Dry Hopping - 3 Day vs 5 Day vs 7Day

[BeginnerBebeBrewer]

Hi Everyone,

I have a El Dorado SMASH beer that is ready to be dry hopped however, I was hoping to get advice on the time schedules for dry hopping and whether there is a significant difference between leaving the dry hop for 3, 5 or 7 days?

Any advice would be great.

Thank you.

 

[MGamber]

The idea is to get the oil into the solution so it depends on how you do it. I almost always dry hop for 5 days but if you agitate the beer regularly you can get away with 3 days. 7 is probably overkill. It won't hurt your beer but why bother when you can be drinking your beer two days earlier?

 

[anotherbeerplease]

I would also like to learn more about dry hop times vs. taste and longevity.

From what I have read, dry hop duration doesn't matter much after about 48hrs... the only issue MIGHT be the dry hop aroma supposedly fades faster for shorter dry hop times.

 

[seatazzz]

For my last several hoppy beers I've dry hopped either the day of or the day after the krausen has dropped. The theory is, the yeast are still working, moving around, and will help dissipate the oils from the hops better into the beer. I've had good results with it, however I HAVE noticed that the first few pours after kegging are not very good; in my last IPA (a Dank), the first few pours were actually a bit vomitous in aftertaste. After everything settled in the bottom of the keg the hop flavors really shine (as long as nobody moves the keg).

 

[thehaze]

I only dry hop for 2-3 days and that is more than enough. I know back in the day 7 days and even 2 weeks was the norm, but it is not neccessary. 2-5 days will be plenty, and I even think 5 days would be too long. Your airlock will begin to burp after adding the hops, so to some extent, some aroma will escape through it.

 

[eetu]

I recently read an article about dry hopping at byo.com. Interestingly, tests said that the hop oils dissolve in to the beer much faster than we tend to believe. At room temperatures it takes usually less than a day. If your beer is done fermenting, there's no reason to wait for more than three days.

The other method that even some professional breweries use is that you put your dry hops in while fermentation is still active and wait 'till it's ready to be packaged. This introduces a minimum amount of oxygen to the beer.

For super hoppy beers, I recommend doing both.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

The other method that even some professional breweries use is that you put your dry hops in while fermentation is still active and wait 'till it's ready to be packaged. This introduces a minimum amount of oxygen to the beer.

This is what I've been doing. Dry hop 2 days into fermentation for 4 days. A few times I've followed that up 4 days in to fermentation for a 2 - 4 day double dry hop.

Experiment and find what works best for you.

 

[MGamber]

For my last several hoppy beers I've dry hopped either the day of or the day after the krausen has dropped. The theory is, the yeast are still working, moving around, and will help dissipate the oils from the hops better into the beer. I've had good results with it, however I HAVE noticed that the first few pours after kegging are not very good; in my last IPA (a Dank), the first few pours were actually a bit vomitous in aftertaste. After everything settled in the bottom of the keg the hop flavors really shine (as long as nobody moves the keg).

I have a couple Clear Beer Draught System dip tube set ups in my serving kegs that eliminate that problem. You can even dump loose hops in the keg (within reason) and drink it the next day without needing ranch dressing between sips.

 

[shortyz]

i always do 5 days, i find 7 can get weird and grassy.