Can you tell that this has been dry hopped?

Poured my first glass of DFH 60 minute IPA clone from my keg. There is a nice layer of hop particles at the bottom of the glass though.
Will these just appear in the first few pours?

From what have read in here yes it will clear up after a few pulls.
Wish I had a keg setup so I can find out first hand.

Looks alittle cloudy besides the hop grains. even kegged beers need conditioning time. Not to mention using hop sacks for dry hopping. Keeps things cleaner.

I've heard that using a hop sack reduces hop utilization.
How do I compensate for that?
Also, taste freaking awesome!

Dry hopped beers will not be as clear as non dry hopped beers. That sludge shouldn't be there though. Give it a few days to settle and dump the first pint ... Or drink it.

IL1kebeer said:

Dry hopped beers will not be as clear as non dry hopped beers. That sludge shouldn't be there though. Give it a few days to settle and dump the first pint ... Or drink it.

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I drank the first and second....and third pour. There is almost no hop particles in the 3rd glass. This tastes phenomenal!

stevem86 said:

I drank the first and second....and third pour. There is almost no hop particles in the 3rd glass. This tastes phenomenal!

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I noticed that dry hopped beers that aren't cold conditioned and are force carbed will change dramatically in the second week. The beer is really vegetal the first week or so and after it seems to be cleaner. Whereas when I cold condition for a week that stage is avoided all together. I don't really care because I like the taste of hops, even if it's a bit vegetal. So I tend not to cold condition my dry hopped beers anymore and live with the beer changing in the first few weeks.

IL1kebeer said:

Dry hopped beers will not be as clear as non dry hopped beers. That sludge shouldn't be there though. Give it a few days to settle and dump the first pint ... Or drink it.

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Dry hopped beers can be just as clear as non-dry hopped beers. It just takes a touch of time and some good brewing practices. Here's an IPA that had about 5 oz of dry hops:



And this is an Imperial Red (one the left) that also had a bunch:



The beer on the right was a nasty commercial beer, believe it or not.

IL1kebeer said:

Dry hopped beers will not be as clear as non dry hopped beers.

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Sure, they will! I'm drinking a beer right now that was dryhopped and is crystal clear.

I don't use gelatin or other things like that, and I don't filter- so it's possible for anyone!

I based my opinion on BJCP style description for American IPA, along with the dry hopped IPAs that I've brewed. And yes, I do realize that it says that "they may be hazy" and not "they will be hazy". I should have also mentioned that I was speaking about unfiltered beers; however, you guys seem to be able to make your dry hopped beers clear without filtering, so I stand corrected.

In my experience, the only beers that I brew that don't end up crystal clear are dry hopped. I don't filter or use post fermentation finings and all of my other beers are crystal clear or pretty close. I notice an improvement over time but I've never gotten one of my dry hopped beers as clear as my non dry hopped beers. That's not saying that they are super murky, because they are fairly clear, just not clear like my others.

BJCP Description American IPA

Appearance: Color ranges from medium gold to medium reddish copper; some versions can have an orange-ish tint. Should be clear, although unfiltered dry-hopped versions may be a bit hazy. Good head stand with white to off-white color should persist. *edited*

As long as you like the taste, that is all that matters - you are brewing for you, right? Glad it cleared up after a couple pints, and while I don't keg yet, I can tell you that some cold conditioning time will help clear a beer incredibly well. I cracked open a bottle of an amber I made the other day during a Patriots game, and I could see Tom Brady's jersey clear as day through the beer. When I tried my tester after only 6 hours in the fridge, there was so much chill haze it was unbelievable. It is amazing what some conditioning time can do for clarity.

Yeah, definitely, some beers may be hazy. I would never deduct points for a hazy APA, IPA, or IIPA while judging. But there's also a difference between murky and hazy. Murkiness will most definitely (I don't like to speak in absolutes, but I haven't found the exception yet) affects flavor and mouthfeel, and not in a good way!

PseudoChef said:

Yeah, definitely, some beers may be hazy. I would never deduct points for a hazy APA, IPA, or IIPA while judging. But there's also a difference between murky and hazy. Murkiness will most definitely (I don't like to speak in absolutes, but I haven't found the exception yet) affects flavor and mouthfeel, and not in a good way!

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Agreed!

The other beer styles that can be quite hazy (but never murky!) are wheat beers. It's expected that a wheat beer is not clear- but it shouldn't be muddy or murky, and some brewers explain it to me as "It's a wheat beer, so I don't have to worry about clarity". That's true, as far as haze, but it shouldn't have suspended solids in it!

The nice thing about kegging is that once the first few pints are poured, as long as the keg isn't disturbed, the sediment stays put and the rest of the keg should pour clear.

Yep, I recently dry-hopped a keg and didn't tie the bag tightly enough, so some leaves got out. The first few pulls looked like your pic, but it cleared up pretty quickly. Then I had to change the CO2 tank, which required me to move the keg out of the way. That stirred up the sediment, and I had leaves floating around again for a while. But, again, it cleared up pretty quickly.