Dry hopping

I just opened my first bottle of my first beer, and it is highly unbalanced. I used a recipe from the top of the LHBS guy's head, and he likes bitter beers, while I like really aromatic hoppy beers. He tried to help me out, but it ended up being really bitter.

I boiled 1 oz warrior hops for 60 min and 1 oz cascade hops for 20 minutes. I had a few issues that may have caused off flavor (a little burnt malt, some siphoning problems transferring into secondary). It is sweet and only bitter, with no hop flavor or finish.

I got cocky and brewed a second batch while this one was fermenting (and bought a second carboy), and now I have a beer fermenting with a different hop configuration (60 1 oz centennial, 15 1 oz centennial). I have a feeling I've underhopped this one too.

I went and bought 2 more oz of centennials, 1 oz of fuggles, and 1 oz of magnum with the idea of making another batch, but with the option to dry hop the second batch if necessary.

I guess my questions are: Have I underhopped again? (I like hoppy beers)
Is 2 weeks in too late to dry hop?
What aspect of a beer's taste does dryhopping influence?
Do I just put the hops in the secondary then transfer? Or transfer then put the hops in?

I would dryhop the second batch with either all or half of the cenntennials. to the rest o the questions.

1) we would have to know the alpha acid levels and the rest of the grain bill
2)Not too late to dryhop, not optimal maybe but not too late. I usually dryhop after most of the fermentation is done about 4-5 days then let it sit another week or more.
3)Dryhopping contributes to the aroma only and will not give you any bitterness.
4)I would transfer the beer then put the hops in or you may oxidize the beer a little.

So dryhopping will not add any additional citrus nodes from the centennials?

Yes it will add some aromatic citrus notes. If you have ever had Rogues dry hopped red that is a very low bittering hop(aka 60 min hops) beer and has a lot of centennials Dry-hopped in it.

joel4482 said:

2)Not too late to dryhop, not optimal maybe but not too late. I usually dryhop after most of the fermentation is done about 4-5 days then let it sit another week or more.

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I'm also looking to dryhop a batch for the first time and am trying to figure out the best way to do it. I brewed Monday so it's still fermenting pretty vigorously. Do you add the hops directly to the primary when the fermentation slows down? After a week do you then transfer to a secondary fermentor to clear?

I usually do primary only and leave the beer for a few weeks, what is the difference between adding the hops when the fermentation slows down versus adding them after fermentation is over?

Thanks,
Austin

Magnum is probably better for bittering due to the high alpha but if you really want big hop flavor without all the bitterness, I would do the magnum for 60,
1oz centennial at 10 and 5 then the last 1oz at flameout.
The fuggles at 10 min.
Late addition hops gives a lot of flavor but not too much aroma. dry hopping the fuggles and maybe the 10 min centennial may give a little more aroma but my bet is always on the late addition hopping!
just my 2 cents worth!!

Good luck

spagyric said:

I'm also looking to dryhop a batch for the first time and am trying to figure out the best way to do it. I brewed Monday so it's still fermenting pretty vigorously. Do you add the hops directly to the primary when the fermentation slows down? After a week do you then transfer to a secondary fermentor to clear?

I usually do primary only and leave the beer for a few weeks, what is the difference between adding the hops when the fermentation slows down versus adding them after fermentation is over?

Thanks,
Austin

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If you are fermenting in a bucket then I would just add the hops right into the primary after at least a week, I would wait two weeks myself. dry hop for about another week or maybe two then rack for bottling/kegging!

A glass carboy or better bottle can make it harder to get the hops in so a rack to a secondary may be easier. Depends on how much work you want to do to get the hops in and out!

Heck yes, add some dry hops! You want to wait until 7-10 days before you plan to bottle/keg, so you can wait 2-3 weeks, then dry hop for the last week. How long has your other beer been bottled? It might just need a little more time to condition. There's really nothing wrong with the hops you added, you could have just used a little more finishing hops, but you got the flavor hops(which are typically added between 10-20 minutes - aroma hops are from 0-10min), so just add the dry hops for some aroma.

If you like hoppy beer, get on hopville.com and plug in your recipe, then calculate the IBUs based on the style beer you are making. Add a 60 min bittering addition, then maybe 1 or 2 flavor additions between 20 and 10 minutes, then another 1 or 2(or even 3) hop additions from 10minutes to 0(flameout). Then dry hop on top of that

I have read that you want to split your IBUs between bittering and flavor/aroma. So if you are making an IPA, and are shooting for 60 IBUs, you would want to try and get around 30 IBUs from your 60 minute addition, then the other 30 IBUs from the 20min-0min additions.

Edit: You weren't "cocky" for doing a 2nd batch (even if you didn't hop like you would have liked) you were SMART!!! You'll thank yourself later, when the 1st beer starts tasting better and you polish it off

spagyric said:

I'm also looking to dryhop a batch for the first time and am trying to figure out the best way to do it. I brewed Monday so it's still fermenting pretty vigorously. Do you add the hops directly to the primary when the fermentation slows down? After a week do you then transfer to a secondary fermentor to clear?

I usually do primary only and leave the beer for a few weeks, what is the difference between adding the hops when the fermentation slows down versus adding them after fermentation is over?

Thanks,
Austin

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Most of the time i only primary, but if you harvest your yeast I would transfer your beer to a secondary and dryhop in the secondary. then you can harvest nice clean yeast out of the primary. If you add it while it is still fermenting slightly it gives it a little more contact time with the beer and mixes it slightly due to fermentation still going. If you dryhop after it is done fermenting it will still work well but the hops tend to stay at the top longer and settle out slowly.

joel4482 said:

Most of the time i only primary, but if you harvest your yeast I would transfer your beer to a secondary and dryhop in the secondary. then you can harvest nice clean yeast out of the primary. If you add it while it is still fermenting slightly it gives it a little more contact time with the beer and mixes it slightly due to fermentation still going. If you dryhop after it is done fermenting it will still work well but the hops tend to stay at the top longer and settle out slowly.

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Good advice, especially regarding the timing of adding the dry hops, but I doubt he is going to be harvesting the yeast, as its his 2nd batch, so I'd avoid the secondary, personally.

When you're in your first few batches, I would do everything you can to not transfer to secondary or mess with the beer too much, just to prevent the chances of any contamination or oxidation(or the paranoia - there are just too many variables to think about and worry yourself over, even though its usually not a viable concern). However, if/when you decide to start reusing your yeast, definitely don't do reuse yeast that has been dry hopped on! I can tell you that from personal experience!

Thanks for the tips, guys! I love this board.