Dry hop question

[Eric87]

So right now I’m fermenting a neipa that I brewed last night. No hops added in the boil just a 20 min hop stand of 4oz at flame out. Now the recipe I’m using calls for two dry hop additions. 2oz at two day and another 2 5 days before bottling. My question is can I get away with one addition of all 4oz? I’m trying to avoid o2 exposure. I don’t have any fancy way to stop it.

 

[eric19312]

personally I think that is a good call.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

You will be fine. For my NEIPA, I skip a boil hop addition and use a whirlpool hop addition at flameout, adding a single dry hop addition two days into fermentation. I did install a Co2 port in the fermentor lid to add Co2, even though the lid will be open for under a minute.

 

[Rob2010SS]

What are you fermenting in?

You're good to combine into 1 hop addition. Personally, depending on what you're fermenting vessel is, I would recommend skipping the addition on day 2 and just do 1 bigger addition a couple of days before bottling (I wouldn't do 5 days before bottling, I'd do 2, if it were my batch). Almost all of the oils are extracted after 24 hours so anything after that is diminished returns.

 

[slayer021175666]

Do exactly what you said! Put all 4oz in and do it on day 2 of strong activity. This way, the CO2 coming out will push away any O2 trying to get in while the lid is off and if any O2 does get in, it has plenty of time to get forced out through the airlock anyway. Also, doing it on day 2 means you get some stirring action to agitate the hops.
I even top crop my yeast at the same time I dry hop. This means, even more time with the lid off but, with the CO2 always pushing away the O2, I have never had a problem whatsoever with oxidation.

 

[wepeeler]

The consensus around here, and from most other brewers I talk to about neipas, is to wait until primary fermentation is over before dry hopping. DH during primary was very popular about 5 years ago. Even up until about maybe 2 years ago. I used to do it! The idea is to wait until primary is over and soft crash the yeast out to avoid polyphenol interaction which results in harshness. I know this thread is ridiculously long, but it has a ton of great info of the evolution of the style: New England IPA - "Northeast" style IPA

Here is another great article backed by studies and experimentation: What We Know About Dry Hopping - Scott Janish

Personally, I soft crash to 50 for about 2 days, then dry hop for a max of 48 hours.

 

[RCope]

If you have no "fancy" way to mitigate O2 ingress while dry hopping then you have to make a compromise. I do *exactly* what @wepeeler does, and I stream CO2 in through a separate port while dry hopping. Others have techniques that are probably even better (hop droppers).

So you may sacrifice some aroma and taste by active fermentation blowing off a lot of the volatile compounds you really want in your beer. And as the yeast drops, it will take some more of the good stuff with it. And when dry hopping at ferm temperatures, you risk significant hop creep.

But, all that being said, oxidation is worse! So if I couldn't mitigate oxygen while dry hopping, especially for a NEIPA, I'd do a single late fermentation dry hop...Cheers! Rick

 

[Panderson1]

If you're kegging just pust them in a keg in a hop mesh container (amazon). After reading Scott Janish new IPA i started doing this for all NEIPAs. He suggests it's even better at low temps around 40. So while it's carbing up, you get full extraction after 3 or 4 days. Wonerfull aromas and flavors. Just purge your keg with starsan prior.