Dry hop overkill?

[hlmbrwng]

I just brewed an IPA last night. Going for low-bitterness, heavy dry hop. I guess you could say, NE style IPA. Single hop with Amarillo.

5 gallon recipe, but I can tell already I'm going to end up closer to 4 gallons. That's probably important when considering the amount of dry hopping.

Grain Bill
---
2-row 10 lbs
flaked wheat 1 lb
victory 1 lb
carapils 0.5 lb

Hops (ALL Amarillo)
---
1.25 oz @ 60 min
3 oz @ FO (Actually, I dropped the temperature to 170F before adding the hops, then held there for 20 minutes)
5.75 oz dry hop

Yeast - US-05

I originally planned to dry hop with 3.75 oz, but decided to buy 2 more oz at my LHBS.

Do you think this is overkill? Or is this perfectly fine for this style of beer. I've never tried to get a huge amount flavor and aroma out of a hop before.

 

[Redlantern]

not even close to overkill. I routinely use up to six or seven ounces.

It may have been good to move an ounce over to the steep/whirlpool addition you did, but what you have will be just fine.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I would say fine but maybe broken into 2 stages if your fermenting in a carboy. If you add too much at once a lot of the hops end up clumping and floating above the surface instead of soaking fully in the beer. I normally do 4oz and thats usually pushing it.

 

[Morrey]

This recipe is reminiscent of a beer similar to Three Floyd's Gumball Head using only Amarillo except they are a bit more wheat forward than your recipe.

I'd take a good sample when you are ready for the dry hop addition and see where you stand with that 3 oz addition you added at FO. In a small batch as yours, you may want to think about almost 6 oz more as a dry hop.

May I suggest you look at a Gumball Head clone recipe and look over their hop schedule? They use Amarillo only and produce a world class beer. Keep in mind Amarillo is a super hop and it may be easy to over do it here. YMMV and it may be perfect for you.

 

[hlmbrwng]

I would say fine but maybe broken into 2 stages if your fermenting in a carboy. If you add too much at once a lot of the hops end up clumping and floating above the surface instead of soaking fully in the beer. I normally do 4oz and thats usually pushing it.

Interesting. I didn't consider this. Is this the main reason for multiple dry hops in a carboy? Otherwise, is there really any reason to split up the hops?

 

[hlmbrwng]

May I suggest you look at a Gumball Head clone recipe and look over their hop schedule? They use Amarillo only and produce a world class beer. Keep in mind Amarillo is a super hop and it may be easy to over do it here. YMMV and it may be perfect for you.

Thank you. I will take a look at this recipe.

I really like IPAs that have a slight bread flavor. I'm hoping that the victory will contribute a little bit of this flavor.

 

[Morrey]

Thank you. I will take a look at this recipe.

I really like IPAs that have a slight bread flavor. I'm hoping that the victory will contribute a little bit of this flavor.

Great Fermentations has a clone recipe on their site called Amarillo Face complete with the hop schedule. I like the idea of the Victory malt in your recipe. AIH has a clone too.

I typically dry hop in a keg so your method may vary. If I am dry hopping with 3 oz, I'll makes 3 separate one ounce muslin bags and tie them off with dental floss. Once the hops swell in the bags, I want max exposure they can have max contact with the liquids. With a huge bag of hops, the center of the bag may not get the contact with the beer I want. Not all brewers contain hops in a bag so evaluate the method you normally use.

You may enjoy a big juicy New England styled IPA. They are awesome!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Interesting. I didn't consider this. Is this the main reason for multiple dry hops in a carboy? Otherwise, is there really any reason to split up the hops?

I wouldn't say it's the main reason but it does help make sure your getting good extraction from the hops you put in there. If they're floating above the surface half the time its sort of a waste. If your using a bucket or something wide I don't see a reason to split them up. Some people might have some personal take on multiple stage dry hopping but I think your getting down to preference at that point.

 

[hlmbrwng]

(I edited my original post, because I think it may not have been clear that I was planning to dry hop with 5.75 oz of Amarillo hops)

Thinking more about this....

I've been thinking a lot about the sulfate to chloride ratio, which in my beer is about 3:1 (164:51).
I'm thinking that the beer is going to have a dryness to it. Since the chloride is only at about 50, would it make sense to scale back the dry hop to about 4 oz, instead of the proposed 5.75 oz? I'm wondering if it would be overkill to use almost 6 oz, simply because the beer might end up on the drier side. In my head, an extremely "juicy" IPA probably has a decent amount of chloride for the malty sweetness. Maybe not more than sulfate, but at least a healthy amount.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Adding sulfate doesn't mean you can use less hops. It adds a certain dry bitterness that IMO isn't pleasant at all. 4oz is a good dry hop, as is 5.75, but if it's enough is really up to you. I believe in a point of diminishing returns but that's just me.