Just sharing my latest dry hop adventure. I will say that I don't brew a lot of DH beers, and the few I've made were OK but not great.
I had a bunch of 2-row and hops on hand and decided to brew 10 gallons of a no-frills American IPA. Bitter with Centennial, dry hop with Centennial and Citra. I knew about hop creep and studied the Scott Janish "short and cool" method. I realize that his method is more conducive to kegging, but I wanted to find out if it would help for bottling.
The brew went fine, I racked into two Brew Buckets, and pitched 2 packets of US-05 into each. Ferm went fine, I did a 3 day D-rest, then crashed to the low-50s. I added pellet hops (free-range, no bags) the last couple days, then bottled. Anticipating some refermentation, I was conservative and only carbed to 2.5 vols.
After 2-1/2 weeks I chilled and tried one. Diacetyl was noticeable--not making it undrinkable, but definitely enough to compete with the flavor/aroma of the hops.
I waited another week and tried another. Slightly less diacetyl, but still noticeable. Had a couple friends try some, and while they liked it, they commented that it seemed "a little British".
I decided to let the beer ride a couple more weeks at room temp. I hate sitting on hop-forward beers too long, as they can quickly lose hop flavor/aroma.
That wait (mostly) did the trick. The next bottles I chilled had only a hint of diacetyl and the hops flavor and aroma moved front and center. I put a bunch of them in the fridge.
I have no idea what happened, other than the remaining yeast in the bottles cleaned up most of the diacetyl.
BTW, I'm glad I only carbed to 2.5, as they are now more like 2 8-3.0 in carbonation. Not overly foamy, but I need to pour slowly to keep the head under 1/2". Next time I'll shoot for maybe 2.0-2.2 vols or so.
I had a bunch of 2-row and hops on hand and decided to brew 10 gallons of a no-frills American IPA. Bitter with Centennial, dry hop with Centennial and Citra. I knew about hop creep and studied the Scott Janish "short and cool" method. I realize that his method is more conducive to kegging, but I wanted to find out if it would help for bottling.
The brew went fine, I racked into two Brew Buckets, and pitched 2 packets of US-05 into each. Ferm went fine, I did a 3 day D-rest, then crashed to the low-50s. I added pellet hops (free-range, no bags) the last couple days, then bottled. Anticipating some refermentation, I was conservative and only carbed to 2.5 vols.
After 2-1/2 weeks I chilled and tried one. Diacetyl was noticeable--not making it undrinkable, but definitely enough to compete with the flavor/aroma of the hops.
I waited another week and tried another. Slightly less diacetyl, but still noticeable. Had a couple friends try some, and while they liked it, they commented that it seemed "a little British".
I decided to let the beer ride a couple more weeks at room temp. I hate sitting on hop-forward beers too long, as they can quickly lose hop flavor/aroma.
That wait (mostly) did the trick. The next bottles I chilled had only a hint of diacetyl and the hops flavor and aroma moved front and center. I put a bunch of them in the fridge.
I have no idea what happened, other than the remaining yeast in the bottles cleaned up most of the diacetyl.
BTW, I'm glad I only carbed to 2.5, as they are now more like 2 8-3.0 in carbonation. Not overly foamy, but I need to pour slowly to keep the head under 1/2". Next time I'll shoot for maybe 2.0-2.2 vols or so.
