6 month dry hop?

[Novacor]

I brewed a beer (pale ale) back in May and dry hopped it after 14 days. Then life got in the way and, well, I'm going to attemp to keg it tomorrow. I'm getting myself mentally prepared for total loss and drain pour, but does anyone think that this beer might be salvageable?

 

[day_trippr]

Eeesh...My primary concern would be oxidation after all that time.
If it still looks like a pale ale (and not a porter) then I'd worry about the 6 months on the hops thing...

Cheers! (and good luck)

 

[Golddiggie]

AFAIK, if you dry hop in fermenter for more than two weeks you'll get off flavors.

Personally, I only "dry hop" in serving keg. That's under pressure and chilled, which I attribute to being able to leave the hops in there for more than two weeks without any ill effects. I've had best results with leaf hops.

Pull a sample of the beer, drink it, and decide if it's worth kegging or not. If you don't keg, then you'll have to bottle it, let it carbonate, chill, and see IF it's good to drink.

 

[grampamark]

If the fermenter was airtight, or nearly so, with very little headspace, you might have beer. In a plastic bucket with a gallon, or so, of headspace, you will probably have a textbook example of extreme oxidation.

I once left a little over a gallon in a 6 gallon better bottle fermenter for about a month. I bottled it, just to see what I had. I still have 3 or 4 bottles on a shelf if anyone wants to see an example of severe oxidation.

 

[bracconiere]

i hope your fermenter was really air tight. or maybe it would be good sprtized on potato chips or french fries?

 

[Novacor]

So far that's my plan. If my hydrometer sample doesn't taste horrible I'll keg it and hope for the best. I'm hoping that the extended time mellows out any hop related off flavors. Oxidation on the other hand...

 

[slayer021175666]

It, most probably, will not taste the way you expected it to at the time you were brewing it. However, it may still be "good" beer in general. Unless you know of some precluding circumstance, (i.e. the airlock dried out or something) I would NOT throw it out! Look at it. If you don't see any spores or otherwise disgusting contaminates, smell it. If it smells good, taste it. If it tastes good, keg it. After its cold crashed and carbed up good, look at it, smell it and taste again. If all seems well, drink it up.
I, for various reasons, have had a beer sitting in the fermenter for months with no disernable negative effect. Yes. You may not have the same hop pungentness or maybe it will be more dry than to your liking but that, does not mean "bad beer." It is just not the exact flavor one had expected, in most cases. Still quite embibable though, hopefully.

 

[estricklin]

I once dry hopped for around 3 months, it was like your situation, life got in the way. The beer was super clear, tasted great, but it had no flavor from the dry hops. I think I used 2 oz of Cascade, and it was sort of a pale ale.

 

[Novacor]

Well it's infected. Few slimy looking bubbles on the top and a FG of 1.000. Sample tasted like a tart green apple.