Dry Hopping with Whole Hops

This will a) be my first time dry hopping, b) be my first time using whole hops. Just a couple of simple questions.

It's an imperial IPA, I used Cascade, Chinook, Amarillo, and Simcoe in the hop schedule. I was planning on dry hopping for 6 to 7 days with:

1 oz Cascade (whole)
1 oz Chinook (whole)
1 oz Amarillo or Simcoe (whole)

Questions:
1. Enough hops?? (I know "enough" is a relative term. I'm looking for a moderate to high nose)
2. Amarillo or Simcoe? (If the hop bill is needed, let me know and I"ll post later. I don't have it in front of me)
3. Any technique suggestions for using whole hops (bags with marbles, etc.), or should I just toss them in and let the beer sort them out.
4. Better off using pellets?

I guess that's it.

Thanks,

My successful attempt at dry hopping was a DFH 90 Minute clone. I used 1 oz Amarillo, .5 oz Warrior and .5 oz Simcoe, all whole (leaf) hops in a long skinny sterilized hop bag with marble weights. I have a buddy who swears by pellet hops, but he does subsequently filter and keg.

Yes, that's enough. I think 2-3 oz. of hops is ideal for a big nose. 1 oz or less gives you a subtle nose, IMHO. I only use whole leaf hops. I don't think pellets add squat to aroma. I just dump my leaf hops into the secondary fermenter prior to racking the beer.

I haven't used any Simcoe yet. Of the ones listed that I have used, I'd pick Cascade and Amarillo as the top two for a good hop nose. I make an all-Amarillo ale that is great and the smell from using just one ounce of dry hops is nice!

I will never use pellets for dry hopping again, nothing against effectiveness but racking was a PITA

Hey all. Finally dry hopped the IIPA tonight. Now I need some suggestions on a timeline. I dry hopped with 2 oz. Cascade and 1 oz Amarillo whole leaf hops.

I'm hoping to bottle on Sunday.

Is this too soon? And would bottling the following weekend be too long?

I know from reading other threads that the average time is usually 6 to 8 days. Four seems a bit short, and 10 seems a bit long.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

I dry hop in the secondary and again in the keg (Cascade and Simcoe in my PA). The hops in the keg stay until its drained, 4 to 6 months.

If you put the right amount of hops in there (and it sounds like you have), you can't really leave them in there too long.


TL

That's gonna be quite a bunch of hops...I typically dry hop my IPAs with 2 oz of whole leaf for 2 weeks tossed into the carboy. Whole leaf tend to work better than pellets for me as well (but pellets work). In your case, I would monitor the batch and pull it off the hops when you feel it's ready.

brewt00l said:

That's gonna be quite a bunch of hops...I typically dry hop my IPAs with 2 oz of whole leaf for 2 weeks tossed into the carboy. Whole leaf tend to work better than pellets for me as well (but pellets work). In your case, I would monitor the batch and pull it off the hops when you feel it's ready.

Click to expand...

We're going for a pretty big nose on an IIPA that has a big hop bill. Basically, I'm worried about short changing the hops and not letting them do their thing. So what I'm deriving from this discussion is to dry hop for at least a week, if not 10 to 14 days. Am I close to being on point here?

IndyPABrewGuy said:

We're going for a pretty big nose on an IIPA that has a big hop bill. Basically, I'm worried about short changing the hops and not letting them do their thing. So what I'm deriving from this discussion is to dry hop for at least a week, if not 10 to 14 days. Am I close to being on point here?

Click to expand...

I usually run 10-14 days...I will take a sample when I think it is near complete and make a decision at that point.

TexLaw said:

If you put the right amount of hops in there (and it sounds like you have), you can't really leave them in there too long.


TL

Click to expand...

By the right amount of hops are you refering to using more rather than less?

I mean the right amount to get the effect you want. I spoke vaguely, because I don't know what anyone is looking for in their beer, and I don't have a formula to run even if I did know what to shoot for. If you want more hope aroma, put more hops in there. If you want less, put in less. It depends on what beer you have, what hops you use, and what you want. Until you have a point of reference, though, it's hard to know what to do.

I like to start with about an ounce or two and go from there. With one of my favorite beers, I like to dry hop with an ounce of U.S. Perle and and ounce of Cascades, but I got there with a little tinkering.


TL

How do any of you know his batch size???? Is it 5 or 10 gallon? Looking at the hops I would think 10 but I don't know. He wants a really BIG nose so maybe it is 5. Indy what is the # of gallons? I am about to dry hop (this wknd perhaps) and would like to adjust my recipe. Thanks Charlie

balto charlie said:

How do any of you know his batch size???? Is it 5 or 10 gallon? Looking at the hops I would think 10 but I don't know. He wants a really BIG nose so maybe it is 5. Indy what is the # of gallons? I am about to dry hop (this wknd perhaps) and would like to adjust my recipe. Thanks Charlie

Click to expand...

It was a 5 gallon batch. Nose is pretty big. I think I should have left them in longer. I think it was only 10 days or so. I just DHed my Batch 11 Dark IPA with an ounce each of Amarillo and Cascade leaf hops, and I'm planning on leaving them in for at least two weeks, probably closer to three.

Other than that, I have only dry hopped two beers, the Dark IPA being the second, so I'm pretty new to it myself, but it doesn't seem like that complicated of a process. The worst thing you are going to do by putting too many hops in your IPA is have a hoptastic, smelly west coast-style IPA.

RDWHAHB.

Cheers,

IndyPABrewGuy said:

It was a 5 gallon batch. Nose is pretty big. I think I should have left them in longer. I think it was only 10 days or so. I just DHed my Batch 11 Dark IPA with an ounce each of Amarillo and Cascade leaf hops, and I'm planning on leaving them in for at least two weeks, probably closer to three.

Other than that, I have only dry hopped two beers, the Dark IPA being the second, so I'm pretty new to it myself, but it doesn't seem like that complicated of a process. The worst thing you are going to do by putting too many hops in your IPA is have a hoptastic, smelly west coast-style IPA.

RDWHAHB.

Cheers,

Click to expand...

I've got a DIPA that I transfered to secondary last night and dry hopped for my first time. Hardest thing was getting the damn 2oz's leaf hops through the openning in the 5gal carboy!

Any tricks to this?

gwood said:

I've got a DIPA that I transfered to secondary last night and dry hopped for my first time. Hardest thing was getting the damn 2oz's leaf hops through the openning in the 5gal carboy!

Any tricks to this?

Click to expand...

Short answer . . . no. You should have seen my floor after tryin to put 3 oz. of leaf hops into my carboy. I think, though, I"m going to get a funnel and cut the bottom off of it to a width just smaller than the carboy opening. Or, get a folder or piece of paper, roll it up and let it expand out to the neck of the carboy to create a funnel. I don't know how sanitary the last piece of advice would be, but its a thought.

Cheers,

When I dry hopped with leaf hops in hop bags, I just had to cram those son-of-guns in there. I had a cylindrical weight that helped me do so a bit.

You think it's fun getting those hops in there? Wait until you want to get them out.


TL

TexLaw said:

When I dry hopped with leaf hops in hop bags, I just had to cram those son-of-guns in there. I had a cylindrical weight that helped me do so a bit.

You think it's fun getting those hops in there? Wait until you want to get them out.


TL

Click to expand...

Out's not bad. That's what a carboy/bottle jet and a garbage disposal is good for.

IndyPABrewGuy said:

Out's not bad. That's what a carboy/bottle jet and a garbage disposal is good for.

Click to expand...

Yep...I think the ol' jet should work OK. I was going to use a bag but I didn't have one sanitized and was pressed for time.

IndyPABrewGuy said:

Out's not bad. That's what a carboy/bottle jet and a garbage disposal is good for.

Click to expand...

Not so much when you had it in those hop bags.


TL

wow. I did an IPA in the spring and just dumped the oz in there with no bag......no wonder the aroma wasn't that great......

So what is the longest that folks have dry hopped in a carboy? I think I made a bit of a boo boo here in that I added them RIGHT after I transfered to secondary. Is that going to preclude me from being able to condition for a longer period of time?

Should've waited until I was a week or two away from bottling...

glennduggin said:

wow. I did an IPA in the spring and just dumped the oz in there with no bag......no wonder the aroma wasn't that great......

Click to expand...

the bag doesn't add to aroma just keeps the hops from clogging the dip tubes at bottling time.

gwood said:

So what is the longest that folks have dry hopped in a carboy? I think I made a bit of a boo boo here in that I added them RIGHT after I transfered to secondary. Is that going to preclude me from being able to condition for a longer period of time?

Should've waited until I was a week or two away from bottling...

Click to expand...

A week or so.

How long do you plan on conditioning? The dry hop aroma will last for some time, and I've also seen time benefit that aroma. You also can refresh it later on, if you like.


TL

gwood said:

So what is the longest that folks have dry hopped in a carboy? I think I made a bit of a boo boo here in that I added them RIGHT after I transfered to secondary. Is that going to preclude me from being able to condition for a longer period of time?

Should've waited until I was a week or two away from bottling...

Click to expand...

When I did the IIPA, I bulk aged for 5 weeks, then DHed for 10 days.

For this Dark IPA we're doing, I had it in primary for an extra week (20 days total), and racked it right onto the hops. I'm going to leave it in secondary for at least two weeks, potentially 3.

I didn't think I needed to worry about this short of time, but if you're talking about 6 weeks+ of dry hopping, you may, as Tex said, want to freshen it up towards the end.

IndyPABrewGuy said:

When I did the IIPA, I bulk aged for 5 weeks, then DHed for 10 days.

For this Dark IPA we're doing, I had it in primary for an extra week (20 days total), and racked it right onto the hops. I'm going to leave it in secondary for at least two weeks, potentially 3.

I didn't think I needed to worry about this short of time, but if you're talking about 6 weeks+ of dry hopping, you may, as Tex said, want to freshen it up towards the end.

Click to expand...

Sounds good, thanks for the advice guys. I was planning on leaving it in the secondary for quite some time (4 weeks or more) but I'll plan on adding another oz of hops half way through that.

Went out this am and the chest freezer in the garage wasdown to 50 F. Don't see it as being an issue but I'm not going to be able to ferment out there if this keeps up (unless I want to try my hand at a lager)

EDIT: I'd like to use a finning agent like gelatin and I was also wondering last night as to how to best get it past the hops and into the secondary. Or is this just something that I should just do in the bottling bucket?