Brewed an IPA, to Dry Hop or not to Dry Hop?

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coopd3ville

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Looking to get some input on the IPA that started over the weekend. I was thinking about dry hopping this once I move it to a secondary for about a week or two, what do you think?? I know that the Coopers LME will add some bittering profile to this beer but I am not sure how much.

Ingredients

3.75 lbs. Coopers IPA LME
3 lbs. Golden Light DME
2 lbs. Dextrose
1 oz. Columbus Hop Pellets
1 oz. Chinook Hop Pellets
1 oz. Citra Leaf Hops
Muntons Yeast
Irish Moss


I added the malts and boiled them in 2.5 gallons of water for 45 mins. I added the 1 oz. of Chinook pellets with 30 mins left. Added the 1 oz. of Columbus pellets with 20 mins left. Then added the 1 oz. of whole leaf Citra hops with 10 mins left also I added the Irish moss shortly after the Citra.
I cooled the wort to pitching temperature and took a hydrometer reading an O.G. of 1.070. I then pitched the rehydrated Muntons yeast and sealed it up.
I woke up the next morning and the airlock was nonstop action. It was bubbling every few seconds for the first day, then it tapered off to a handful of bubbles every min the second day and has slowed down as the days have gone by.

This kit started out as an IPA recipe containing the 3.75 lb coopers IPA LME, 2 lbs of Golden Light DME and the 1 oz. of Columbus. I wanted to tweak the recipe by adding additional malt and some more hops. I had the malts but went to my LHBS to grab some fresh hops. I thought that the Chinook would go well with the Columbus that came with the kit. I have not used Citra before and wanted a late addition hop and after talking with the sales guy for a while it seemed like it would go well.

Thanks for the input.

Coopd3ville
 
Definitely. I'm doing a IIPA that started at 1.073 and it has 6oz hops total. I just moved to the secondary today and added the last 2oz. I had a taste before adding them, and while it was perfectly balanced, it could still use more hops. It is an IPA, afterall...
 
Just don't dry hop for a month like I did. The beer will taste like stale hops. 7 days, and if you want more hop flavor after that, dry hop again with fresh hops.
 
Agreed; I don't see any reason *not* to dry-hop it. The dryhopping won't add bitterness anyway, just aroma, which you appear to be fine with. As for what to use (although I know you didn't ask :)), I'd add something like 1oz each of Columbus and Centennial, or maybe Centennial and Chinook. I think the Centennial would help balance a bit of the heavy fruit that can come from Citra.

Also, I wouldn't dry-hop for longer than 7 days. By that point, most of the good oils will be extracted and some have claimed that you can start to get some unfavorable grassiness from longer periods. Just a thought. Good luck!
 
definitely dry hop that otherwise you're going to have pretty limited hop aroma for an IPA
 
Simply put...yes! Dry hop the last week before you bottle or keg. I like 2oz+ in the dry hop. Really makes the IPA hold the flavor/aroma profile longer.

Citra might be a good choice, I hear it's better for dry hopping than using in the boil, but I just did an all-citra apa, so we'll see how it goes.

I love just simcoe...or simcoe and amarillo in the dry hop.
 
Simply put...yes! Dry hop the last week before you bottle or keg. I like 2oz+ in the dry hop. Really makes the IPA hold the flavor/aroma profile longer.

Citra might be a good choice, I hear it's better for dry hopping than using in the boil, but I just did an all-citra apa, so we'll see how it goes.

I love just simcoe...or simcoe and amarillo in the dry hop.


I just did an all citra APA as well. It is dry hopping on 2 oz at day 9. How did yours turn out? I think the "catty flavor" (and i really hate that term) is exactly what I'm going for with this one. Did you find it overhwleming? Would love to see the recipe you used.
 
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