Dry hopping

[ozziej]

What's the shortest amount of time worth to dry hop? I have a few (4 days) before I want to bottle and was thinking of adding a few pellets to take it up a notch.... Will I get a noticeable hop impact for such a short period of time?

 

[duboman]

A few pellets? Not gonna do anything noticeable regardless of how many days, a few ounces, definitely noticeable in 4 days

 

[ozziej]

yeah, have about 1/2 oz...

 

[JustusLiebig]

It'll make a difference. Is it worth it? That depends on if you're the type of guy who loves buying and throwing hops at every step in making beer or the type that is pinching others hop sacks you're so tight. You'll probably get different aromas in varying quantities that you won't be able to discern much. Good luck.

 

[Calichusetts]

There are some experiments that say 3-6 hours is more than enough to affect the beer:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2012-1104.ch013

 

[Yooper]

A typical dryhop for me is an ounce or two for 3-5 days before packaging. It works out great!

 

[Xpertskir]

I never dry hop for less than 10, and no more than 14. typically 3 oz at the minimum.

I see no reaosn why not to add the pellets for a few days, what does concern me is this statement

"I have a few (4 days) before I want to bottle"

Beer is ready, when its ready...not when you want it to be ready. Obviously a certain level of planning is important because life can get in the way of beer chores, but rushing beer will never do it any favors.

 

[JustusLiebig]

There are some experiments that say 3-6 hours is more than enough to affect the beer:

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2012-1104.ch013

I like the idea how it doesn't matter what form of hop(pellet or whole) you use as aroma extraction occurs easily.
This paper also mentions that different aromas are extracted at different rates, so as time goes on there are differences that will be imparted on the beer. Hydrocarbon terpenes extract quickly peeking at 2 to 3 hours. While terpene alcohols extract slower.
If the OP likes their hydrocarbon terpenes maybe dry hopping the night before or day of may actually be more beneficial. Maybe even pitch what you've got now and pitch more later to get a fuller bouquet.
Alright, who's got 10 gallons of IPA they want to do a hydrocarbon terpene vs. terpene alcohol extraction experiment with?

 

[inhousebrew]

What the hell, drop em in.

 

[Calichusetts]

I like the idea how it doesn't matter what form of hop(pellet or whole) you use as aroma extraction occurs easily.
This paper also mentions that different aromas are extracted at different rates, so as time goes on there are differences that will be imparted on the beer. Hydrocarbon terpenes extract quickly peeking at 2 to 3 hours. While terpene alcohols extract slower.
If the OP likes their hydrocarbon terpenes maybe dry hopping the night before or day of may actually be more beneficial. Maybe even pitch what you've got now and pitch more later to get a fuller bouquet.
Alright, who's got 10 gallons of IPA they want to do a hydrocarbon terpene vs. terpene alcohol extraction experiment with?

There is another less "scientific" experiment out there where some brewers did several experiments and simply did a taste test. They also came to the conclusion that after 6 hours to a day, there wasn't any major difference. I still do a week though. Can't find the link right now

 

[Beer-lord]

Interesting read here: http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-aroma-oil-faster-dry-hopsters-holy.html
Most notable for me was:
* A 10 member sensory panel evaluated the intensity of dry hop aroma from Cascade pellets and whole cones and concluded that the pellets provided more intense aroma.

* Beer samples dry hopped for one day had significantly more aroma than beer dry hopped for 7 days.

 

[Tantalus]

What the hell, drop em in.

Absolutely agree.

That's not enough time to impart any off-flavors (vegetal) and there's substantial evidence that you could get some good hop aroma out of it. Why not?

 

[Calichusetts]

Interesting read here: http://inhoppursuit.blogspot.com/2012/02/more-aroma-oil-faster-dry-hopsters-holy.html
Most notable for me was:
* A 10 member sensory panel evaluated the intensity of dry hop aroma from Cascade pellets and whole cones and concluded that the pellets provided more intense aroma.

* Beer samples dry hopped for one day had significantly more aroma than beer dry hopped for 7 days.

Nice...that was the other study I was talking about

 

[RM-MN]

If you use pellet hops and don't leave them for sufficient time they will not have settled out. Not a problem, they might not all settle out in a week anyway so you use a filter on the inlet of your racking cane or autosiphon. I wrap a paint strainer bag around my autosiphon and hold it in place with a rubber band. It works much better than depending on the hop pieces settling.

 

[JustusLiebig]

I worry about sanitizing the rubber band enough with sanitizer. Seems to me they are a bit porous to sit right in your beer as your siphoning beer around/by it. Do you boil it first?

 

[RM-MN]

I worry about sanitizing the rubber band enough with sanitizer. Seems to me they are a bit porous to sit right in your beer as your siphoning beer around/by it. Do you boil it first?

I simply dipped the rubber band in a Starsan solution but the bag I used was so large that the rubber band was above the beer level anyway. It happened to be the bag I had on hand so it wasn't really planned that way but I wanted a large filter area so the bag wouldn't plug before I was done siphoning.