dry hopping

I'm brewing my 1st batch of IPA today. I'm planning on dry hopping about 5 days after I put it in the primary. I bought 1 lb. of Amarillo leaf hops. Question is... how much of that should I use in the dry hopping? I've never used the dry hop technique so I'm curious to hear how any one else does it. Thanks!

pineknot said:

I'm brewing my 1st batch of IPA today. I'm planning on dry hopping about 5 days after I put it in the primary. I bought 1 lb. of Amarillo leaf hops. Question is... how much of that should I use in the dry hopping? I've never used the dry hop technique so I'm curious to hear how any one else does it. Thanks!

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I wouldn't dry hop 5 days into primary. I'd dry hop about 5-10 days before packaging the beer. That will keep that fresh hops aroma and "nose" that you want. Adding the hops too long before bottling means that the hops nose would start to fade even before you bottle it!

I like to dryhop with an ounce or two. I just throw them in the fermenter, but some people like to use hops bags to contain them. I'm very proficient with racking and have no problems with siphoning even with all those hops, but others feel that using a bag (sanitized of course!) really helps. If you choose to use a bag, don't overstuff the bag! You want the dry hops "loose" in the bag so that the beer can totally saturate the hops. Use two or three bags, if you're using more than an ounce of hops.

i was going to pitch the hops in the primary. after reading your comments i think i'll wait until the seconday. i also was not going to use a bag figuring it would be easy to clean the primary. i use a carboy for my secondary and don't want a big mess so i'll try using a bag. what is the best way to clean the hop sack? Thanks

i dry hopped my rye ipa a few weeks back. i used someones recommendation from here and just tossed my hops in the carboy with no bag. when i bottled a week later, i sanitized my wifes pantyhose, rubber-banded them to the end of my siphon hose and it worked like a charm

I dry hop for about 7 days before I bottle/keg the batch. Depending on how much you want the hops to be noticed, will determine how much to use. But, I wouldn't go over about 3oz in a 5-6 gallon batch.

I actually kegged an English IPA that I dry hopped with 2oz (1oz each EKG and Fuggles) last Wednesday. One keg is in the brew fridge, on gas, the other is in reserve. I'm looking forward to drinking this one.

Depending on if you're bottling, or kegging, you might want to use something to help keep the large hop particles in the fermenter. Although, I did have a few pints of the last batch that had some small hop floaters. I'm transferring via CO2 pressure these days. For batches that are dry hopped, I've used the small cap that goes onto the end of the stainless racking cane. It got a bit plugged up with Wednesday's batch, so I might need to use something else in the future. Although, once I had the QD off the keg end (I like filling via the liquid post) the transfer went well (there were particles in the QD).

Depending on how much you like Amarillo hops, use that to determine how much you use. Maybe start with 2oz for 7 days before it goes to bottle/keg and see how you like it. You can always add more, or less, to the next batch. Until you do that, though, it will be hard to know how much YOU want to use in the brew.

I've dry hopped with 2 oz of whole leaf in a carboy during secondary. Just rack right on top of them. They do float near the top but soak up nicely and it does the job. I'm good at racking as well with the auto siphon so hardly any hops is transferred to the bottling bucket. Clean up really isn't any worse either.

Almost always 2oz here for my IPAs.

thank you guys for the info.! its in the primary & i'll wait to dry hop until the secondary.

When u dry hop in secondary...do you also add halos in the wort during boiling???? I'm a n00b and was wondering if you double hop or nit

Hops not halos...sorry

I'm pretty new as well & this was my first IPA. I added 3 oz. during the boil for this one. I've made 5 batches so far and all of them have had hops added during the boil.

Does any body have any advice on how to sanitize a hop sack. I'm going to add one to my secondary and don't want to ruin a batch that I have high hopes for.

thank you! i'll try the boiling water.

pineknot said:

I'm pretty new as well & this was my first IPA. I added 3 oz. during the boil for this one. I've made 5 batches so far and all of them have had hops added during the boil.

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Dry hopping adds aroma without bitterness (you need heat to isomerize the alpha acids). So yes, you'll need hops during the boil.

I believe the new NB Surly Furious clone kit contains 7 oz of dryhopping hops. That's the highest I've seen personally. I used 3 oz when making a Furious clone and it had a terrific aroma.

unionrdr said:

A 7oz dry hop?! Dag gone! That'd make your hair stand up like Guy Fiery's! I thought I was doing good with my IPA's 4.5oz in the boil,& 1.5oz dry hop. Even the Aussie's on the cooper's forums flamed me for "wasting so much hops". I stand corrected & humbled. Dash it all,next time I'm going to have to add 1/3lb of the 3 hops! A 150 mega ton hop bomb. Po'd cougar IPA!!

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I was wrong. It's 8.5oz!

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/...y-brewing-furious-pro-series-extract-kit.html

We're dry hopping 3 oz for our Imperial IPA. Here's the hop schedule from our recipe post. We're using the same hops as Surly Furious I believe, we just created the recipe from a few other posts as inspiration.

60 mins 1.0oz Warrior pellet 15.0
20 mins 0.5oz Amarillo pellet 7.0
20 mins 0.5oz Simcoe pellet 13.0
10 mins 0.5oz Amarillo pellet 7.0
10 mins 0.5oz Simcoe pellet 13.0
5 mins 0.5oz Amarillo pellet 7.0
5 mins 0.5oz Simcoe pellet 13.0
1 min 0.5oz Amarillo pellet 7.0
1 min 0.5oz Simcoe pellet 13.0
Dry Hop 7 days 1.0oz Amarillo leaf 7.0
Dry Hop 7 days 1.0oz Simcoe leaf 13.0
Dry Hop 7 days 1.0z Ahtanum leaf 6.0