First dryhop today with whole hops.

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
N

NikolausXX

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
194
Reaction score
2
Location
Eagle NE
I did my first dryhop on a Haus pale ale, that I added more hops too, just cascades to bump up the bitterness. I added a extra .25 ounce at every step, and had an extra .75 ounce whole hops left at end. I decided I would dryhop. After 14 days in the primary I racked onto the whole hops that I put into the secondary. Right now they are floating on top of the beer. Will the hops get saturated and sink, will they extract all there flavor? I guess its only been about 6 hours, just has me wondering if they will fall out, or get all the goodies out of them. Note I used a glass carboy, so I couldnt use any kind of bag and marble mumble jumble. Probably another useless post, but I did search before hand.
 
The bulk of the whole hops usually stay floating for me. A few small pieces might suspend but by and large they seem to stay at the top. 10 days is the longest I've left dry hops in, though - left longer they might sink, I don't know.

They don't really add any bitterness, but they do add a nice pleasant "whoosh" of flavor and aroma.
 
My dry hops float when using leaf hops. I think that is normal, and my dry hopped pale ales have been really good, so don't sweat it. I left mine in secondary for several (at least 3, more likely 5 or 6) weeks with no ill effects from the hops.
 
Yes they will float, forever. People swear they sink but I'd like to see a pic of this for I find it unbelievable. Even in a hop sack with (insufficient) weights they still float. The good news is they will still impart a good hop aroma.
 
I'm also getting ready to dry hop a IPA with some plugs using a hop sack...


Do I have to sterilize the hop sack, and if so how do I do it? boil, star san or both.

Also, does it matter how long I dry hop the secondary...If I can't get to it for a few weeks, does it affect the hop flavor or anything?

Thanks
 
I've never dryhopped for more than 10 days - I've heard that you can get a grassy flavor from the hops if left too long. I try to get them in for the last 7 days in secondary right before I plan to bottle.
 
Vinnie from Russian River says that you should dry hop for 5-7 days and that you get little to no benefit dry hopping longer then that.

For your Hop sack I would just put it in boiling water for a few minutes along with whatever you are going to use to weight it down.
 
I just moved an ipa to secondary on leaf hops yesterday.

I found it hard to put the hops in the glass carboy, had to do it by hand. Anyone have a better way to get leaf hops in a carboy.
 
Is it possible to dry hop for too long?

I used a brewhouse kit with wyeast, and it spent about 10 days in primary. I racked it to a secondary and added some northern brewer hops at that time. It's been about 10 days now.
 
TeleTwanger said:
Yes they will float, forever. People swear they sink but I'd like to see a pic of this for I find it unbelievable. Even in a hop sack with (insufficient) weights they still float. The good news is they will still impart a good hop aroma.
Click to expand...

They will *not* float, I've dry hopped 2x and both times the majority of the loose hops sunk, those that were still floating were saturated.

Had I seen this post last weekend I would have taken a photo of mine. The 1 oz of loose, leaf hops I used had almost completely sunk to the bottom of the carboy.
 
Amity said:
Is it possible to dry hop for too long?

I used a brewhouse kit with wyeast, and it spent about 10 days in primary. I racked it to a secondary and added some northern brewer hops at that time. It's been about 10 days now.
Click to expand...

Some say yes, some say no.

I say no as i have started just dry hoping in the keg for 2 weeks, then i put it in the keezer to be enjoyed. So i leave the hops in until the keg is cashed with no ill effects (except for the hop particles every now and then).
 
Nablis said:
I just moved an ipa to secondary on leaf hops yesterday.

I found it hard to put the hops in the glass carboy, had to do it by hand. Anyone have a better way to get leaf hops in a carboy.
Click to expand...

A small funnel works for me.
 
I put the hops in by hand also, it kinda sucked. But I dont have any funnels with a large enough opening for the leaf hops to go through. I added the gelatin last night, and I have a very bright beer at least in the top 1/4 of it. Hopefully over the next couple of days it will clear real good. I would like to bottle this weekend as it will be 3 weeks, with 1 week of dryhop in the secondary. If it takes longer so be it. I got the pipe line going strong so I should have lots of good beer coming in. Too bad I dont have any more free hops to dryhop with.
 
Well its been 7 days now. The hops are still floating. Like a previous poster, some are in suspension, but not much. They are saturated, so im sure they are doing there work. Ill probably heed advise and rack at 10 days. Im just hopeing for more clearing over the next couple days. Might let it sit another couple days. The top half is pretty clear, but the bottom is still cloudy. I let it sit 2 weeks primary, racked onto the hops, been there for the week, added gelatin at 4 days in secondary.
 
Trying to get whole hops in a bag or in the carboy is a PITA no matter what...That's why I use plugs mostly, they are just about as good for aroma as whole and nearly as convenient as pellets.
 
NikolausXX said:
Well its been 7 days now. The hops are still floating. Like a previous poster, some are in suspension, but not much.
Click to expand...

I guess hop flowers react differently in the northeast than the midwest as both times I dry hopped the majority of the flowers were at the bottom of the carboy within a couple days.
 
I dryhop most of my beers. I prefer to dry hop with leaf as there are fewer crumbs escaping the bag. I spray the bag with starsan for sanatizing, add the hops without any weights and drop them in the keg. By putting them in the keg after conditioning more of the hop aroma is kept. They are left in the keg until cashed. I have never tasted grassy flavors in any of my beers. It is said that since only the volatiles are used for dryhopping you can use these hops for bittering in your next brew. If I ever do a 5G experimental batch again I plan on trying this. Many of my IPAs have 6-10 oz of hops in them and it gets a bit spendy

edit: different hops provide different aroma and flavor. Cascade, centennial, amarillo, summit provide citrusy flavors and aromas to varying degrees. With summit being the sweetest (tangerine) and centennial(grapefruit) having the highest pucker factor. willamette, sazz, tett seem to give a spiciness. I'm still playing with others but I don't really like the earthiness of many English hops.
 
beerthirty said:
I dryhop most of my beers. I prefer to dry hop with leaf as there are fewer crumbs escaping the bag. I spray the bag with starsan for sanatizing, add the hops without any weights and drop them in the keg. By putting them in the keg after conditioning more of the hop aroma is kept. They are left in the keg until cashed. I have never tasted grassy flavors in any of my beers. It is said that since only the volatiles are used for dryhopping you can use these hops for bittering in your next brew. If I ever do a 5G experimental batch again I plan on trying this. Many of my IPAs have 6-10 oz of hops in them and it gets a bit spendy

edit: different hops provide different aroma and flavor. Cascade, centennial, amarillo, summit provide citrusy flavors and aromas to varying degrees. With summit being the sweetest (tangerine) and centennial(grapefruit) having the highest pucker factor. willamette, sazz, tett seem to give a spiciness. I'm still playing with others but I don't really like the earthiness of many English hops.
Click to expand...

I'm very curious about the different flavors that hops produce. I would love to see the different ingredients that beers like Shipyard pumpkinhead ale uses Vs like a blue moon....I consider both to be some of the best beer I have sampled. I would love to be able clone them :)
 
There is blue moon clone recipe in the database here. I dont think it involves any dry hopping. It will be fun to see how the 3 different haus pale ales my buddy and I brewed over the last 3 weeks turn out. Mine was dryhopped, and had extra hops added. My buddy was drunk and reversed the hop schedule with the origional hops weights. The second time he hit it by the numbers. I also have a haus pale ale brewed over 2 months ago and still have a sixer ageing. So pretty soon we will have a wide variety of haus pale ales brewed on different setups, with differing hop schedules, and dryhopping in one of them!
 
illnastyimpreza said:
I'm very curious about the different flavors that hops produce. I would love to see the different ingredients that beers like Shipyard pumpkinhead ale uses Vs like a blue moon....I consider both to be some of the best beer I have sampled. I would love to be able clone them :)
Click to expand...
Have you ever tried Piraat (A Belgium) To me it is heaven in a bottle, others just say mmmm.:rockin:
My amber ale experiments are my single hop beers to determine flavor and aroma. Same recipe and bittering hops, I just switch out the aroma, flavor and dry hops so I can tell the difference between hops.
 
Well I bottled the beer after 11 days dryhop. Only a small amount sank, the majority of the hops floated. The gelatin I added seemed to go through the hops as I could see through my secondary well at bottling. The taste was pretty good for a flat warm beer at bottling, I drank the 1/2 bottle that was left over. The hops seemed to soak up some of the beer. I only got 48 bottles out of it, which is probably the least ive got so far out of making a 5.5 primary batch. Remember I used whole hops, I doubt pellets would soak up beer as much. I guess job well done. Learning experience completed!
 
NikolausXX said:
Well I bottled the beer after 11 days dryhop. Only a small amount sank, the majority of the hops floated. The gelatin I added seemed to go through the hops as I could see through my secondary well at bottling. The taste was pretty good for a flat warm beer at bottling, I drank the 1/2 bottle that was left over. The hops seemed to soak up some of the beer. I only got 48 bottles out of it, which is probably the least ive got so far out of making a 5.5 primary batch. Remember I used whole hops, I doubt pellets would soak up beer as much. I guess job well done. Learning experience completed!
Click to expand...

Good job! Yes pellets have less leafy material so they won't eat as much beer BUT! I think whole or plugs give more pop. YMMV

BTW I've got my DogFish Head 60 clone that I put 3oz of pellets in 2 days ago and they already sank to the bottom. 3 oz of whole hops would have beers coming out of the airlock lol.
 

Similar threads

mccamich
Dry hopping with wild hops
Replies
7
Views
928
whattabrau
W
M
Advice on neipa dryhopping, SS bucket fermenter, pressurized transfer to keg
Replies
4
Views
2K
Menno
M
Nubiwan
First Wort Hopping - boil time & IBU calculations
Replies
8
Views
2K
Nubiwan
Nubiwan
J
My First Competition: Results, Disappointments, Improvements
Replies
15
Views
2K
mashpaddled
M
B
I finally did it. Started my first batch of mead.
Replies
7
Views
2K
BlindMike
B
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top