Dry hop: before or after fermentation is over?

[Nuno Santos]

I am finishing an IPA with dry hop (mosaic). Fermentation is almost over (still bubbling, but very slowly). Shall I wait until fermentation is completely over to dry hop or can I do it before? I have read different opinions on this in the forum and in books. So I am confused about what is best. Any experience on that?

 

[Hang Glider]

Welcome!

Dry Hopping is adding hops for aroma and flavor anytime AFTER fermentation is complete.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

NEIPA you would dry hop during active fermentation otherwise you will wait until after

 

[Moose_MI]

Yes

 

[RM-MN]

I am finishing an IPA with dry hop (mosaic). Fermentation is almost over (still bubbling, but very slowly). Shall I wait until fermentation is completely over to dry hop or can I do it before? I have read different opinions on this in the forum and in books. So I am confused about what is best. Any experience on that?

Is your beer still fermenting or has it completed and the excess CO2 just outgassing? Use your hydrometer to tell. Airlock bubbles are there to entertain the brewer, not to tell the state of the ferment.

 

[Nuno Santos]

Good point. I still did not use the hydrometer, as I wanted to avoid opening as much as possible. The bubbles are still quite frequent (1/minute or so), so I guess there is still some fermentation going on. I only did the beer last Saturday (6 days ago). Anyway, from what I see the best is to wait until fermentation is over. So I will wait one more day, weight (hydrometer) the beer, wait another day, and if sunday the level is the same I will dry hop.

 

[Nuno Santos]

NEIPA you would dry hop during active fermentation otherwise you will wait until after

So this means dry hoping will anyway not affect fermentation, right?

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

You can dry hop during fermentation if that's the question you will get a cloudier beer but yes you can do it without problems

 

[Nuno Santos]

You can dry hop during fermentation if that's the question you will get a cloudier beer but yes you can do it without problems

OK... I don't want a cloudier beer, so I will wait
But do you know why it becomes cloudier?

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

It leaves behind more proteins the yeast are swimming around and keep the hops in suspension and that seems to be the end result