Best way to dry hop small batch

[Alf34]

Hello

I have been brewing small batches ( 1-1.5 gallons) for a few years now and I could not be happier. This past year I have been brewing tones of American IPAS.

My usual process is to dry hop after 3 days, when I am around 5 points away from the expected final gravity. I use a bag and some marbles to weight it down. The bag initially sinks completly and then partially rises to the top. Most of the bag is still submerged though. I am pretty confident about the process not introducing too much oxygen since the yeast is still somewhat active, and it takes less than 30 secs. I actually use the whole of the bong to drop the bag, so small opening also.

After reading that yeast cells can actually absorb those hop oils and then fall to the bottom, I have been wondering about the diference between dry hopping at the of fermentation like I do, or after fermentation. Any of you has tried and seen big differences in flavour or aroma?

The magnet method is not possible since the fermenter I use is too small, small headspace also. The other method I thought about would be to buy a 10 liter pressure Fermenter, like the one from Keg King, that way I could start fermenting using a blow off, wait until fermentation finishes, open the lid, throw in the hops, close, and purge the headspace a few times. Then I could apply some pressure to also trap those hop volatiles.
The only drawback I see is that the headspace would be pretty large, around 50-60% of the fermenter's total volume, and I dont know how effective those purges would be after opening the lid postfermentation.

The other option I thought about would be to purge an empty keg with some hops inside, and then do a closed transfer. I currently purge my kegs by pushing out star san with Co2, which I know is way more effective and uses less C02 compared to purging a keg with C02. That would end up introducing more oxygen into the final beer, so not sure it's worth it.

Thanks for your answers!

 

[Jag75]

I prefer to dry hop 3-5 days before I keg. I run co2 into my fv as I open the top just enough to add the dry hops. Drop the temp to 50 , then keg in 3-5 days

 

[InspectorJon]

I am a heathen. I have a glass fermentor with a small opening. I ferment until completion. At 5 or 6 days before bottling I crash to 45F, sometime a bit lower and let it sit for a day to clear. I let it warm up to 50-60F and open the lid, quickly drop dry-hops in commando and close quickly. My dry-hops have been in the freezer in a vacuum sealed bag. I pulverize them in that bag with a meat mallet just before dry-hopping so they do not sink. I know this process allows some O2 in but I don't think it is much. I feel like the small opening minimizes O2 diffusion into the fermentor. Other than the brief opening to drop the hops, the fermentor is connected to a CO2 filled Mylar balloon so no O2 suck back during cold crashing. After a day or 2 of dry hopping I crash to 32 and the hops drop to the bottom. I bottle directly from the fermentor leaving 1/8 inch headroom in the bottle. I have dosed each bottle individually with priming sugar of syrup. My hoppy IPAs seem to stay fresh for a couple months. They generally don't last longer than that. I never get that tell tale darkening/browning in the hazy ones. It's not the best method but it keeps me satisfied with minimal investment in equipment. I think the process would be tha same regardless of the size of your fermentor.

 

[refect]

I am a firm believer that hops interact with yeast and that yeast can bind to hop oils/compounds and take them with them as they drop out. My reasoning is that many of my older IPAs were dry hopped with yeast still in suspension. Those beers came out very delicious and hop forward for the first week or 2, but as the beers cleared up, the hop flavor diminished drastically.

I now soft crash to about 55 F for a few days to drop as much of the yeast out and then dry hop. Ever since I started doing this, my IPAs have been staying very hoppy and flavorful much much longer. One of my last IPAs still had a very nice hop aroma and flavor after 2 months in the keg. Prior to this technique, I was lucky to get a month before the hop flavor/aroma fell off drastically.