to the point of drinkability. Then again, the Heady Topper-ish I brewed was drinking great at a week out of the fermenter at 9g/l.

Yeah you're right sometimes the aggressively dry hopped beers can take a while to mellow out, and other times it's fine almost straight away. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to when it happens vs when it doesn't either, or at least not that I've figured out.

I guess the lowest I go is about 3g/L and the highest I've gone has probably been around the 9 mark.