Best way to dry hop.

[Vetal]

Looking for some best practices. I typically use a muslin bag weighted with a shot glass to dry hop my beer (I use a standard plastic homebrew bucket as a fermenter). I have read that hops need to be "just spread" over the surface of the beer to get the full benefit of dry hopping. Is that true? What is the standard/ best practice method of dry hopping?

 

[kh54s10]

https://media.giphy.com/media/tFK8urY6XHj2w/giphy.gif


You are going to get tons of different answers.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I stopped dry-hopping altogether. I prefer to whirlpool instead. Not because it's better because of the (blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank, blah, blah), but just because I'm lazy.

When I used to dryhop, I did it just like you describe.

 

[cubalz]

I just open the fermenter and dump in however much the recipe calls for. I filter the hop trub out when I transfer to the keg. This method has always yielded me excellent results. Is it the best way? No clue but my pale ales are always damn good.

 

[Brooothru]

I stopped dry-hopping altogether. I prefer to whirlpool instead. Not because it's better because of the (blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank, blah, blah), but just because I'm lazy.

When I used to dryhop, I did it just like you describe.

Funny. I recently concluded to start doing the same thing. I've been planning my next ten or 12 brew sessions for when the weather gets a bit warmer. New recipes are getting formulated and old reliable ones are getting modified to maximize hop bursting and late additions as well as hop stand/whirlpool, while leaving out dry hop additions. I figured I'd give it one season without DH to see if it adds or detracts significantly enough to justify the added time and effort. Lots of lagers and traditional ales "on deck" (clear, no NEIPAs) so anything to decrease haze but not adversely affect stability, flavor and self life, is on the table.

I figure it can't be much different (finished product) than what I used to brew before I started dry hopping in earnest 6 or 7 years ago. I've tried all manner and method of getting hops into the beer (FWH, full boil, partial boil, late addition, steep/WP, and dry, as well as hop teas, hop oils, hop hash and cryo hops). Each have their own pluses and minuses. Hop teas and DH are the hardest to incorporate into cold side LoDO brewing. What's been your experience since 'dry hopping out', and do you have any words of wisdom?

Brooo Brother

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Funny. I recently concluded to start doing the same thing. I've been planning my next ten or 12 brew sessions for when the weather gets a bit warmer. New recipes are getting formulated and old reliable ones are getting modified to maximize hop bursting and late additions as well as hop stand/whirlpool, while leaving out dry hop additions. I figured I'd give it one season without DH to see if it adds or detracts significantly enough to justify the added time and effort. Lots of lagers and traditional ales "on deck" (clear, no NEIPAs) so anything to decrease haze but not adversely affect stability, flavor and self life, is on the table.

I figure it can't be much different (finished product) than what I used to brew before I started dry hopping in earnest 6 or 7 years ago. I've tried all manner and method of getting hops into the beer (FWH, full boil, partial boil, late addition, steep/WP, and dry, as well as hop teas, hop oils, hop hash and cryo hops). Each have their own pluses and minuses. Hop teas and DH are the hardest to incorporate into cold side LoDO brewing. What's been your experience since 'dry hopping out', and do you have any words of wisdom?

Brooo Brother

It's probably a blessing that my beer pallet is not as refined as some (or as some think it is). If I taste a good beer I'm all like "mmmm, that's good. I like it". If I taste beer that's not that good I'm all like "that's not very good. May I have more of that last one?"

That said, I don't notice a difference between a dry hop and a whirlpool addition. The lack of ability to differentiate the two is motive enough to keep on whirlpooling.

 

[day_trippr]

"That's unpossible!"

 

[Vale71]

Looking for some best practices. I typically use a muslin bag weighted with a shot glass to dry hop my beer (I use a standard plastic homebrew bucket as a fermenter). I have read that hops need to be "just spread" over the surface of the beer to get the full benefit of dry hopping. Is that true? What is the standard/ best practice method of dry hopping?

Anything that is "spread" over the surface of the beer will simply get oxidized, especially with an open fermentation vessel like yours. What you actually need for maximum extraction is to have hop material (assuming hop pellets, obviously) thoroughly mixed with the beer, i.e. loose, but then of course you will have the problem of separating it from the beer to avoid drinking hop material which doesn't taste as good as the hop oils themselves. Even better are recirculating systems like cratf breweries use but those are beyond the reach of any but the most advanced and motivated homebrewers.

 

[sleev-les]

I'm using a conical with a dump port so I just drop the hops in and will let them settle over time. Depending on when, like this hazy I'm doing now I put my first addition mid fermentation so the krausen is thick, keeping oxidation chances low, plus there is plenty of co2 exhausting still. By the time I add the second addition, I'll dump the first with trub to make room then drop the second in the same way, switch out my blow off tube to my gas manifold and add CO2 to about 3psi to minimize oxidation risk. for the last few days of hops. Then control any odd pickup with a racking arm.

Just probably one of many ways to skin the cat

 

[2005STi]

Just toss them in loose. Any more in depth and you're overdoing it. I'm sure many people will advocate the muslin bag but I don't feel comfortable exposing my post ferment beer to something that cannot be positively sanitized. I guess you can boil the muslin bag for a minute or two prior but then you need to add the hops to the bag while maintaining sanitation, and then into the fermenter. It's way too much work and risk for barely any reward.

All you're doing is keeping a bit of hop particles back and maybe lessening the effectiveness of the dry hop.

 

[Brooothru]

It's probably a blessing that my beer pallet is not as refined as some (or as some think it is). If I taste a good beer I'm all like "mmmm, that's good. I like it". If I taste beer that's not that good I'm all like "that's not very good. May I have more of that last one?"

That said, I don't notice a difference between a dry hop and a whirlpool addition. The lack of ability to differentiate the two is motive enough to keep on whirlpooling.

I agree. However, with DH happening usually after fermentation is complete (or nearly so), most volatiles remain in the beer and weren't evaporated off by either the boil, steep or fermentation, it stands to reason that flavor and aroma would last longer and be more pronounced with DH.

By doing a majority of hopping late and none in DH my concern is that the beers will be too hoppy when young and not hoppy enough after a month or so in the kegerator. So I guess it's a question of balance and endurance.

My hope is that it won't make a difference in lagers or pales which are my targeted brews this season. IPA's , especially NEIPAs, are an entirely different discussion.

Brooo Brother

 

[daveoshomebrews]

I've used muslin bags and just thrown them in. Recently, I like just throwing them in. I then use a filter like the one below from conical to keg to remove hop matter. When doing heavily hopped beer, I swap out the 100 micron mesh with just putting a muslin bag in the filter. Works well so far with NEIPAs to avoid to much filtering.

https://www.amazon.com/DERNORD-1-5-...keywords=dernord+filter&qid=1584054684&sr=8-2

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I stopped dry-hopping altogether. I prefer to whirlpool instead. Not because it's better because of the (blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank, blah, blah), but just because I'm lazy.

Funny. I have seen a handful of people that said they stopped/limited hops in the kettle and just dry hop. I recently saw a recipe (on the AHA site?) that had 1 oz of Citra in the kettle, and 6 oz of Citra as a dry hop.

I dry hop loose pellets. Usually around 2 oz for a Pale Ale, 4 oz for an IPA and 6 oz for a NEIPA.

I had a recent NEIPA with 6 oz of dry hops (split into 2 additions). I jacked the temp up to 72F to let it finish fermentation. The second addition of hops just sat on the top for several days. I chilled it down to 60F, and in 12 hours all the hops had dropped out. Since I got a fermentation chamber about a year ago, I typically cold crash my dry hopped beers.

Scott Janish's "The New IPA" book and his blog has a ton of interesting info. He presented some info about soft crashing (55F?), letting the yeast drop, and then dry hopping for a short time at cool temps. It sounds interesting, though part of me wonders how much of that is influenced by wanted to harvest yeast at a commercial scale before dry hopping. Here is the article, but a recommended temp does not jump out at me: http://scottjanish.com/a-case-for-short-and-cool-dry-hopping/

I have read people say they add all their dry hops during fermentation to reduce oxygen issues. Some people say you need to dry hop for a few days at the end to get the best flavor. For a Pale Ale or IPA I tend to dry hop after fermentation is complete and about 2 days before I want to cold crash. I have made a few decent NEIPAs with splitting the dry hop into 2 additions around day 3 and around day 11.

 

[day_trippr]

I tried the soft-crash thing. Once. It puts the yeast to sleep fine, but then there's nothing to suspend the hops so they go straight to the bottom and stay planted there. I could literally see whole pellets on the carboy bottoms - softened, but just laying there.
No bueno, won't be doing that again.

With a conical I could see dropping and removing the yeast - and then using CO2 to rouse the pellets often enough to maximize extract. In a carboy, the yeast ain't going nowhere and rousing would simply close a pointless loop...

Cheers!

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I stopped dry-hopping altogether. I prefer to whirlpool instead. Not because it's better because of the (blah, blah, blah, fill in the blank, blah, blah), but just because I'm lazy.

When I used to dryhop, I did it just like you describe.

When a recipe calls for a dry hop, I've been doing a hopstand instead. I chill down to ~175 degrees (it takes less than a minute with the immersion chiller), put in the hops, spin them around with my mash paddle, then walk away. I typically just do 15-20 minutes, and stir once or twice in the meantime.

My main motivation is that I ferment in kegs, and I hook up a spunding valve 3-4 days after pitching yeast. Logistically, it's just not easy to dry hop with that setup.

When I used to ferment in buckets, I would just open the lid, drop in the hops, and close the lid.

 

[Taiters]

I prefer to put them straight into the beer. It's more effective and a lot easier than dealing with bags. Plus you don't have the risk of infection from the bag. The only issue I have ran into with heavily dry hopped beers are some of that matter making it's way into the keg and clogging up the poppet valve. I have thought about getting one of these:

https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php#autosiphon

 

[danielthemaniel]

I have a simple yet effective enough method. I add my dry hops loose into the fermenter around day 2 or 3 of fermentation. After 4ish days I'll cold crash for about 3 days and then keg. You get a beer clear of hop matter with good extraction without much labor.

 

[fendersrule]

Throw em in lose. When siphoning out, tie a muslin bag around end of siphon.

 

[day_trippr]

Yup. Loose can't be beat for utilization vs time.
I use paint strainer bags cut up to useful size squares with an SS washer inside to keep the mesh from collapsing...

Cheers!