Cold crash before dry hop?

Has anyone tried cold crashing before dry hopping an ipa? My thinking is that this would remove more yeast from suspension and then the dry hop would have a better extraction rate. I would transfer on top of the dry hops and then dry hop back at a higher temp like 68 for 5 or so days.

 

First you need to make sure the beer is done fermenting by taking a gravity reading. How long has it been in the primary, at least 2 weeks? Assuming so there is no need to cold crash, just rack to secondary over the hops, some yeast will still settle out but it's not a big deal.

Cold crashing will certainly do what you want over a few days but IMO it is an unnecessary step in the process.

Also, if you do not need the primary for another reason you can dry hop in that vessel as well. Either way 5-7 days is enough and then bottle/keg

 

I always cold crash before I dry hop. I also stopped letting it warm back up during the dryhop. I do this in the keg

 

I do it the opposite way. Dry hop at room temp, then cold crash to drop the hops to the bottom, among other things.

 

Yup, that is what i do, works great.

 

When I posted my question I hadn't even pitched the yeast yet. It wasn't a question of "should I do this right now." I was just wondering if it was something other people had tried and noticed results from. I think I'll try it. And don't worry I'll give the beer a good 3 week primary.
Thanks for the reply!

 

dry hopping at lower temps seems to take longer to extract the aroma IME

for my really hoppy beers i now dry hop at room temp ~ 1 week in primary after about 2 weeks of fermentation, cold crash for a day or 2 and then keg and add another addition of dry hops in the keg

 

was curious about this and was planning on trying it soon.

from my experience, i've had more aroma pop from dry hopping on warmer temps.
but want to cold crash to drop out as many 'particulates' from the liquid before doing so, to hopefully improve dry hopping any bit that i can.

 

Well, if the yeast are done working, and aren't actively fermenting (meaning no more CO2 production), then it shouldn't affect the dry hop at all. The reason we don't put dry hops in while there are still active yeast around is because the offgassing of CO2 can carry away those nice hop aromatics we're trying to get in there via dry hop.

Also, if you DO do this, you should warm the keg back up after your cold crash, as extraction will be much much much slower at cold crash temperatures. Personally, I dry hop right in the primary, and love the results.

 

I read an article, I believe with the brewers at Stone, where they mentioned that the yeast themselves absorb aroma, so until the yeast flock out you will get less out of dry hopping.

I will look for the article when not on my phone.

 

For those of you who hop in the keg, do you use pellet or whole? How do you get the hops back out so they don't get stuck in the line?

 

But with the yeast i'm using, (1056) there tends to be a lot left in suspension after the beer is done fermenting, so by flocking it out of the beer before dry hopping there would be more surface area of actual beer for the hops to be in contact with and thus more aroma extraction. Hop oils are carried away by yeast. And yeah I definitely prefer extraction at a higher temp so I will warm it back up after the cold crash.

 

here you go...

 

I use either or both, depending what's at hand. I usually use a muslin hop sack weighed down with sanitized shot glass. Just put the hops in the sack, tie the sack in a knot at the top (leave enough room for the hops to swell), tie a length of dental floss to the knot and secure the other end of the floss to the handle of the keg.

 

The pellet flakes don't escape the muslin bag? Wow, cool! I have a keg and I need to empty my secondary soon, so that should be awesome!

 

Now if Stone would make a beer with good hop aromatics we could take their advice seriously.

But on a more serious note, thanks for sharing that. It does seem that various brewers that make solid hoppy beers follow competing schools of thought. Vinnie at Russian River dry-hops cold, as does Pat at Alpine; Matt at Firestone Walker dry-hops warm, and the guys at Avery dry-hop their low gravity hoppy beers warm (about 90% of the way through fermentation), and their high gravity hoppy beers cold.

All of these brewers make world class aromatic hoppy beers. I'd say out of all of them, Pat at Alpine makes the most aromatic hoppy beers on the planet. You can smell the beer coming from across the room. However, he's also very tight-lipped about his recipes and process (that has been my experience anyway). Maybe someone else on here would have more feedback they have received from him directly. I've heard from one other person that he recommends dry-hopping cold for several weeks, but I can't verify that information because it was from a random guy on the interwebs.

 

When dry hopping with pellets in the primary, do you simply toss them in or is there some sort of prep needed?

 

Just throw them in. I either cold crash or use gelatin to clarify before bottling, but I also use a couple gallon size mesh bags to catch any remaining particles. Works like a charm.

 

You mean you cover your siphon with the bags when racking from ferm to bottling bucket? Not sure i understand what you mean.

 

Yes, I sanitize a couple of the mesh bags and have the beer run through them (put them over the tip of the tube that goes to the bottling bucket, not the siphon end in the carboy, though you can do that as well) on the way to the bottling bucket.

 

From the reading I've done, this method seems to make the most sense to me:

1. Ferment in the primary until you reach your target FG.
2. Cold crash 24-72hrs to flocculate as much yeast as possible.
3. Add hops and bring everything back to cellar temp. Wait 5-7 days.
4. Cold crash 24-72hrs to drop the hops and then siphon to your keg/bottles.

This method serves a few goals:
1. Reduce losing hop aroma out the air lock if yeast is still active.
2. Avoid the possibility of suspended yeast eating up hop components.
3. More easily utilize hop resins and oils by dry hopping at a warmer temp. (Though, I'm sure a longer dry hop at a colder temp could work too).

I will try this for the first time next week. What isn't clear to me is what happens to the yeast when I cold crash and then warm the primary back up. It seems if I'm already at my target FG, the yeast won't be roused back up into suspension due to the warming - just need to be careful with all the moving around between the fridge and the cellar.

 

I'm a big believer in hop stands at flame out for aroma. All my IPAs get a 40 minute hop stand in the kettle at the end of the boil. Often, I opt for not dry hopping at all because the hop stand has already done the job of the dry hop. Lots of threads about hop stands here. Give it s shot!