Galaxy Dry Hopping - How much is too much?

[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...