Dry Hopping - At what point are you wasting hops?

[pfgonzo]

I just brewed the Dogfish Head 90m clone recipe, and it calls for 4oz of dry hops. I've never used more than 2oz in any of my IPA recipes and still get a pretty powerful face punch from the aroma. Note: all my dry hopping is in the keg.

It got me thinking, at what point in a 5g recipe are you just wasting hops? If anyone has a link to a study, or real world comparisons (dry hopped similar batches with 4oz, and another with 10oz, for example), I'd be curious to hear about it.

I would assume there's a point of diminishing returns where adding another ounce or two has a negligible impact.

 

[Smellyglove]

I'm also curious about this. Made some recipes where I thought "is it worth it", but just followed the recipe.

The glass of which you drink from also have a big impact on the "hoppiness" of a beer. If you're having an IPA you shouldnt drink it from a "standard" english ale glass. For beers with a huge hop-aroma your want your nose (besides from your mouth of course) to be the focal point of whats in the glass whenever you take a sip. Nose and mouth are as we all know good friends.

Although it wasnt an answer to your question, but If you're making a recipe, maybe you can get away with less dryhops if the beer is being served in the right glass?

 

[opiate82]

Well, take a look at what the pros are doing. Some of the best IPA's out there are using 2lbs+ per bbl just for the dry hop (which works out to be just shy of 5 oz for a 5 gallon batch). I'm sure you are probably right that there is a point of ridiculousness, but 4oz lines up pretty well with what the pros are doing so I think that point is well beyond that.

 

[kaz4121]

See here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/index49.html#post5002270

And here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/heady-topper-can-you-clone-390082/index50.html#post5002323

And here: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/34093/Wolfe_thesis.pdf?sequence=1

Enjoy!

 

[pfgonzo]

Kaz, that's very helpful thank you. I'll read the OSU study this weekend.

 

[roosmur]

I bottle my beer mainly, to make it easier to transport and take to friends etc. When dry-hopping a beer that is to be bottled, what do you suggest as I cannot dry hop into the keg. I have heard it said I should dry hop for the last few days of fermentation in the primary. Any suggestions here? Much appreciated.




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[RM-MN]

I bottle my beer mainly, to make it easier to transport and take to friends etc. When dry-hopping a beer that is to be bottled, what do you suggest as I cannot dry hop into the keg. I have heard it said I should dry hop for the last few days of fermentation in the primary. Any suggestions here? Much appreciated.




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Wait until the fermentation is over as checked with your hydrometer, then add the hops in the primary fermenter. You don't want any fermentation going on when you add the hops because you may lose some of the aroma and aroma is what you are looking for.

 

[julioardz]

The only real world comparisons I can share are what I have noticed when dry hopping with 1, 2, and 5 ounces per 5 gallons. Adding 1 ounce of dry hops to a 5 gallon batch hardly adds a thing. I use a proper glass to enhance the aroma and all, yet I only pick up the most faint smell of hops in there. So faint in fact, that 1 ounce of dry hops seems like a waste of hops to me. I think it's put to better use as a post boil steep or somewhere else in the recipe. 2 ounces of dry hops starts to get the aroma I get from some of the average pale ales around. I won't dry hop with anything less than 2 ounces now. My IPAs and IIPAs that I consider truly outstanding use 5 ounces of dry hops per 5 gallons of finished beer. Using 1 ounce per gallon adds aroma that is comparable to, and even better than many of the commercial IPAs I like. I haven't tried more than that because I'm happy with what I get from 5 ounces.

I recently read an article about post-boil steeps at different temperatures and what that does to the different hop oils (great article, but sorry, I don't have the link right now). After reading it, I decided I'll be playing around with steeping at lower temperatures than I had been doing before.

My latest batch is something along the lines of an India Brown Ale. I steeped 2 ounces at 130-140F after the boil. I let that cool in my fermenting fridge to pitching temperature and then added 2 ounces of hops after fermentation for 3 days. I just bottled it. The hop taste and aroma were great going into the bottle, but not as pronounced as the ones that had 5 ounces of dry hops. We'll see how this batch turns out.

It is important to note that this last batch used hops that are much more mild than what I generally use in IPAs, and of course that is going to play a big role in the aroma of the final product.


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[RM-MN]

Adding 1 ounce of dry hops to a 5 gallon batch hardly adds a thing.

Each of us has a different body and how our bodies function differs too. I find that 1 ounce (depending on the hop variety) gives me plenty of aroma. You might not even notice it.

 

[julioardz]

Each of us has a different body and how our bodies function differs too. I find that 1 ounce (depending on the hop variety) gives me plenty of aroma. You might not even notice it.

Yes! I meant to mention something along those lines in my already wordy post.

I should mention that the ounce of dry hop came after late boil and post boil additions. That extra ounce didn't seem to add much for me in that situation. I've also done 1 ounce of dry hops in Saisons, where I felt the yeast still overpowered the hops.

Perception is relative. I'm sure I would notice a small amount of dry hops in other situations.


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[BreezyBrew]

I've dry hopped with 4 oz before and when you poured a pint it just about smelled up the whole room. Those were some fresh hops! This seems to be approaching the upper limit.

I've also double dry hopped before, and it definitely added more hop character to the beer than just once. Check out the brew strong episodes on this, and they will tell you 2 is better than one, especially for an IIPA.