Dry Hopping

[Abrewba]

What are the negatives to dry hopping at the end of primary fermentation?

If using pellet hops, do suggest using a muslin bag or just dropping them in?

 

[Jman_01]

Viagra


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[Gnomebrewer]

It gives a very strong hop aroma - not all beers want it.
The hop aroma is definitely best when young so dry hopped beers don't always (not a fixed rule) age as well as other beers.
Some hops can give a grassy taste from dry hopping.
You lose some beer (soaked up by the hops).
They tend to clog bottling wands if dumped straight in.

You did only ask for the negatives, but I want to balance this by saying that dry hopping is IMO probably THE best and easist way for new brewers to get a phenomenal tasting beer. Hop aroma can cover a lot of brewing sins.....

I just chuck them in. Too lazy to wash hop socks. I don't know what a muslin viagra is?

 

[mrgrimm101]

I've always just tossed them in and let them go to work. The pellets will break apart and SHOULD settle (mine have pretty much always stayed toward the top). However, if you're not careful when you transfer over to bottle, you may still have some hop material in the beer that ends up in bottles. It's happened to me, and while it's not harmful, it can effect the look of the beer.

A muslin bag or something like this stainless steel hop steeper could help the particles from breaking up and spreading into all the beer. However, you'd have to fish it out eventually and it's typically used for whole hops rather than pellets.

http://monsterbrew.com/3InchStainlessSteelHopSteeper.cfm?gclid=CNug57DJ_L8CFQWnaQodEn8AQQ

It is also said that leaving them in for too long can leave an undesired flavor or aroma. I'm not sure how true this is with pellets, but I always dry hop for about 7-10 days.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

I drop them in. The negatives are none if done correctly. Don't dry hop while the krausen is there. Wait. Or(what I do)cold crash(3 weeks ish primary) then dry hop. You can cold dry hop or room temp. If cold 7-10 days minimum. It takes longer due to temp. If room temp 3-10 day depending on type of hop. I believe the grassy taste to be a old wives tale. I dry hop in the keg. 1 month with 6oz no off flavors. Using a secondary is another discussion. It is a different tasting dry hopping but if you are scared or unprepared for oxidation/ infection don't try.


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[weirdbeerguy]

When "dry" hopping with whole cones, which is better, wet cones or dried cones ?

 

[mrgrimm101]

I'd say that most people use dried, packaged cones, as that is what a LHBS would most likely carry. Many companies brew special ales with wet hops; Harvest ales, wet hopped ales, fresh hop ales..typically these all mean that fresh, wet hops were used.

It is said that wet hops have are softer, more subtle, and less pungent than dry hops.

Here is a pretty good resource on wet/fresh hops. http://allaboutbeer.com/article/wet-and-fresh-hop-ale/