How much hop is to much

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LittleBroBrews

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Well I have been reading online and in books about dry hopping techniques and how much to use and they say 28g to 56g per 19liters of hops to be added on secondary for best hop aroma. I have split a batch of into two 5liter batches in one batch I have added 35g of hops is this to much for such a small batch? Or will this give that punchy hit like the left coast hop juice, or a IIPA?
 
LittleBroBrews said:
Well I have been reading online and in books about dry hopping techniques and how much to use and they say 28g to 56g per 19liters of hops to be added on secondary for best hop aroma. I have split a batch of into two 5liter batches in one batch I have added 35g of hops is this to much for such a small batch? Or will this give that punchy hit like the left coast hop juice, or a IIPA?
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If I remember correctly, Pliney is 5-6oz of dry hop. It really depends on the selection of hops used
 
I would say that 1.5 oz of dry hop will give you a pretty good punch in only 1 1/3 gallons of beer easily. Hopefully that's what you were looking for:D
 
AT-JeffT said:
I cannot find my source but I remember finding a commercial bewer stating diminishing returns at 2.5lbs per Barrel.

For a 5 gallon batch this works out to 6.5oz.
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In "For the Love of Hops" they give quite a few commercial examples and most use between .5lb and 1.5lbs per barrel. The brewers include Lagunitas, Russian River Valley, Stone and a few others. For them it is all about bang for their buck. Some, also, take the dry hopping hops and split it into two batches. Then dry hop the batch twice.
 
duboman said:
I would say that 1.5 oz of dry hop will give you a pretty good punch in only 1 1/3 gallons of beer easily. Hopefully that's what you were looking for:D
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That's what I was looking for! Thank you!
 
I just opened a bottle of this brew, and foam explosion!!

Can someone with better knowledge explain why this bottle overflowed to the point of over half the bottle turned to foam and down the drain?

I used carbonation drops it was a 500ml bottle so I used two drops. I dry hopped direct into secondary for 5 days and brew has been bottled for 3 weeks prior to first taste test. Bottles stored at room temp around 18-19 degrees c in a darkened cupboard. Bottle had been fully cleaned and sterilized using star San. When poured had a good foamy head to it but it looked like small chunks of hop was floating toward the bottom of the glass coming from the foam. The beer itself didn't taste over carbed and it had great flavor to it a nice smokey smell with tropical fruits flavors and I haven't been sick after tasting so I don't think infection but why did this happen?
 
Two carb drops for 500 ml might be too much. I never use carb drops though. But if 1 is right for a 12 oz bottle (355ml) then 2 would be too much for 500 ml. I always batch prime with corn sugar and use an online calculator to determine how much to add.
 
Thinking about it some more and I think you definitely over carbonated. The reason it doesn't taste overcarbonated is because most of the excess CO2 is coming out of solution and causing all the foam and by the time you're able to drink it the CO2 in solution is at a normal level. The yeast on the bottom of the bottle is getting kicked up with all of the carbonation coming out of solution which is why you see chunks in the glass.
 
I don't know if this will be helpful at all, but I have yet to find my upper limit. Now, I'm a hophead, but I think you can experiment heavy and find what you like.
 
500ml is only 16oz. Do the carbonation drops say use 2 per 500ml or do they say 1 per 12oz?
 
grathan said:
Probably 2 for 750ml.
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I used two in a few 750ml bottles and got a small amount of overflow still on these too no where near as bad as the 500ml. Could it have something to do with the dry hop amount?

Because I split the batch 3 ways and dry hopped two of the same wort, one without. the one without has had no foam overs once uncapped the two that where dry hopped have had foam running over.
 
It probably WAS overcarbed but the excess carbonation came out of solution when you opened the bottle. Once that was gone you were left with a desirable level of carbonation.

The other option of course was an infection. They won't necessarily make you sick.
 
Can someone explain the type of infection? Like what is it, why does it happen? And how can I avoid this?

Because I have never heard of an infection that doesn't make you sick if directly digested.
 
LittleBroBrews said:
Can someone explain the type of infection? Like what is it, why does it happen? And how can I avoid this?

Because I have never heard of an infection that doesn't make you sick if directly digested.
Click to expand...

It's not the same kind of infection that people get like a cold or something. It's some type of bacteria like lactobacillus or something that is found commonly in the environment. If you don't sanitize everything that touches the beer then there is a chance the bacteria could grow in your beer. It doesn't infect you, it infects the beer and is able to process the more complex sugars that the yeast isn't able to. When the bacteria process these they create lactic acid (which makes the beer taste sour) and CO2 (which will make an already carbonated beer overcarbonated). Many of these bacteria are used to make yogurt and a lot of yogurt contain live active cultures of these bacteria. So people ingest them all the time and it is actually somewhat good for your digestive system.

So to avoid this you should always sanitize everything that comes in contact with your beer and wort. Hops have antimicrobial properties and are usually packaged pretty cleanly so it's ok to just toss them in for a dry hop without sanitizing them.
 
grathan said:
Did you measure F.G.? How long did it ferment?
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Primary for 7 days secondary for 10 with dry hop during secondary of 5 days. Yes FG was measured before racking to secondary and was stable.
 
Did you cold condition the 750ml bottles? Its been a while since I have bottled. I think it's 2 weeks warm and then 1 week cold to set the carbonation just right.
 
LittleBroBrews said:
Well I have been reading online and in books about dry hopping techniques and how much to use and they say 28g to 56g per 19liters of hops to be added on secondary for best hop aroma. I have split a batch of into two 5liter batches in one batch I have added 35g of hops is this to much for such a small batch? Or will this give that punchy hit like the left coast hop juice, or a IIPA?
Click to expand...

Only YOU can decide what's too little or too much.
 
grathan said:
Did you cold condition the 750ml bottles? Its been a while since I have bottled. I think it's 2 weeks warm and then 1 week cold to set the carbonation just right.
Click to expand...

I didn't cold condition but I haven't done that for any of my other brews and they have been fine.
 
LittleBroBrews said:
The beer itself didn't taste over carbed and it had great flavor to it a nice smokey smell with tropical fruits flavors and I haven't been sick after tasting so I don't think infection but why did this happen?
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I don't know what your recipe was, but was it supposed to smell smoky? That could be a sign of infection. There are other reasons for the foaming, likely overcarbonation, but temperature change can also cause that.
 
malc said:
I don't know what your recipe was, but was it supposed to smell smoky? That could be a sign of infection. There are other reasons for the foaming, likely overcarbonation, but temperature change can also cause that.
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4kg Golden Promise
700g Torrified Wheat
600g Pale Chocolate Malt
500g Smoked Malt
250g Carafa II

It was supposed to have a smokey note to it and it has thy fine.

If it was an infection can someone explain what kind of infection and why it happened and how I can avoid it in the future?

Like I said only one of the bottles has foamed over in a small volcano the rest just have a good hardy head to them. I still drank the one that foamed over and did not get sick I would have thought with an infection you would get sick at least a little bit.
 
Again:

peterj said:
It's not the same kind of infection that people get like a cold or something. It's some type of bacteria like lactobacillus or something that is found commonly in the environment. If you don't sanitize everything that touches the beer then there is a chance the bacteria could grow in your beer. It doesn't infect you, it infects the beer and is able to process the more complex sugars that the yeast isn't able to. When the bacteria process these they create lactic acid (which makes the beer taste sour) and CO2 (which will make an already carbonated beer overcarbonated). Many of these bacteria are used to make yogurt and a lot of yogurt contain live active cultures of these bacteria. So people ingest them all the time and it is actually somewhat good for your digestive system.

So to avoid this you should always sanitize everything that comes in contact with your beer and wort. Hops have antimicrobial properties and are usually packaged pretty cleanly so it's ok to just toss them in for a dry hop without sanitizing them.
Click to expand...

If it was just the one bottle that gushed then I would say that bottle probably didn't get properly sanitized. It must have contained some bacteria that infected just that bottle of beer. Not all bacteria is harmful to people. In fact we have thousands of different types bacteria inside and outside our body that are essential to our survival. They aid in digestion, immune responses, and many other ways.
 
I had same bad luck with hop residue in bottle. It was a heavy Scot ale, from Munton's. I never really solved problem to where I'd swear to it, but, try this: you can sloooowwwly leak out some gas over course of few days, by gently prying edge of cap up till hear hiss, then backing off. Can also gently recap same cap, in place, if you are careful. At least you won't have to chase your brew down the drain.
 
AlCophile said:
I had same bad luck with hop residue in bottle. It was a heavy Scot ale, from Munton's. I never really solved problem to where I'd swear to it, but, try this: you can sloooowwwly leak out some gas over course of few days, by gently prying edge of cap up till hear hiss, then backing off. Can also gently recap same cap, in place, if you are careful. At least you won't have to chase your brew down the drain.
Click to expand...

I did that for a batch of Hefe that I added too much priming sugar to. Had to do it a few times, but it definitely helped.
 

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