For all you Pale Ale and IPA brewers - dry hopping?

Curious how many of you feel that dry hopping is a must for pale ales and IPAs?

I tend to add additions at flameout in almost every ale brew I do but haven't done a whole lot of dry hop additions to this point. I wanted to make sure it wasn't a waste of $$$ and actually brings out some strong characteristics within the brew.

While on the topic what are your favorite hops to dry hop with?

Thank ya much!

The very first time I did my house pale ale, I did not have dry hopping in the recipe. It came out the same way I feel about most commercial pale ales - it was bland, flavorless, and boring. I would have given up on it there, but I somehow stumbled upon the info here that dry hopping a pale is pretty common. I gave it a shot with the same recipe, and it was TONS better. I used cascade, and it really brought out the hops in the aroma, which in turn amplified some of the citrus notes in the flavor. It went from being one of my least favorite beers to the one that I've re-brewed the most.

Dry hopping makes a big difference. It's worth it for sure. I like to use amarillo, simcoe and any of the C-hops.

I dry hop most of my APAs and IPAs. I use flame out additions, too. I use mostly simcoe/amarillo, cascade, and centennial for dryhopping. But I have one recipe that uses chinook, simcoe and cascade for dryhops.

Is there any rule of thumb on dry hopping?

In the few I've done I typically waited until the beer had fully fermented (11 days or so) and then transferred it to a secondary on top of 1 oz of hops for 10 days before bottling.

I have since read that some folks recommend dry hopping just a few days after fermentation has started and to do so in the primary. Leave the hops in for 3 days or so and then transfer to a secondary to clear.

Reason being that people were experiencing harsh fresh cut grassy notes when dry hopping for long periods of time near bottling.

I guess I'm on the other side of the coin in regards to dry-hopping my beer. I like big hop aroma/flavor as much as the next guy, but I think it gets overused these days....it seems like EVERY commericial beer ending in "ale" has some big hop nose in it.

I think it can be overwhelming at times, especially when the dry hop character is ALL you notice.

I just kegged a version of Jamil's "hoppiness is an IPA" recipe and I was very surprised to see.....no dry hops! I just put it on tap and its a really nice beer. I can detect the late additions instead of just getting blasted with that potent/one-sided dry hop aroma/flavor. It seems a bit more complex that the stardard IPA dry hop bomb you find these days...and its not a complex recipe!

JMHO...

I will pass along the advice I received on this subject from a fellow homebrew club member:

Dry hop! Dry hop! Dry hop!

Good advice indeed.

If I had to choose between dry hop addition or flame out addition I would choose dry hop (fortunately I don't and do both). I use at least 2 ounces of dry in every IPA and pale ale.

It adds more than just aroma. The flavor it provides is remarkable.

Spend 50-60 bucks on 5 or so pounds of your favorite hops and you're set for the year (or 6 months). You won't even think about throwing 2 ounces of dry hops when you've got a freezer full of hops

Dry hopping Gives a beer a great aroma and brings out the flavor of some of the hops you used. I have used it on Ipa's, apa's, cda's, and even a wiezen bock. I usually dry hop in when I transfer to my secondary. Using only fresh hops, I leave them in until either I keg or transfer to a third carboy.

Agree with everyone else so far but I need to mention CITRA. Probably the best for tropical fruity aromas. I love it personally.

GetLooseontheGoose said:

Dry hopping Gives a beer a great aroma and brings out the flavor of some of the hops you used. I have used it on Ipa's, apa's, cda's, and even a wiezen bock. I usually dry hop in when I transfer to my secondary. Using only fresh hops, I leave them in until either I keg or transfer to a third carboy.

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NEWBIE QUESTION... Are fresh hops the only way to go for this?

I agree with the OP in that great aroma and flavor can be achieved without dry hops through late addition and post knock out additions. I find that I can get my desired results without having to go through the added process of dry hopping, but to each his own.

I've done dry hopping with and without a hop addition at flame-out and also flame-out additions without dry hopping. It a matter of preference and experimentation, what i prefer depends on what I am brewing but for APA and IPA's I always do both. Although I get great aroma when ever I rack my APA to secondary to dry-hop, I feel dry hopping boost that aroma and as the beer ages, it doesn't fade as much.

I just finished dry hopping an IPA for 2 weeks (can't remember the variety off the top off my
head). I kegged on Saturday and sampled it yesterday and was a bit disappointed in the
aroma and it didn't seem to contribute much to the flavor. Maybe I'll try it again once it's
more carbonated.

I was very excited to try dry hopping and am initially disappointed.

boostsr20 said:

Agree with everyone else so far but I need to mention CITRA. Probably the best for tropical fruity aromas. I love it personally.

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I recently got my brother into brewing. His first beer was a red ale dry hopped with Citra. One of the best beers I've ever had. My LHBS doesn't have Citra but I'll be getting my hands on this stuff in the near future for sure.

csiewert said:

NEWBIE QUESTION... Are fresh hops the only way to go for this?

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No they are not; but I do prefer them. You can use pellets or plugs, I just found using pellets left more trub that i had to filter out.

dvdanny said:

I've done dry hopping with and without a hop addition at flame-out and also flame-out additions without dry hopping. It a matter of preference and experimentation, what i prefer depends on what I am brewing but for APA and IPA's I always do both. Although I get great aroma when ever I rack my APA to secondary to dry-hop, I feel dry hopping boost that aroma and as the beer ages, it doesn't fade as much.

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You have a good point that I forgot to mention. Beer that is conditioned for a long time slowly loses its hoppyness. By Dry hopping right before conditioning you are sure to have all the aroma you may have intended to have.

Just cracked the first bottle of a modified SNPA clone I brewed about two months ago. I dry hopped with a handful of amarillo pellets for two weeks (unintentional that it was that long, actually). WOW. This is a great beer, and it's only been in the bottle for 2 1/2 weeks, so I know it'll be a lot better by Christmas even. Can't wait. I'm planning on dry hopping every pale ale I do from now on!

I did a Rye P.A. which I dry-hopped and turned out very nicely. It had the Hoppiness that I look for in any IPA. I have done an IPA without dry hopping and it seemed to be lacking. So I feel in the IPAs, dry hopping is pretty much required. I have an Imperial IPA currently dry-hopping which I dosed with a total of 7.5 ounces of hops (Columbus, Halletaur, Cascade) I used 2 ounces of Cascade in the dry-hop.

I usually use pellets when I dry hop. It's good and cold here right now, so I just leave my primary in the garage for a couple days for a cold crash to get the pellet debris to fall before bottling. Works pretty well.

I think dry hopping rounds out the beer very nicely. I was given an IPA recipe that our local brew pub brewer made. He didn't dry hop the beer because of fermentation issues; he didn't want to waste the hops if the beer wasn't going to turn out good. The beer ended up being my favorite IPA ever. I asked for the recipe, brewed it, dry hopped it, and shared it with our homebrew club. The beer got rave reviews. All the beer needed to be great was the dry hop. It's now my favorite recipe.

You can heavily dry hop or just a little. It certainly adds to IPA's and pale ales in my opinion.

It is personal preference, but my preferred preference is to dry hop!!!!!!!!!!

I just kegged a SN torpedo type of a beer and dry hopped with 1.5 oz. of 3 different hops. Citra being one of them, first time using citra and I can't wait to give it a shot!!!!!