Dry Hopping (kegs of) Bretted Beer: thoughts, opinions, experiences?

[TAK]

I'm finding that I love hoppy sour and wild beers. In general, I love the things Brett can do to change existing flavor compounds, such as hops. Tonight, I racked my first long term mixed fermentation onto a bunch if dry hops. I'll be putting this on tap right away, but maybe bottling some of it to hold onto.

I'm interested in any general thoughts, opinions, or experience on this topic. I'll throw out the quandary that's going through my mind though.

I have a keg of dirty dozen pale ale that I just kegged up. I plan on letting the keg age for at least several months. I think I'd like to dry hop it, and my dilemma is a) do I let it age, then dry hop it just prior to tapping, or b) do I dry hop it sooner, to let it age after dry hopping, knowing that where hopping would typically fade, in this case I'd be allowing the Brett to modify the hop compounds into new flavors. Hmmm?

 

[Oldsock]

There are some fun hop-microbe interactions, but I still prefer to dry hop relatively close to serving (I usually add them and keg condition for 3-4 weeks before serving). I

'll actually be investigating this and doing an NHC presentation. I'm thinking of serving hoppy sours made with three approaches all with the same hops:

1. Mixed-fermentation fully-aged, then dry hopped in the keg a week before serving.

2. Kettle soured, pasteurized with “whirlpool” hops followed by 100% Brett fermentation.

3. Moderately hopped “IPA” fermented with a mixed culture.

Interested to see how the hop characters compare.

 

[m00ps]

definitely do not dry hop if you arent going to be drinking it within a week or two. Complete waste

 

[Oldsock]

definitely do not dry hop if you arent going to be drinking it within a week or two. Complete waste

In that case feel free to send me any Orval or Cantillon Iris you have sitting around... It's not like dry hops are gone in a month or two, and even after that (especially in the presence of Brett) they can have a positive flavor contribution!

 

[TAK]

Sounds like a cool side-by-side experiment, Okdstock.

In that case feel free to send me any Orval or Cantillon Iris you have sitting around... It's not like dry hops are gone in a month or two, and even after that (especially in the presence of Brett) they can have a positive flavor contribution!

I completely agree with this. We don't get a lot of great sours here in NE, although it's getting better. CO is close, of course, so my cellar has a couple cases of Crooked Stave, and thier Progenator is dry hopped, and even the 2014 bottles that I have are amazing. They're hoppy for sure, but it's apparent those flavors are the result of some transformative interactions with the mixed culture.

 

[sweetcell]

definitely do not dry hop if you arent going to be drinking it within a week or two. Complete waste

this is a good rule for clean/sacch-only beers, but brett changes the game. i've got a dry-hopped brett-forward sour that is still showing plenty of hop character after 6 or 7 months in the bottle.

 

[chrilr]

I have dry hopped a few. Galaxy sour, after a year in the bottle, is still fruity and tastes almost like sweet tarts. Amarillo goes good with apricot sour. Wicked weed amorous is amarillo, centennial, citra and mosaic. I tried that combo in a sour and it was delicious.
Dirty dozen primary in a saison grist with sorachi ace, simcoe and centennial was great too.