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- Jun 3, 2022
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I got into brewing wanting to make hazy IPAs right away and read up quite a bit. Went straight to kegging.
I posted on here about dry hopping hazy IPAs and oxidation. I oxidized some even before transferring to the keg. Some things I read online just don’t align with my real life experience.
I’ve fermented in an all rounder and kegs. Haven’t had any leak issues.
Cracking the lid hasn’t seemed to affect beers too much like lagers. Hazy IPA and heavily hopped IPAs in general have been the problem.
I’ve tried:
-Cracking the lid and dumping hops in with 5-8 SG points left. Lid off for maybe 10 seconds. Usually day 3-4 with A38 juice and 1.060OG. Oxidized very quickly.
-Same as above, but flushing with co2 and after by running co2 continuously for minutes to purge headspace. Oxidized
-Dry Hopping on day 2 by cracking the lid and dumping hops in. Purging with co2. By purging, I mean excessively wasting co2. No oxidation, but it gives the beers some ngarly grapefruit pith type flavor that I really don’t care for. Never had a commercial beer that tastes like that.
-Using magnets to suspend hops in the fermenter. Half the time the hops just drop in. Surely this is a skill issue. Huge PITA for me. The times I’ve been successful I’ve dropped them with 5-8 gravity points left and ended up grapefruit weird flavor again and doesn’t seem to matter which variety. Very odd.
Edit: I think ^ this might work if the hops don’t drop in right away. Maybe drop them after fermentation is complete and you drop some yeast out. I fail 50% of the time with magnets, though.
What I haven’t tried:
-dry hopping with bagged hops, cracking the lid with 5-8 SG points left and slowly lowering the hops in to avoid splashing. I think this is key. This might work, but again I haven’t had good results dry hopping during active fermentation at all yet. Still maybe worth a shot.
What actually worked for me:
I got one of those hop bongs for the all rounder. Brewed up a hazy IPA and let it ferment completely. Cold crashed for a few days to drop out as much yeast as possible.
I purged it by continuously flushing with co2 for probably 2 minutes.
Dry hopped with 12oz in a 5g batch @60F for 24 hours. Also added ALDC. Tasted sample and the hop character was as pungent as commercial beers. Very fresh and no strong grapefruit.
Cold crashed again and transferred 3 days later. Zero oxidation. Maximum hop flavor and aroma. It’s a win. I need to work on the recipe, but it’s some major progress.
I wish I didn’t have to do all this, but I guess I’m just very picky and sensitive to oxidation. There’s some top notch hazy IPAs out there(and hoppy beers in general) so the bar is super high.
I’d recommend getting one of these if you struggle like I do. I’m not sponsored or whatever, just happy I can dry hop now.
I posted on here about dry hopping hazy IPAs and oxidation. I oxidized some even before transferring to the keg. Some things I read online just don’t align with my real life experience.
I’ve fermented in an all rounder and kegs. Haven’t had any leak issues.
Cracking the lid hasn’t seemed to affect beers too much like lagers. Hazy IPA and heavily hopped IPAs in general have been the problem.
I’ve tried:
-Cracking the lid and dumping hops in with 5-8 SG points left. Lid off for maybe 10 seconds. Usually day 3-4 with A38 juice and 1.060OG. Oxidized very quickly.
-Same as above, but flushing with co2 and after by running co2 continuously for minutes to purge headspace. Oxidized
-Dry Hopping on day 2 by cracking the lid and dumping hops in. Purging with co2. By purging, I mean excessively wasting co2. No oxidation, but it gives the beers some ngarly grapefruit pith type flavor that I really don’t care for. Never had a commercial beer that tastes like that.
-Using magnets to suspend hops in the fermenter. Half the time the hops just drop in. Surely this is a skill issue. Huge PITA for me. The times I’ve been successful I’ve dropped them with 5-8 gravity points left and ended up grapefruit weird flavor again and doesn’t seem to matter which variety. Very odd.
Edit: I think ^ this might work if the hops don’t drop in right away. Maybe drop them after fermentation is complete and you drop some yeast out. I fail 50% of the time with magnets, though.
What I haven’t tried:
-dry hopping with bagged hops, cracking the lid with 5-8 SG points left and slowly lowering the hops in to avoid splashing. I think this is key. This might work, but again I haven’t had good results dry hopping during active fermentation at all yet. Still maybe worth a shot.
What actually worked for me:
I got one of those hop bongs for the all rounder. Brewed up a hazy IPA and let it ferment completely. Cold crashed for a few days to drop out as much yeast as possible.
I purged it by continuously flushing with co2 for probably 2 minutes.
Dry hopped with 12oz in a 5g batch @60F for 24 hours. Also added ALDC. Tasted sample and the hop character was as pungent as commercial beers. Very fresh and no strong grapefruit.
Cold crashed again and transferred 3 days later. Zero oxidation. Maximum hop flavor and aroma. It’s a win. I need to work on the recipe, but it’s some major progress.
I wish I didn’t have to do all this, but I guess I’m just very picky and sensitive to oxidation. There’s some top notch hazy IPAs out there(and hoppy beers in general) so the bar is super high.
I’d recommend getting one of these if you struggle like I do. I’m not sponsored or whatever, just happy I can dry hop now.
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