Keeping Aroma in Aged Ales

I've been working on a double amber ale as a sequel to an American Amber Ale that turned out to be inspiringly good.

Some of the defining characteristics of the original ale came from dry-hopping Simcoe and a Cascade 1 min addition. I would like to preserve that character in the stronger version, but I would also like to age the beer appropriately for it's strength (~8.5ABV).

Normally, I add an ounce of aroma hops and two ounces of hops when I dry hop. Should I consider doubling or tripling these additions and hope that they have faded to an enjoyable level in 6 months?

I'm also considering other methods for helping the aroma. I'm thinking of adding malted wheat and flaked barley to the grain bill in hopes to create an aromatic head. Most of the articles suggest adding a little bit to help the foam, but I haven't seen any numbers. What is enough: 1/4lb, 1/2lb?

My beers form what I think is a decent head.

This recipe uses 6 lbs NB Light LME, 3lbs 2-row, 1lb Crystal 40, 1lb Crystal 120, and 1/4 lb Victory. The malt is mashed at 154F for 60 minutes.

How about a mild dry hop addition, then a long age in carboy...
Then you can have another, fresher dry hop addition two weeks before bottling!

(inspired by Mitch Steele's IPA book - it's how they sometimes treated early IPAs once they got to India/market - after a year of aging they would sometimes add more hops shortly before serving)
(and Matt Brynildson at Firestone Walker, who believes short contact time with dry hops create more hop/less vegetal flavors - for more depth and complexity he advocates multiple additions, removing each hop addition before replacing it with the next)

Age it in a carboy, then dry hop right before bottling.

Just dry hop before bottling at the end of aging. No need to dry hop beforehand.

But suppose the OP isn't bottling? I've thought about this as well. I keg all my beers, and don't have the capacity for long storage in a fermenter. I've thought about conditioning in a keg for several weeks, then dryhopping for the last 2 weeks. Would that work?

hercher said:

But suppose the OP isn't bottling? I've thought about this as well. I keg all my beers, and don't have the capacity for long storage in a fermenter. I've thought about conditioning in a keg for several weeks, then dryhopping for the last 2 weeks. Would that work?

Click to expand...

Yes.