Flameout Hops vs Dry Hopping

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imperialist

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I'm working on a really citrusy American Pale ale and I want to know your thoughts on post-boil hops additions vs dry hopping. What are the pros and cons of each? I like clear beers which is the hesitation I have about dry hopping, but I also love the strong hops aroma you get from a heavy dry hopping. Can I get the same aroma from a large post-boil hops addition?
 
My opinion is no, you don't get the great hops aroma from late additions like you do from dry hopping. Whenever I make a pale, I lean towards the dry hop, even in a small amount anywhere from 0.5-1.5oz over a flameout addition (even though I'll usually have a 0min in there too). I think you get more bang from your buck adding the hops after fermentation is complete. If you're worried about clarity, you can put the hops in a bag and remove it before racking, but I've never noticed a big difference in my highly dry hopped brews.
 
Both is best. I like to limit dry hopping to limit grassiness and have moved to rather large flameout additions over the years. The trick is to keep the wort hot with the flameout addition in it for a while. I do 30 minutes and then chill in 15ish. Ray Daniel's suggested over an hour at an NHC a few years ago. This putting hops in and then chilling in 15 seconds stuff is a waste of hops.

You can make a beer with huge hop aroma without a dry hop this way. I still like a bit of dry hop though.
 
My favorite method so far is to do a 60 min addition for most of the IBUs and then pile on the 15, 10, 5 and flame out additions. Dry hop with at least 2 oz for 14 days and drink as soon as possible. The dry hops tend to diminish quickly with age.
 
I'm brewing a Belgian IPA tomorrow. Additions at 60 min and then no more until flameout. Following that up with dry hopping.
 
I'd suggest checking out hopbursting. Jamil wrote an article a few years back in Zymurgy. His Evil Twin recipe from that article is delicious. Trying that technique got me interested in different ways to add hop flavor and aroma.

Recently I tried adding "hop tea" on the waning side of fermentation. I also dry hopped as per normal. I liked that combo very much. I will play with that combo for the next few APA batches.

Even with the hop tea, I still think most of my hop aroma is from my dry hopping. I use pellets and an extra fine nylon bag. It keeps the hop particles out of the keg.

Cheers
 
IME a combination is best, but that really intense hop aroma you're looking for won't be achieved without dry hopping.

Maybe find some whole hops and use a hop bag. That'd help with that clouding issue, at least a little.
 
I notice that by the time I've let my beer sit and clear and let it clean up any off/young flavors the hop aroma has faded significantly, and w/o a dry hop addition I would be disappointed in the beer. My expierence is to limit boil additions to a bittering hop and maybe a flamout hop but id add the ones I want to stand out in the dry hop, but adding irish moss really will help clear the beer up, and the dry hop cloudiness will barely be noticed
 
I always add Irish moss in the boil but maybe I'll try adding gelatin finings before I crash cool and bottle. That may help get the clairity I want while keeping the gerat hops character you get from dry hopping. This is a great thread. Thanks for all the input!

cheers :mug:
 
For some reason I stopped using finishing hops. Almost all my pales I first wort hop. I also dry hop. So my nose maybe smelling the dry hops. Anyway, super hops aroma with a way more refined hops taste. Just a more smooth hop bite. Not trying to change the subject but I think FWH and Dry is the way to go.
 
imperialist said:
I always add Irish moss in the boil but maybe I'll try adding gelatin finings before I crash cool and bottle. That may help get the clairity I want while keeping the gerat hops character you get from dry hopping. This is a great thread. Thanks for all the input!

cheers :mug:

Adding dry irish moss doesn't help my beer at all, I dunno if you do it or not but u have to rehydrate the irish moss before use
 
Adding dry irish moss doesn't help my beer at all, I dunno if you do it or not but u have to rehydrate the irish moss before use

I throw it in with 10 minutes left of the boil and by beer always turn out completely clear. Why would you have to rehydrate it, the boiling wort will do that for you.
 
I follow a failry normal hop schedule for my wort, but will usually up my bittering hops at the begining. Then dry hop again for a week, I find that the dry hopping gets me a lot of aroma. Like others said put it in cheese cloth with some marble to weigh it down and let it sit. I havent had one yet with "too much" hops. Are you using whole or pellet?

As far as gelatin or irish moss, I have had mixed results with the irish moss, but the gelatin always works great. I always rehydrated in warm water for a few hours before adding. I heard it can take salt off and also the pieces get bigger so yeast has more to cling to. I usually cold crash too, so that helps especially with a lot of my beers that I don't secondary. I havent repeated enough recipes to note differences.

I have dry hopped in both primary and secondary but they have been different recipes before or ive just been lazy and not wanted to rack. Forgot to check for differences in flavor or clarity. Has anyone noticed differences?
 
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