dry hopping with a high alpha%

hi all.

i have an apa that's in it's third week of primary, and plan on racking to a corny next week.

i'm going to go with the hop bag in the corny, floating with a cork.

my question is how high is too high and alpha% when dry hopping in a keg?

i have 2 ozs of millennium plugs that i was planning on using, and the label says the harvest alpha % was 17.6

i still don't fully understand how alpha % works, so is that too high?

i also read about leaving hops in too long and giving "grassy" flavors. this is making me wonder if i should leave the bag in the keg or not.

any help is appreciated.

from what i know:
the AA is the bitterness. That's released in the boil. The AA is related to the oils in the hops however, which give the aroma. (The aroma is what you're looking for when dryhopping.) The higher the AA, the lower the oil level, and vice versa. Higher AA levels cost more, i think, too. So, most go for higher AA levels for bittering qualities, while using lower AA hops for their oil content (aroma) for dryhopping and/or late additions. (By the way, the oils are volatile, meaning they will evaporate, which is why you don't get much aroma from early additions, also why hops meant for aroma are added late or as dryhops, so that the oils/aromas don't evaporate out during a boil).

With your 17.6% hops you might not get much aroma anyway; or, they might be put to better use as bittering hops. I'd give it a go thought and take notes!

pls correct me if i'm wrong, forum members.

Millennium's aroma is similar to Nugget's, so it's fine for dry hopping, if you like Nugget. I do, but many homebrewers aren't fond of it. nbspindel is correct about dry hopping only adding aroma, so the AA% of the hop doesn't matter.

You can re-use the hops for bittering your next batch by putting them in a bag and freezing them.

cascade would be a popular choice for dry hopping

thanks for the help, guys.

i think i'll give it a go, then, and use them for bittering on my next batch!

after a bit of thought, i think i'm going to save my millennium for next ipa/apa.

any advice on a good dry hop that would give me a more pine smell/taste?

what are your favs, and what flavor/aroma profiles do they give?

thanks again.

nbspindel said:

from what i know:
the AA is the bitterness. That's released in the boil. The AA is related to the oils in the hops however, which give the aroma. (The aroma is what you're looking for when dryhopping.) The higher the AA, the lower the oil level, and vice versa. .

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I'm pretty sure AA (bitterness) and essential oils (aroma) are unrelated. Just as an example, according to the hops guide from BYO, Millennium has an AA of 12-15.5% and 2% essential oils, while cascade has an AA of 4.5-7% and 0.8-1.5% essential oils. Actually, looking through the list it looks like the ones with higher AAs in general have more essential oils, but the numbers are all over the place so there's no direct correlation.

oh also, I believe simcoe is supposed to be piney

you can check this link out for aromas and oil contents for a bunch of hops: http://www.probrewer.com/resources/hops/hop_data.php

brendanb said:

any advice on a good dry hop that would give me a more pine smell/taste?

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Chinook.....

dcp27 said:

oh also, I believe simcoe is supposed to be piney

you can check this link out for aromas and oil contents for a bunch of hops: http://www.probrewer.com/resources/hops/hop_data.php

Click to expand...

oh hell yeah. thanks for the link!

i think i might go with the chinook...if my lhbs has them in plugs.

Dry hopping is best done with the "C" hops IE cascade,centennial,etc,, but I really like Simcoe for DH, or a mix of above

yeah...the more i read from that link, the more i'm leaning towards simcoe.

i have all day to decide...but i keep changing my mind.

brendanb said:

yeah...the more i read from that link, the more i'm leaning towards simcoe.

i have all day to decide...but i keep changing my mind.

Click to expand...

chinook and simcoe with both give you piney. a lot of people seem to favor simcoe these days....it's the new black.

only limitation might be availability at your lhbs....

i'd give the chinook a shot, their use as a dry hopper seems to be increasing as of late.

I just opened my latest batch of IPA, which I DH'd with Chinook, and it is indeed piney. I used 1 oz of pellets in a 5 gallon batch for about 2 weeks, and the hop aroma is fairly subtle (by IPA standards, anyway). You may get more or less pine depending on what hops you add at the end of the boil.

Why use only one? Just finished an IPA 5 Gal. and DH'd with 1 oz of simcoe, armaillo gold and ahtanum for a week, yummy!

i'm dry hopping in the keg, so i went with plugs (as per advice from my lhbs)

and they didn't have any piney hops in plugs, so i just went with cascade. i'm sure it'll be fine. citrus might go better in the summer anyway.

thanks again for the help, guys.