Cattyness from Dry Hopping

[Hopper5000]

Just wondering everyone's opinion on if you can pull that catty, diesel fuel, onion thing out of those dank American hops like Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, etc, from dry hopping? I have been under the impression that it's not an issue when dry hopping but I was just wondering if anyone else had a different experience.

 

[Muchacho]

I have gotten the cat pee / litter box thing from dryhopping with large amounts of citra (2-3 oz / 5 G batch). Fortunately, the cattyness faded after 2-3 weeks and after a month I could no longer pick it up. The strong tropical aroma also faded with time, but aroma is still there and very pleasant.
Next time, I plan on not exceeding 1.5 oz / batch of citra in the dry hop.

 

[Hopper5000]

Interesting, did you put any Citra in the boil?

 

[Calichusetts]

I have gotten the cat pee / litter box thing from dryhopping with large amounts of citra (2-3 oz / 5 G batch). Fortunately, the cattyness faded after 2-3 weeks and after a month I could no longer pick it up. The strong tropical aroma also faded with time, but aroma is still there and very pleasant.
Next time, I plan on not exceeding 1.5 oz / batch of citra in the dry hop.

I dont think its from the amount of the dry hop...to put it in perspective I dry hop 2 oz in my 1 gallon batches and have never gotten that from citra or any hop.

For me, its a minumum of 1 oz PER GALLON for good results with dry hopping. But I'm a huge hop head. I find the higher you go, the longer it lasts. That seems like a "duh" comment but many on here complain that there hop aroma fades quickly. I once had a hoppy barleywine that took nearly 3 months to even detect the malt profile due to the hoppiness

 

[Muchacho]

Interesting, did you put any Citra in the boil?

Nope. I bittered with columbus and hit it with crystal at 5 minutes.

 

[Hopper5000]

hm, interesting. I like the flavors of the stronger American hops but I am trying to figure out how to avoid the off flavors as I mentioned previously

 

[kcmobrewer]

I did a Citra single hop imperial IPA that turned out fantastic. Probably used about 6oz total in the boil and 2 in the dry hopping. Never noticed any cattyness from it. Same with the others you mentioned, I've dry hopped with them all and never noticed anything. Maybe my perception threshold is high though, idk.

 

[gwapogorilla]

Never gotten a cat piss flavor from the hops you mentioned. But Simcoe on the other hand...YUCK!!! I did an IPA using Amarillo and Simcoe when I first started brewing...total litter basket!!! I can't go around either one of those hops since.

 

[ja09]

Never gotten a cat piss flavor from the hops you mentioned. But Simcoe on the other hand...YUCK!!! I did an IPA using Amarillo and Simcoe when I first started brewing...total litter basket!!! I can't go around either one of those hops since.

Really!? If that's the case, don't blame the Amarillo! Maybe give it another chance. Maris Otter/Amarillo smash is an absolutely delicious beer and really shows what the hop can do. Simcoe may not be for everyone, and I'm not much of a fan overly heavy Simcoe recipes for probably the same reasons you mentioned.

To the OP, if you don't want catty or grassy, make sure you're using quality hops that are fresh, or properly frozen. Also don't dry hop for more than 10 days if you don't want grassy. If you're overly sensitive to cat piss, use a clean bittering hop like magnum or hop extract like used in Heady Topper. Then use whichever flavor & aroma hops you'd like in the last 20 or so minutes.

Edit: Oh, and I've never gotten cat piss from citra, but you can't call that hop dank. It's tropical fruit all the way and tastes like fresh mangos when used properly IMO.

 

[Hopper5000]

For the hops that can impart the dank flavor I always throw them in the boil in the last 15min or so to prevent too much extraction of those harsher flavors. I get good quality hops and there sealed up in my freezer in zip lock bags although I haven't bit the bullet on a vacuum sealer yet. I just made an IPA with Chinook bittering, centennial, willamette, and citra. Citra went in at 10 and 0min with some in the dry hop as well. I can get a bit of that diesel fuel oniony thing going on in it so I am just trying to figure out why it's there. It's pretty young so it might fade with a little time but we shall see. I usually dry hop for about 12 days but I thought generally one was safe on the grassy notes unless you go past 14 days. I am not really all that sensitive to that grassy not personally.