I typically brew American IPAs, reasonably hoppy, but always looking to get more hop aroma. The hop aroma is very inconsistent for me, so recently I tried loose dry hopping with fairly new galaxy hops from Yakima Valley In a couple of different batches. Both batches came out with a slightly harsh bitterness and not a good aroma. My best guess is a phenol off flavor and smell. Possible issues I assume are infection or just a harshness from the dry hopping. The hops seemed to settle out fine during cold crash before kegging, but neither batch cleared up fully, even with gelatin fining. I sanitized everything fully and practice good sanitation steps. The loose dry hops came from different bags each time, and I have used the 1lb bags of galaxy that I got in other batches with no issue. Has anyone experienced issues like this with loose dry hopping?
Dry hop loose producing off flavor
- Thread starter Spivey24
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doogie
Well-Known Member
Galaxy is known to cause issues in the dry hop, you need to go light on it. I've gotten much better aroma lately (mostly in NEIPAs) by cold crashing before dry hopping and doing everything possible to eliminate oxygen exposure after fermentation is done. I know it's huge, but check out the NEIPA thread. In there are discussions on both Galaxy issues and how to get great aroma have been discussed at length.
Good Luck
Good Luck
