Dry hopping saved my beer

[stosh]

I recently brewed an IPA with a 1oz bittering addition of magum at 60 and the rest were whirlpool additions. I would have expected flavor and aroma but this beer had nothing, zilch, nada. I was not happy to say the least.

I decided I would try dry hopping it just to see what the outcome would be since, driven by disappointment, I was compelled to dump it. I cleaned and sanitized a stainless steel hose clamp, fishing line, and muslin bag. I put 2oz of Amarillo into the bag, tied a knot in the bag, tied the fishing line around the bag and clamped the fishing line to the PRV on the underside of the bail suspending the hops in the beer just off the bottom of the keg. After a few days this turned into a completely different beer. It ended up being one of the best IPAs I've done as critiqued by family and neighbors. One of the things I was concerned about was leaving the hops in too long and getting some off flavors. I was also concerned about O2 exposure since I had the bail off for a few minutes to get the muslin bag secured to the PRV. This beer never took on an oxidated look either.

Looking back at my notes (I take very detailed notes along the brew day and afterwards) I didn't see any glaring missteps along the way that would have exposed the wort/beer to oxygen. I did use many of the LODO techniques, among others, to lower/eliminate O2 on the hot and cold sides. I used the same techniques I've used when brewing other IPAs that have come out good.

So my question is, can we get the aroma and flavor we need as brewers from dry hopping only? I haven't done any experimental brews on my system to answer this but I thought I'd throw it out to you all for some feedback. I know many of you have forgotten more about brewing than I currently know so I welcome all input.

Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

I do not believe one can get the depth of character obtained with kettle hops through dry hopping alone...

Cheers!

 

[Toto's]

I am no expert in water but i know that some elements in your water if they are off they can substantially affect the hop flavor.

 

[Shalenkur]

I just did an experiment like this when I kegged a pale ale. In the keg i put two stainless "tea balls" with half an ounce of hops in each and poured a quart of hot water/priming sugar on top and steeped it for a minute before filling.

 

[day_trippr]

And...?

Seems like that's leaving the audience hanging

Cheers!

 

[Shalenkur]

Waiting for it to prime LOL. I will let y'all know!

 

[Vale71]

So my question is, can we get the aroma and flavor we need as brewers from dry hopping only?

If you mean "Can we do just a single bittering addition in the kettle and then only do dry hopping for aroma and flavor" then my answer is "Most definitely". Some of my best pale ales only have a bittering addition and then post-fermentation dry-hopping for flavor and aroma.

 

[Miraculix]

I have read a lot about this andb where people actually went through the hustle of a/b comparison, I always read that dry hopping alone provides the superior flavour and aroma. The late additions where mostly described as "somehow muddy". I am carbonating a 60min boil addition and 2 day dry hop only lager at the moment, but the first sample was really promising. I think late additions are highly overrated if not unnecessary, if that the beer also gets dry hopped of course.

 

[jrgtr42]

So what was the whirlpool addition of the hops?
What was your full recipe|?
You're saying you had no hop character beforehand? I'm wondering if there wsa something going on that may have caused this, or at least have them muted for a while, maybe the amarillo brought it out somehow.
Overall, though, having the lid open for a few minutes isn't going to cause too much issues in the fermenting beer - unless you have a fan blowing right in there (ask me how I know that...) heck, there are even homebrewers that do open ferments with no off-results.

 

[stosh]

Here's the recipe. I suppose it wasn't a true whirlpool as I got the wort moving, added the hops, and let it sit for 30 minutes.

batch: 4.5 gal
yeast: OYL011
mashed for 60 min at 151
60 minute boil

golden promise 5.75
munich 1.00
white wheat 1.00
C40 1.00
honey malt 0.75
carapils 0.75

magnum 1oz @ 60
amarillo 6oz @ 180
centennial 2oz @180
chinook 1oz @180

Then the 2oz of dry hop a week after it was carbed up

I just did an experiment like this when I kegged a pale ale. In the keg i put two stainless "tea balls" with half an ounce of hops in each and poured a quart of hot water/priming sugar on top and steeped it for a minute before filling.

When will you have results?

 

[Shalenkur]

Ok tapped the keg. It's hard to quantify, I wish I had a keg without the hop tea as a control, but the beer tastes great! Will do this again, might just use hop extract to bitter in boil and "hop tea"/dry hop in keg. Will make for a clean boil kettle if anything LOL!