Aroma addition

[Ster]

What difference would you notice if you dry hopped 2 ounces of pellets versus adding them in the last minute of the boil?

 

[unionrdr]

The dry hop would give way more aroma than a 1 minute late boil addition.

 

[Ster]

Taste differences?

 

[unionrdr]

Aroma additions don't add flavor. But since our senses of taste & smell are linked at the back of the roof of the mouth, some think it adds to the flavor. It's just more of a combination of both at once.

 

[misterkidd]

+1 on unionrdr's comment. Aroma is the more prominent feature of hops than taste (apart from bittering, of course!) in my opinion. Also, dry hopping tends to make the beer a bit cloudy.

 

[McKnuckle]

If you brew beer with additions in the 15-30 minute period but no later additions, you may rethink the flavor component. It's just that aroma and flavor are easily muddled when both are present. Try a pilsner hopped midway with Saaz or an English bitter hopped midway with EKG, and you'll pick up hop flavor as a more isolated sensory component.

 

[misterkidd]

OK thanks, McKnuckle. I may just try that ^_^.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

Dry hopped beer has a fresher hop aroma, like smelling the freshly opened bag of hops. A late boil addition will lose some of the fresh subtle aromas because the heat carries some of them away but is less likely to smell grassy/green. I like to cool my wort to just under 170f add the hops and let them steep for 30 minutes or so and then finish chilling. This uses some of the heat to release but preserve the aromas and avoids the raw grassy aromas some hops can give. But I also dry hop beers that need that fresh hoppy punch.

 

[unionrdr]

15 to 30 minute additions are flavor additions. Additions of 5 minutes or less are aroma ones. It's just that dry hopping does it better. At 30 minutes, you're getting bittering as well.

 

[McKnuckle]

One thing I enjoy in a hoppy pale ale is a continuum, or depth, of flavor and aroma. Not just the scent hanging over the top of the glass - but a sense that the beer is filled with the hops. Hard to describe.

My best attempt at this so far has been with a bittering addition at 60, then additions at 15 minutes, 5 minutes, a hopstand at flameout for 20 minutes, and dry hopping. Not a tremendous quantity of hops were used, but the intervals seem to have worked to achieve that depth I wanted.

It's only in the keg about two weeks so I don't know how long the effect will last, but right now it's groovy.

 

[unionrdr]

I think using the same hops for aroma as flavor additions heightens the effects you describe. My 2c anyway...

 

[misterkidd]

I've been very happy with full wort hopping for my last few brews, alongside a 5 minute and/or flameout addition. I rarely dry hop, but then it's not appropriate for the styles of beer I typically brew.