Galaxy Dry Hopping - How much is too much?

[Blind Dog]

The SW Pale Ale is precisely why I think Galaxy is not a good hop for dry hopping, it's a horrible beer that is very one dimensional in both hop and malt qualities, however we can't all like a particular beer so my comment is just an opinion.

If you're right it not just an opinion...

And you're right

In my opinion

 

[fletcher]

If you're right it not just an opinion...

And you're right

In my opinion

great constructive post that one. post more of them.

HBHB, are you actually dry hopping at 2-3 degrees for a few days? or dropping it 2-3 degrees below ferment temp? i'm guessing the former. just want to check as i'll be doing a similar clone of this soon

 

[HBHB]

I started doing them at about 8-10 degrees after making a beer that was full of grassy notes and not much else and it improved it. Some time later I tried it with the yeast dropped off and dropped the temp to 2 deg C and while it lost a fair amount of intensity, it lost all grassy notes and just kept the fruity notes. With no scientific basis for it, I've been doing it that way since and find it a lot cleaner.

 

[hoppinmad]

The SW Pale Ale is precisely why I think Galaxy is not a good hop for dry hopping, it's a horrible beer that is very one dimensional in both hop and malt qualities, however we can't all like a particular beer so my comment is just an opinion.

Couldn't agree more. Just tastes like passiona soft drink to me

 

[GalBrew]

Couldn't agree more. Just tastes like passiona soft drink to me

Which tastes awesome!!

 

[timmybradley]

So checked in on it yesterday afternoon...

Gravity is dropping which is a good start... But when I tasted it... pretty buttery - That'll teach me for being impatient and pitching the yeast at 24C instead of waiting for the temp to drop a little more (currently sitting at 19C). Definitely has that fruity passiona taste but undecided if it needs more hop bitterness (via a hop tea).

So... Diacetyl rests... Haven't done one before but from what I've read... Let fermentation finish, then up the temp to ~22C for a couple of days?

Thoughts?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[Black n Tan]

It is preferable to perform a diacetyl rest when the yeast are still active so before you hit final gravity (2-5 points short). Give it a couple of days at the elevated temp then taste to see if the diacetyl has gone. If not leave it longer and retest. Consider performing a forced diacetyl test (google it) to make sure your don't have any diacetyl precursors which could turn into diacetyl in the bottle.

 

[timmybradley]

Thanks Black n Tan,

Will keep an eye on the gravity and also check out the forced diacetyl test (hadn't hear of it before).

Would you say 22C is about right to up the temp to?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[Black n Tan]

A couple of degrees warmer than your main ferment temp for an ale. 22C sounds fine.

 

[Pagey]

I've never done a diacetyl rest on an ale...
Lagers yes but not an ale. I usually do raise my temps during fermentation but only because I am impatient and want to get to FG quick. LOL!! Maybe I'm doing it inadvertently.

 

[Black n Tan]

I've never done a diacetyl rest on an ale...
Lagers yes but not an ale. I usually do raise my temps during fermentation but only because I am impatient and want to get to FG quick. LOL!! Maybe I'm doing it inadvertently.

Not normally necessary, but many like you increase the temp late in the ferment to help it attenuate and clean up. But if you taste diacetyl in your hydro sample, then it is definitely time to increase the temp and leave it on the yeast for a bit longer.

 

[Gigantorus]

I disagree with the above. I dont think there is a "too much" for galaxy dry hopping - its all the length of time its in there with Galaxy. I dryhop with a huge amount, but only for 4 - 5 days MAX. If you do it for any longer you will start to get a harsh grassiness (which I think is why its got a bad name for dryhopping). If you like a super big aroma hit, go nuts with the galaxy, just pull it out after 4 - 5 days. Love this hop.

Don't get me wrong, I love the S&W Pac ale but my expereince to date dry-hopping with galaxy has not been what I expected. Maybe the pellets I've been getting aren't good quality or something? I've end up trying simcoe and citra and came to love their higher flavour and aroma - particularly the simcoe.

Might look at getting some more galaxy pellets from a different supplier and see if the experience changes. I was a little surprised that the previous 2 results with galaxy was less than I expect given the alpha acid rating.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Get flowers not pellets for dry hopping.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Don't get me wrong, I love the S&W Pac ale but my expereince to date dry-hopping with galaxy has not been what I expected. Maybe the pellets I've been getting aren't good quality or something? I've end up trying simcoe and citra and came to love their higher flavour and aroma - particularly the simcoe.

The simcoe/citra combo is a bloody winner :icon_drool2: so good!

As mntioned previously I use 2g/L of pellets for 4-5days @ ~ 20c then cold crash and package and get a massive passionfruit aroma thats expected from galaxy.

What have you experienced from dry hopping Galaxy?

 

[Gigantorus]

Hi Pratty,

Sorry for the late response. Have used galaxy twice and both times got used 50grams dry-hop and got a fairly non-descript flavour...hence my comment. But have purchased some more from a different seller and will try them again in the new year in a new batch of something. Am thinking maybe a big dark ale pumped full of galaxy.

Might also dry-hop 50 grams of galaxy in my small batch (10Litre) dark ale using just one can of Coopers Real Ale and water in my little 15 Litre fermenter. Did this earlier this year and killed my poor old Mr Beer 8.5 Litre keg fermenter (cracked the tap neck) and dry-hopped with 100grams of simcoe. It became a wonderful brew after 3+ weeks in the bottle. Just gotta add a bigger hose connection to the lid so I can run off the krausen into a bucket, as this scale of brew puts out a massive amount of fermenting foam in the first 2 days.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Gigantorus]

Laid down a new pale ale on the weekend that tweaked.

Used a can of Coopers Australian Pale Ale, Coopers BE2. I steeped 20grams of galaxy, centennial and amarillo and added the liquid only to the APA can and BE2 and then topped up to 21 litre mark.

Will dry-hop with the other 30grams of each for the last 4 days of a 14 day stay in the fermenter. Looking forward to a nice hoppy pale ale.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[slcmorro]

Galaxy are pretty low on the bitter end of the business.

Pardon? You're talking about the 13-14% AA Galaxy that we all know, right?

 

[Gigantorus]

Will bottle this pale ale brew on Saturday. But had a taste last night and it's very nice. Flavours of peach and passionfruit coming through nicely.

Cheers,
Pete

 

[GalBrew]

Don't fret too much you will have to find another hop to use now.....no more galaxy. :angry2:

 

[Gigantorus]

Don't fret too much you will have to find another hop to use now.....no more galaxy. :angry2:

HPA in Tassy know nothing about this, and they are the creator of galaxy. ????

 

[Dan Pratt]

You called HPA?

 

[Curramore]

Hoppy days in Brisvegus had Galaxy flowers 2 days ago folks. They said they had plenty for the moment.

 

[ian4379]

i dry hop mine at 3gms per litre , but i love it.

 

[Dan Pratt]

3g/L...nice how long for and at what temp?

 

[ian4379]

4 to 5 days at 18 then i crash chill for a week or so. i'm no expert though, like some on here. i'm still in the trial and err side. in fact my current brews have been sitting at zero for 3 weeks cos i havent had time to bottle.

 

[Gigantorus]

You called HPA?

No, a mate works in the beer industry and deals with them and asked. They knew nothing of it.

 

[Dan Pratt]

I have come to realise that when I use Galaxy for Dry Hopping its flavour contributions can overide other hops used with my Golden Ales.

These ales are <4.5% and when using just galaxy only late in the kettle to 15-20ibu (SWPA) it can really take a 3-4g/L dry hop becasue the late kettle addition mixes well with the same dry hop. However, my recent golden ale using citra/cascade late in the kettle to 20ibu has been over shadowed by the 1.5g/L dry hopping of Galaxy.

Still bloody tasty and the passionfruit from that dose rate is noticable from the tap to glass, yet the citra/cascade flavour combo is not clean cut as the galaxy oils have really imparted into the flavour profile of the beer.

 

[slcmorro]

I just dumped 50gm of Galaxy in my SWPA after 5 days of fermenting. Looking forward to it!

 

[Gigantorus]

The 3 hop pale ale I bottled on Saturday has a real nice citurs, peach and passionfruit aroma from the amarillo, centennial and galaxy. Looking forward to see how it develops over the next 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[timmybradley]

So I've been a bit slack and should probably report back on how all this went.

I ended up dry hopping 20g galaxy in the fermenter (around day 14 of fermentation - fermentation was complete) for 2 days at 4C, tried it afterwards and didn't get much out of it. Dry hopped in the keg for another 2 days at 4C - again not heaps out of it but there was a little bit of the citrus/passionfruit... Not as much of that galaxy SWPA punch as I was aiming for.

The beer turned out OK, not a huge success in my books - mainly because of a user error which left a slight diacetyl taste from pitching the yeast at a temp a little too high before bringing it down.

The good news - the people at the engagement party had finished the keg off by about 11.30pm so it wasn't completely undrinkable.

Next time, I'd probably go slightly more hops for longer (about 4 days) at regular fermentation temp...