dry hops to a stout?

[Jimbob3000]

I've just brewed a fairly simple stout and I'm thinking of adding dry hops at the secondary.
This is the recipe I followed:

Pale malt 3120g
Torrefied wheat 905g
Chocolate malk 300g

Start of boil 18g Challenger

As I said, I am thinking of adding dry hops at the secondary because with just 18g challenger at the start of boil, there doesn't seem to be much to it.

The hops I have available are Fuggles, Target, Challenger, Cascade, Styrians. If any of them, I'd probably go for about 15 or 20g of either Cascade or Styrians.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Gameface]

Not trying to be a smart ass but that's a stout? More wheat than chocolate malt and zero roasted barley.

I say go for the dry hop. Styrians, but just shooting from the hip on that one.

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[Jimbob3000]

Yeah...looks a bit rubbish to me too! It was basically leftovers and following Graham Wheeler's Burton Bridge Top Dog Stout.

20g Styrians you reckon?

 

[Gameface]

I'd do 20g cascade and 20g Styrian

 

[DocScott]

I think you'll end up too light and not the correct flavors for a stout. You definitely won't get the nice roasted flavors needed for a stout from the grain bill you listed. You may get somewhere in a brown though.

With that said, just don't call it a stout! In terms of dry hopping it, it depends on what you want from it. If it was a stout, I would say do not dry hop it (as if you're trying to brew to style, a strong hop aroma would be out of place). Since it is not a stout, you can choose where you go with it - if you want more of an american brown (the wheat is kinda outta place) but you could use some of your cascade. If you want more english brown, I again, wouldn't dry hop.

This recipe doesn't really fit into any style per se, and it doesn't have to be "to style". If it were me, I'd let it ride without dry hopping and see how it turns out. I'm in the mindset of less is more usually.

 

[Queequeg]

If you dry hop, I would rack to secondary after 3 weeks in primary, then give is another 3 or 4 weeks to mature before dry hoping. Being a darker beer (looks like a brown ale to me) it will need longer to mature out the green flavours and hashness. If you dry hop and then age in the bottle the hop aroma will largely be diminished (which is why dark beers aren't classically dry hopped). By maturing off the yeast cake first and then in the last week dry hopping you'll have a better beer after carbing is complete in the bottle.

I have never tried this myself but it is something I won't to get around to, probably with an imperial stout. I'll rack it after 3-4 weeks to be glass carboy, cover it and leave it in the larder for as long as I can. Then I'll dry hop a week before bottling and repitch a small amount of yeast.

btw dry hopping is out of style for a English stout or brown ale. Typically English dark ales just have bittering additions and the flavour aspect should carry over from this. Hop Aroma is out of style. That said I love hoppy dark ales.

 

[Jimbob3000]

Ok. So it seems as though i haven't actually got a stout on my hands at all, ha. By the sounds of things it isn't going to do any harm, so long as i add them at the right time, and it may well end up a decent hoppy dark ale. As it stands, the ingredients aren't hugely inspiring so i think i may as well add them.

 

[Jimbob3000]

Just to check... you think 3 weeks primary, shift to secondary and leave for 3 weeks, add hops and leave one week, prime and bottle.

 

[Queequeg]

Yep that's how I would do it. That way you can mature the beer without losing the benefits of dry hopping. Report back with the result, I am very interested to see how it turns out for you.

At 7 weeks you shouldn't need to repitch the yeast, but you can always add a little dry yeast to the priming bucket, it can't hurt. It wouldn't even have to be the same yeast as used in the fermentation. A fast flocking strain like US-04 would be good.

 

[Walzenbrew]

There's a reason you don't see a lot of hoppy stouts.

Not saying don't go for it- but either it'll be awful or you have a cult classic on your hands

Good luck


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[Yooper]

Just to check... you think 3 weeks primary, shift to secondary and leave for 3 weeks, add hops and leave one week, prime and bottle.

What's the OG of the beer?

7 weeks in the fermenter is WAY overkill for most beers. Even my big stouts don't spend 7 weeks in the fermenter!

If this is a "normal" OG beer, certainly a week or two in the fermenter would be ok, and if you want to dryhop for a week after that, that would be fine. But holy smokes, this beer doesn't need to be 3 months old before being consumed.

The only thing aging does to a beer that isn't very complex (like your recipe) is make it older. Beer tends to be better when it's fresher. I'd wait until it clears a bit in the fermenter, and either add the dryhops to the fermenter or then rack it onto the hops, and a week later package it.

 

[Queequeg]

What's the OG of the beer?

7 weeks in the fermenter is WAY overkill for most beers. Even my big stouts don't spend 7 weeks in the fermenter!

How long do you bottle age for though? Normally when I make a stout, the first few weeks in the bottle it's a bit rough around the ages. I normally need to wait a 4-6 weels in the bottle for my stouts. In which case if I dry hopped then that hop aroma would be much reduced.

My thinking is adding that aging time to the fermentation prior dry hopping, and drink as soon as carbing is complete in the bottle, say 2 weeks, hence negating the lose of hop aroma that would occur if I waited 6 weeks.


But yes your right, the beer OP has isn't an imperial stout, which is what my bulk maturation and dry hop plan was developed for. So it's probably excess.

 

[Jimbob3000]

The OG is 1042

 

[Queequeg]

Thats pretty low OG so yooper is probably right. Do three weeks then dry hop straight to the primary for a week. Then bottle.

 

[Jimbob3000]

Maybe up the hops?

 

[Yooper]

Maybe up the hops?

I think you've got a very nice lower alcohol English brown ale there. I would be hesitant to dryhop it at all, but if you insist on doing so I wouldn't over do it.

Two weeks in the fermenter, maybe three if it's very cloudy at week three, then bottle. If you want to dryhop, dryhop for the last 5-7 days before bottling.

 

[DocScott]

I still say let it go without the dry hop. Let it be in primary for 10-14 days and hit terminal gravity, package it and see how it ends up. If it isn't good, dump/give away/cook with. If it is, drink/share it. If it is ok but not exactly what you want, THEN rework the recipe.

It sounds like you don't know what you're trying to get out of this recipe. My feeling is, not knowing what to expect, and then further tinkering, is leading you down a path to a not so great batch.


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[Jimbob3000]

Maybe this isn't the one to dry hop. I have another brew, a ruby style ale, that's nearly a week into the primary ferment. If any, that's probably the one to dry hop.