A beginners' guide to dry-hopping

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Hey all, I have an IPA fermenting and plan to dry-hop for the first time. I did google before posting this, but still have one question. I know it's smart to wait til most of the fermentation is over and dry-hop with ~48 hours left before bottling, which I plan to do. I use bucket fermenters, and my question is how to add the hops. I don't wish to use a type of straining bag, but rather just add them and try to avoid too much trub when bottling. Is it okay to just add them through my small airlock hole, or should I remove the lid to spread them around more? (I know that will increase risk of oxidation/contamination)

Thanks for your help guys, and any other dry-hopping advice is appreciated

 

[MARCELO178]

Hi!!!
CO2 is heavier than air, it makes a layer over your beer, if you open and close your fermenter quickly you don´t need to worry about oxidation.
I have used hop bags for dry hopping, I see two problems doing that. First you need to use much more hop to get the same aroma/flavor, second is the chance of contamination is bigger, the bag is difficult to clean.
So, I put all my hop through the airlock hole. let it sit for one week at 20 C.(68F). then more 3 days at 3C(37F). it should clean you beer.

 

[eadavis80]

I guess I live dangerously when opening my lids when I take gravity readings. I mean, I'm efficient and try to be quick about it, but I don't really fear oxidation or infection in the 30-60 seconds I'm extracting 7 oz. of beer for a gravity sample. I would not stress over opening your lid, dumping in your hops and reclosing the lid. I'd just spray the lid again with Star San before resealing. Oh, I'd dry hop for a week not 2 days, but that's personal preference. Most agree more than 2 weeks risks grassy flavors, but since you're planning on 2 days that's certainly not going to be a problem for you. Enjoy your first dry hopped homebrew!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Reading the brulosophy exbeeriments has really helped me RDWAHAHB. My beer usually tastes far better than commercial beers to me. It could be ugly baby syndrome, but when I dry hop...delicious. I take the top off 7 days before I bottle and cold crash for 48 hours to help keep the hops out of my bottling bucket. The reason I go longer than 48 hours is the hops are still floating around then. I have never tasted the cardboard flavor that people talk about, but then I make small batches and most of my beers don't last 6 months. To me dry hopping is kind of counter to sanitation and control that brewers are usually going for. Go rogue, for this one you won't be disappointed.

 

[Revvy]

A hop bag is really the way to go... It really can be a ***** to try to rack with constant clogging of the autoshipon... that's where you risk oxidation.

you're making things too hard on yourself doing it any other way. Just get a coffee cup, fill it with star san, drop the hop bag in to soak for a minute, then open the bag, fold it over the lip of the cup... add your hops and maybe a few glass marbles to weight the bag down a bit. Tie a knot in the bag and drop that in the fermenter.... Bob's your uncle.

Also I leave the bag in for a week, I've left hops in for a couple weeks and never got the supossed "grassy" ness so many worry about.... People dry hop in kegs, and leave the hops in the keg for much longer than7 days of dryhopping.... I think anything less is too soon....I may do it because I want to get a beer in the keg... but not from fear. My preference is to go a full week of DH-ing. I think you get more of the essence into the beer, that just a few days... we're talking oils in a cool enviroment they're going to take some time to penetrate the beer.

 

[Morrey]

The way you add hops (in a bag or no bag) is a personal choice and I choose the bag style since I like clean beer. I started using SS mesh hop strainers from Arbor Fab and those strainers are easy to spray with starsan.

Regardless, you mentioned timing of dry hop additions that is worthy of a discussion. Of course most dry hops happen well after fermentation in the fermenter, or in my case, dry hop in my serving keg. But dry hopping during active fermentation is becoming a popular hopping technique. "Biotransformation" is said to allow hop oils to be infused into the beer as a function of the activity of yeast during active fermentation. I use this technique in the last phase of active fermentation when I may have 20% or so of my gravity points left to go. If I expected my 1.055 OG beer to finish at perhaps 1.010, I would probably add the hops when I was at 1.020 or around that range.

Just wanted to give you options...there is a good amount of material online about biotransformation. FWIW I do this for New England IPA's where the results are desirable.

 

[mongoose33]

Hi!!!
CO2 is heavier than air, it makes a layer over your beer, if you open and close your fermenter quickly you don´t need to worry about oxidation.
I have used hop bags for dry hopping, I see two problems doing that. First you need to use much more hop to get the same aroma/flavor, second is the chance of contamination is bigger, the bag is difficult to clean.
So, I put all my hop through the airlock hole. let it sit for one week at 20 C.(68F). then more 3 days at 3C(37F). it should clean you beer.

This actually turns out not to be the case....CO2 doesn't form a blanket over the beer; it mixes with whatever air is in the fermenter.

I suspect this idea comes from watching dry ice sublimate; the gas, as it is produced by the dry ice, moves to lower levels. But this is due to it being very cold, similarly to how cold air comes down off mountains into valleys at night.

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Thanks guys! Looks like a hop bag is the way to go. Thought of another question, how many ounces should I dry hop for a 5 gallon batch? I don't want an absolute hop bomb, just something moderate. My boil had 2 oz for 60 min, 1 oz for 20 and 1 oz for 2. And 65 IBU.

 

[applescrap]

A hop bag is really the way to go... It really can be a ***** to try to rack with constant clogging of the autoshipon... that's where you risk oxidation.

you're making things too hard on yourself doing it any other way. Just get a coffee cup, fill it with star san, drop the hop bag in to soak for a minute, then open the bag, fold it over the lip of the cup... add your hops and maybe a few glass marbles to weight the bag down a bit. Tie a knot in the bag and drop that in the fermenter.... Bob's your uncle.

Also I leave the bag in for a week, I've left hops in for a couple weeks and never got the supossed "grassy" ness so many worry about.... People dry hop in kegs, and leave the hops in the keg for much longer than7 days of dryhopping.... I think anything less is too soon....I may do it because I want to get a beer in the keg... but not from fear. My preference is to go a full week of DH-ing. I think you get more of the essence into the beer, that just a few days... we're talking oils in a cool enviroment they're going to take some time to penetrate the beer.

Many believe that 3 days provides the freshest best aroma so I have always done that. Knowing that you are very experienced makes me wonder if this is correct information. I have also heard that dh ing in a bag doesnt give as good of flavor, but yeah it is a real pain in the azz and can clog your keg and siphon. I wrapped my siphon bottom with the hop sack on a julius clone and it worked awesome. But a sack would be even easier. I need to look into this more.

 

[mongoose33]

Many believe that 3 days provides the freshest best aroma so I have always done that. Knowing that you are very experienced makes me wonder if this is correct information. I have also heard that dh ing in a bag doesnt give as good of flavor, but yeah it is a real pain in the azz and can clog your keg and siphon. I wrapped my siphon bottom with the hop sack on a julius clone and it worked awesome. But a sack would be even easier. I need to look into this more.

Here's a brulosophy exbeeriment comparing loose vs. bagged dry hopping. No evidence from this one to suggest a meaningful difference. The usual disclaimers apply.

http://brulosophy.com/2017/07/03/loose-vs-bagged-dry-hops-exbeeriment-results/

Logically it seems that loose hops would more readily give up their flavor and aroma oils to the beer where was less circulation around and through bagged hops would inhibit that.

And yet....one would also expect the higher concentration within the beer inside the hop bag would diffuse outward into the rest of the beer. It just may take a bit longer. In the exbeeriment above, it was 3 days.

A friend of mine uses a screened hop tube to dry hop. Very flavorful--not clear it would matter much if he dry hopped with loose pellets. His concern always is whether that bag, sitting on the bottom amidst the trub. The screened hop tube he uses also sits on the bottom, the hops collect in the bottom of the tube, and it all seems to work.

 

[Revvy]

Many believe that...

I've often found that many often believe things without actually experiencing whatever it is they "believe" for themselves... and that often other people have entire different experiences...

For example "many people believed" for years that if you didn't get the beer off the yeast the day after whatever, it was suddenly going to autolyze and open up a portal to hell or something.... but then other people proved that "what people believed" just might not have been accurate..... that they were leaving their beer for month with no ill affects, and may actually found there beer was better than when they fearfully rushed it off the yeast.

I've said it for years, ask 10 different homebrewers how they do something and get 12 different answers and there all going to be the right answer.

That's why I recommend that people not repeat things as "advice" unless it's based on their own actual experiences and not just something they "heard."

And that they experiment and try things for themselves. THEN share their own experiences... What works for them. Rather than just repeating the "chestnuts" that armchair brewers repeat ad nauseum.

That's why when I answer questions it's based on my own experiences.... and trying various things...not just parroting consensus...or relying on some "expert" to decide what's right... (John Palmer parroted the autolysis myth for years, along with hot side aeration, until he was pushed and said that he just repeated "what many believed....")

And don't just take my word for anything either... try try try and see what YOU prefer.

If 3 days works for you, or anyone fine... but if you haven't tried other days... like ever tried 7, or forgot about the hops and let it go for a couple weeks, or whatever, then how does anyone know for themselves if it's better, worse or no difference... And if we've only ever done 3 (or 7) then ONLY talk about OUR OWN experience, and not muddy the waters by going beyond our own experience and treat it as the ONLY way.... know what I mean?

That's what comes with experience I think, seeing what works for you... pimping your process (like I show in the bottling stickey.)

And I think that's also how we can be more helpful to each other... not by just repeating things that we've "heard" but sharing our own experiences- and often those experiences may actually be contrary to what the current "party line" might be. By showing NERVOUS new brewers who may believe there is ONLY one way to do something, that there are many "our ways" out there, we're actually I think more helpful.

When I'm looking for info, and I do daily....I'm less interested in answers from people that start with "I've head that" or "They Say..." especially when the person is just repeating the "common wisdom" or whatever, and I zero in on answers that say something like... "Well, I did 'such and such' and this is what MY experience was..."




Oh and as to a bag or not...I've never experienced any difference in dryhopping "quality" using or not using a bag.... but it sure is a hellovalot more convenient to rack when the hops are in a bag and not clogging your autosiphon.

 

[ericbw]

I've often found that many often believe things without actually experiencing whatever it is they "believe" for themselves... and that often other people have entire different experiences...

For example "many people believed" for years that if you didn't get the beer off the yeast the day after whatever, it was suddenly going to autolyze and open up a portal to hell or something.... but then other people proved that "what people believed" just might not have been accurate..... that they were leaving their beer for month with no ill affects, and may actually found there beer was better than when they fearfully rushed it off the yeast.

I've said it for years, ask 10 different homebrewers how they do something and get 12 different answers and there all going to be the right answer.

That's why I recommend that people not repeat things as "advice" unless it's based on their own actual experiences and not just something they "heard."

And that they experiment and try things for themselves. THEN share their own experiences... What works for them. Rather than just repeating the "chestnuts" that armchair brewers repeat ad nauseum.

That's why when I answer questions it's based on my own experiences.... and trying various things...not just parroting consensus...or relying on some "expert" to decide what's right... (John Palmer parroted the autolysis myth for years, along with hot side aeration, until he was pushed and said that he just repeated "what many believed....")

And don't just take my word for anything either... try try try and see what YOU prefer.

If 3 days works for you, or anyone fine... but if you haven't tried other days... like ever tried 7, or forgot about the hops and let it go for a couple weeks, or whatever, then how does anyone know for themselves if it's better, worse or no difference... And if we've only ever done 3 (or 7) then ONLY talk about OUR OWN experience, and not muddy the waters by going beyond our own experience and treat it as the ONLY way.... know what I mean?

That's what comes with experience I think, seeing what works for you... pimping your process (like I show in the bottling stickey.)

And I think that's also how we can be more helpful to each other... not by just repeating things that we've "heard" but sharing our own experiences- and often those experiences may actually be contrary to what the current "party line" might be. By showing NERVOUS new brewers who may believe there is ONLY one way to do something, that there are many "our ways" out there, we're actually I think more helpful.

I'm sure Revvy meant this all in a nice way...

By the same token, if you look at many of the experiments out there, they are done one or maybe twice, tested by 6 friends, and then etched in stone. "Brulosophy said that..." is maybe only slightly better than "I've heard that..."

Everyone's gear and environment are different.

Having said all that... I usually hear people say they dry hop for 5-7 days. I've never heard of 2 days.

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Thanks guys! More info than I expected. How much does one typically dry hop for a 5 gallon batch, to get a moderate aroma/flavor? (mine will be a ~7% abv 65 IBU IPA)

 

[triethylborane]

Thanks guys! More info than I expected. How much does one typically dry hop for a 5 gallon batch, to get a moderate aroma/flavor? (mine will be a ~7% abv 65 IBU IPA)

What hop do you plan to use?

 

[pursuit0fhoppiness]

Likely Centennial as that was my aroma hop in the boil.

 

[Revvy]

I'm sure Revvy meant this all in a nice way...

I did, I was saying, pretty much what you said, everyone's gear and environment is different... and it's more helpful to new brewers to share our experiences, than repeat (and believe) "what they say."[/quote]

By the same token, if you look at many of the experiments out there, they are done one or maybe twice, tested by 6 friends, and then etched in stone. "Brulosophy said that..." is maybe only slightly better than "I've heard that..."

yeah, he's the new "Palmer says..." I respect what he's doing, and what he's contributing to the hobby....especially disproving many of these old oft repeated chestnuts....and when trying to figure something new out (like a couple weeks ago trying to figure out the amount of sugar to use to prime in a keg) I look to see what he's done in that regard and I find I get a lot more out of when his conclusion is "it doesn't matter, there's little or no difference between this and that method"...because IMHO that's usually been my experience when a A -vs-B process are vehemently argues about.)

But I still get more insight from people, especially those who I respect's OWN experiences. Especialy when they say they've tried it different ways and that's what they find works for them... But I'm STILL going to test things out for myself.... try different ways before I come to any conclusions and before I use THAT info to answer someone's questions.

 

[Revvy]

Likely Centennial as that was my aroma hop in the boil.

We're having a discussion here about how much hops to DH with...it's about Centennial, but it applies really to any hop....

 

[applescrap]

@revvy ugh, preaching to the choir. Clearly you know nothing about me. I agree with a lot of what you are saying as off putting as it comes off. I know that you encounter the attitude you speak of quite often here on this forum, unfortunately, you found someone as rebellious as yourself in brewing and art to give your sermon to. I dont mind though as I think it is great for all to read and I dont feel it was directed completely at me. I will likely use a hop sack in future, but stick with 3 days as I have tried it both ways (sorry that I gave the impression I hadnt) and think its the way to go. This method falls right in line with what you are saying as common census used to be two weeks.

 

[applescrap]

Thanks guys! More info than I expected. How much does one typically dry hop for a 5 gallon batch, to get a moderate aroma/flavor? (mine will be a ~7% abv 65 IBU IPA)

3 to 6 oz would work.

 

[mongoose33]

This discussion about brulosophy and others' experiences and such is worthy of a new thread; not sure how one would title or begin the discussion, but I may give it a shot.

As far as how large a hop charge, start with 2 or 3 ounces and see how you like it. A friend of mine dry hops with those proportions and his beer is great. You aren't going to go wrong, and if you desire a greater punch from the hops, you can increase it next time. But if you go too high, you can't take the hops out of there. So, try a couple ounces and see how it goes.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

I brew 2 gallon batches and dry hop 1 ounce of pellet hops. Some hops have a stronger aroma than others and if I am making an IPA I'll use Citra because it really reaches up and smacks you in the face. If I am making an Amber ale I like Chinook which is more full rounded and mellow.