Any point in aroma hops when in secondary for months?

Yeah that pretty much sums it up. I was gonna do a citra smash in a few days and was using the following formula for 6 gallons;

9 Lbs LME
1 Kilo dextrose
2 ox maltodextrine

1 oz Citra (60)
0.5 oz Citra (15)
0.5 oz Citra (5)
.05 oz Citra (Dry hop)

I'll dry hop for a week prior to bottling but they'll probably be in late December. So if I have something in a glass carboy for 3 - 5 months (which I often do), is there any point in aroma hops since the aroma will evaporate out between the brew and the bottling?

thanks

It won't all be gone. So go for it. It depends on how much you use as to the fading factor so keep that it mind

I'm assuming you are dry hopping 0.5 oz, not .05?

You certainly could do the 15 and 5 minute additions, although as you suspect you will likely lose some of the benefit by the time you consume this. This looks to be a fairly standard gravity and hopped SMaSH. Why secondary for that long, it should be drinkable in early November?

solbes said:

I'm assuming you are dry hopping 0.5 oz, not .05?

You certainly could do the 15 and 5 minute additions, although as you suspect you will likely lose some of the benefit by the time you consume this. This looks to be a fairly standard gravity and hopped SMaSH. Why secondary for that long, it should be drinkable in early November?

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Yeah, sorry, Typo there. half an ounce not .05 ounces. Can you imagine? Talk about micromanagement!

And I typically secondary for that length of time more out of life base time constrains. Basically I have 3 or 4 days to brew stuff per year. So I brew 2 batches in march, then bottle what was previously brewed in January in June, and leap frog brewing or bottling 2 batches every three months. I can't really do this hobby after work or weekends (wife hates it, have a 3 year old running around), so I take vacation days and try to get a bunch of stuff done once every quarter.

Also, I was under the false impression that my beer would improve if I just aged it more. So I tried to build up a pipeline. Thursday I'll be brewing three batches (citra smash and a few coopers kits) so they'll be a personal record. Hopefully can bottle three batches in the future and reduce my time impact even more while giving me some variety.

i can't imagine a hoppy beer retaining a good hop flavor or aroma using your brewing/bottling schedule. i keg and after a month in the keg i'm not very excited about a pale ale or any hoppy beer. if i was using your schedule i'd brew lagers, sours, kolsch beer and other beer that is not hop forward.

eastoak said:

i can't imagine a hoppy beer retaining a good hop flavor or aroma using your brewing/bottling schedule. i keg and after a month in the keg i'm not very excited about a pale ale or any hoppy beer. if i was using your schedule i'd brew lagers, sours, kolsch beer and other beer that is not hop forward.

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I'd say you need to use more...people who bottle don't even start drinking them for a month and I've had some major hop bombs.

Well that makes sense then. Gotta brew when you can. I would keep the bittering the same then and double up the 5/15 additions. Only another $2 in hops, and I think you'll enjoy it more when it comes time to consume.

With that schedule darker beers like porters, stouts, and bigger beers (Belgians, Wee Heavies, RIS, Baltic Porter, Strong Ales, etc) would be perfect. They usually peak after a session or hoppy beers do.

solbes said:

I would keep the bittering the same then and double up the 5/15 additions.

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Well that makes sense. So I'll go with the following assuming it'll be good in 3-4 months, but more likely 6.

1 oz Citra (60)
1 oz Citra (15)
1 oz Citra (5)
.05 oz Citra (Dry hop) (7 days before bottle)

I gotta look into darker beers. I do like them, but I'm in the process of moving from kits to extract and steeping grains. And given how often I get to do this, the learning curve is a but slow.