DryHop Duration Question

[hbhudy]

I have been brewing a while now but just heard an odd statement at my local brew store... A person I was talking to said you get all the compounds from dryhopping in 24hrs and anything after that just gives grassy flavor.. Never heard this before.. Has anyone else heard about this??

 

[Staylow]

I've heard this as well, and have seen a few charts from Boulevard where they tested different times and temps. 24-48 hours is typically all that is needed. That is if they're added free and unbagged. If bagged, you may want to add a bit more time.

 

[hbhudy]

Very interesting.. This certainly could explain my grassy session ipa

 

[RM-MN]

I think it depends on the hops used. I've dry hopped for 2 weeks without a grassy flavor. If anything over 24 hours lead to a grassy flavor, my 2 week dry hopping would taste like a lawn.

People believe many things about brewing beer. Many of them are wrong.

 

[Sadu]

Can't say I have ever experienced that grassy flavour that people talk about. I typically dry-hop for 7 days, sometimes longer.

 

[brewstergalVT]

Can't say I have ever experienced that grassy flavour that people talk about. I typically dry-hop for 7 days, sometimes longer.

Currently it's the same for me, I've been dry hopping in the primary as fermentation drops off a bit and let it sit until done. So usually the dry hopping is a total of about a week.

The only time I had some grassy flavors was when I did dry hopping in the keg (in a hop bag) and left it in until the keg was finished. It was unpleasant after a month or so. Of course your results may vary.

 

[hbhudy]

I am thinking the larger the grain bill the less the veg/grassy flavor might occur.. I am on a quest for great beer under 4.5% abv and my session IPA seemed to pickup an off flavor from the dry hopping.. Less alcohol and residual sugar at the lower abv to help mask whatever happened.. I have dryhopped before with a Terrapin Hopsecutioner clone for 7days and a few oz of hops with no ill effect,,, but the small beer did not holdup to the same events

 

[brewstergalVT]

I am thinking the larger the grain bill the less the veg/grassy flavor might occur.. I am on a quest for great beer under 4.5% abv and my session IPA seemed to pickup an off flavor from the dry hopping.. Less alcohol and residual sugar at the lower abv to help mask whatever happened.. I have dryhopped before with a Terrapin Hopsecutioner clone for 7days and a few oz of hops with no ill effect,,, but the small beer did not holdup to the same events

Curious to know how much you used for dry hopping. I did a nice session IPA this winter that was very well received at a HBC meeting and I only did 2 ounces total for dry hopping (mix of El Dorado, Citra & Mosaic). My usual IPA's have 3-4oz of dry hops. That batch was on the dry hops longer than usual, almost 2 weeks due to life happening but it was quite tasty and not grassy. It could also be the variety of hops causing/not causing the grassy flavor.

 

[hbhudy]

Curious to know how much you used for dry hopping. I did a nice session IPA this winter that was very well received at a HBC meeting and I only did 2 ounces total for dry hopping (mix of El Dorado, Citra & Mosaic). My usual IPA's have 3-4oz of dry hops. That batch was on the dry hops longer than usual, almost 2 weeks due to life happening but it was quite tasty and not grassy. It could also be the variety of hops causing/not causing the grassy flavor.

I used 4oz of Zythos hops for 5days.. I am still thinking that somehow the lack of the malt backbone is contributing to my perception of the grassy flavor.. I will brew the same recipe again, but increase the Vienna/Munich malt % to boost the malty flavor and see how that works out

 

[CBelli]

personally I find that 24 hours is just right... at room temp of coarse....

contact time past 36 hours does not bring any additional good flavors out of the hops and runs the risk of extracting grassy vegetal notes...
if you want more from the hops after that pitch another layering of dry hops into a new vessel -or- if bagged remove first round

 

[Yooper]

personally I find that 24 hours is just right... at room temp of coarse....

contact time past 36 hours does not bring any additional good flavors out of the hops and runs the risk of extracting grassy vegetal notes...
if you want more from the hops after that pitch another layering of dry hops into a new vessel -or- if bagged remove first round

I generally go about 3 days. It's not because 24 hours isn't enough- it probably is- but just because it seems a bit short.

I've found that I get the best brightest hops flavor and aroma with a total of about 3 days, more or less. I've gone longer when circumstances mean I have to wait, sometimes much longer, but 3 days is my sweet spot.

I will also dryhop in the keg, at 40 degrees, through the life of the keg sometimes. I haven't picked up any grassy notes, but it does take quite a bit longer at cold temperatures to extract the hops oils.

 

[Morrey]

Can't say I have ever experienced that grassy flavour that people talk about. I typically dry-hop for 7 days, sometimes longer.

Same here. Like Sadu, I dry hop 4-7 days and never detected anything resembling a grassy flavor.

Could it be the beer being dry hopped was at too high of a temp? I try to keep mine around 60F-70F. I dry hop in the keg, remove hop bag, chill down to carb temps and apply CO2. I keep at 60F-70F during dry hopping so the temps will aide in hop utilization rather than being cold where it may slow things down.

Could it be the hops being used? For dry hopping I typically use Amarillo, Galaxy, Mosaic and Citra. Maybe these are non-grassy hops but I don't know if this plays into it or not? Is there any evidence of certain hops that create a grassy taste?

 

[iluvmysh]

what about those that keg hop? i mean, hops can sit for weeks if not months at a time in a keg. maybe temp has something to do with it?

 

[apagios]

I always keg hop, have 3" diameter stainless steel mesh 'tea balls' I fill with Citra to dry hop my Pale ale. They fit about 1/2 oz each, usually use 4-6 balls for 2 or 3 oz whole flower hops per keg.

I generally give it a week-ish at room temp, then stuff it in the keg fridge to serve, hops stay in the keg till it kicks, never had grassy flavor.

 

[Little_Lebowski]

Smaller fermentation dry hop around day 3. Larger post ferm dry hop added around day 5-6. By the second addition my temps had been ramped from 65-71. When I add my second round and make sure ferm is complete I back the temp down to 60 for 3 days while the second addition is going. This is just enough temp change to start dropping things, hops included, out of suspension so you don't have that massive hop cake on top and instead much more efficient contact with the beer

 

[marjen]

I have been dry hopping with about 10 oz of total hops. 2 oz at pitch and another 8 oz on about day 3 (5 gal batch). I then let it sit until I move to keg usually on day 6 or 7. So far no issues.

 

[maxxxx]

Never had any grassy flavors from dry hopping. I usually dry hop at the end of the primary and then in the keg as well. Keg hop is usually 5 days.

 

[Apimyces]

Before I heard about that, or heck read much about dry hopping at all, I had put my hops in the secondary fermenter, left it with the brew for months, who knows how many. I did not detect any "grass" flavor when I then racked it, nor when I later bottled it.

Might depend on hop quality, brew temperature, pH, and other such variables. I don't doubt that prolonged exposure to hops can in some cases lead to grassy flavors, but it doesn't seem to be systematic.

 

[Upthewazzu]

5 days is my sweet spot. 3 days at room temp and 2 days cold crash.

 

[testingapril]

Here's the link to the study that started getting people to think about using short dry hop duration: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/34093/Wolfe_thesis.pdf

 

[MGBBob80]

Interesting thread. I was just talking to my LHBS and they recommend 4 days for the maximum duration when dry-hopping. I have routinely gone a week at 60-70 degrees without ill effect, but will be doing a 24-36 hour dry-hop with the IPA that's in the fermenter now. Looking forward to seeing how it comes out.

 

[Agtronic]

Brulosophy has tested this in split batches, and they found that the 3-day dry hop gave a "better" result than a longer dryhop. I put "better" in quotes because taste is subjective, but most will agree with this.

Here is the experiment: http://brulosophy.com/2015/10/26/dry-hop-length-long-vs-short-exbeeriment-results/

That said, I have dry hopped for 4 weeks with huge amounts before and have never tasted any "grassy" off flavours. I have switched to shorter dry hop steps and I think the flavour is better, but it's probably in my head. I think it's hard to screw up honestly.

Best of luck!

 

[dachshund51288]

Does using whole leaf hops over pellets for dry hopping make it more prone to this grassy flavor? I've only dry hopped with pellets, generally 7-10 days, and have never noticed any grassy notes.

 

[wstcstnative]

Other considerations might be:
- Type, leaf v. pellet
- Freshness (how old are the hops and how have they been stored)
- Varietal (lots of considerations here: quality of harvest, alpha %, general flavor notes, etc)

The best advice i've gotten is to keep good records. The more regularly you take notes about various changes in the process the more likely you'll be able to pinpoint where the issue lies. Quality processes (sanitization and cleanliness especially) and quality ingredients will usually get you where you want to go. And that's what I love about homebrewing...it's an equally balanced left/right brain hobby. You can be as type-A and controlling as you want, spending a ton of money in order to control every aspect of the process or you can be as free and liberal as you want, changing things up on a whim. Either way, you've got something to show for your work that hopefully tastes great!

 

[youngdh]

I too dry hop in the keg for my DIPA using Mosaic hops in a fine meshed bag. I let the hops and the keg sit at room temp for about 5 days before moving keg to beer fridge to cool and begin force carbonation. Even after 3 months in the keg (assuming the beer last that long) I've never had grassy flavors and the beer gets juicier over time.

I generally go about 3 days. It's not because 24 hours isn't enough- it probably is- but just because it seems a bit short.

I've found that I get the best brightest hops flavor and aroma with a total of about 3 days, more or less. I've gone longer when circumstances mean I have to wait, sometimes much longer, but 3 days is my sweet spot.

I will also dryhop in the keg, at 40 degrees, through the life of the keg sometimes. I haven't picked up any grassy notes, but it does take quite a bit longer at cold temperatures to extract the hops oils.

 

[Apimyces]

I had used pellets for the months-long dry hopping. Might be a factor. Temps were probably stable around 20 degrees celcius.

 

[Deckers_Beers]

I've left dry-hops in a carboy for as long as 3 weeks (Mosaic pellets) & didn't have any grassy flavors. My most recent IPA had over 5 oz's of pellets in a 5 gal batch (Mosaic, Amarillo, Citra pellets), and due to some yeast issues, I had to leave it a week longer than I wanted, so the pellets were in there for 2.5 weeks. At bottling, no grassy notes. Both IPA's were fermented around 66*, then raised to 70* for a few days.

 

[kena]

I've heard something like that before, but as I understand it, it takes over a week for the grassy flavors to develop.

 

[Agtronic]

I think grassy off flavours from hops are a myth. What the experient I posted a few posts up suggests is that the character of the hop flavour changes with dry hop duration.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Other considerations might be:
- Type, leaf v. pellet
- Freshness (how old are the hops and how have they been stored)
- Varietal (lots of considerations here: quality of harvest, alpha %, general flavor notes, etc)

The best advice i've gotten is to keep good records. The more regularly you take notes about various changes in the process the more likely you'll be able to pinpoint where the issue lies. Quality processes (sanitization and cleanliness especially) and quality ingredients will usually get you where you want to go. And that's what I love about homebrewing...it's an equally balanced left/right brain hobby. You can be as type-A and controlling as you want, spending a ton of money in order to control every aspect of the process or you can be as free and liberal as you want, changing things up on a whim. Either way, you've got something to show for your work that hopefully tastes great!

This is so true. My buddy and I both brew. I'm an engineer and approach the process very scientifically with respect to recipes, water treatment, Ph, timing, etc. I also research the hell out of stuff while developing recipes....looking for ideas, "best of breed" recipes, etc. Then I mix and match ideas into my own brew. I also take meticulous notes. I have a form I created that I prep for each brew session with expected values and actual values for things like Ph, volumes, gravities, timing, quantities (in case something changes), etc.

He just gets creative and tries off the wall crap and wings it. He does things on instinct and even changes up ingredients/durations/quantities mid brew based on...instinct? Intuition? Whim? He might jot down the OG (actually, I usually do it because it drives me nuts to not know).

We both brew very tasty beer. The funny part is that, as casual as he is, he is absolutely over the top with sanitizing. On the brew day, he empties his kitchen of every thing, and wipes all surfaces with a bleach solution. It has to be pristine. He won't do all grain because it requires a full boil and he can't do that in his kitchen. I will say it's convenient to have sanitized surfaces to set stuff on.

I brew in my garage. I make sure everything that contacts the wort after it drops below 180 is sanitized, but sometimes I don't even sweep the floor. We sit around in lawn chairs, drink beer and enjoy the process.

We really couldn't have more different approaches to the hobby, but are both brewing tasty stuff.

 

[applescrap]

I generally go about 3 days. It's not because 24 hours isn't enough- it probably is- but just because it seems a bit short.

I've found that I get the best brightest hops flavor and aroma with a total of about 3 days, more or less. I've gone longer when circumstances mean I have to wait, sometimes much longer, but 3 days is my sweet spot.

I will also dryhop in the keg, at 40 degrees, through the life of the keg sometimes. I haven't picked up any grassy notes, but it does take quite a bit longer at cold temperatures to extract the hops oils.

This.

 

[agrazela]

Lately I've been dry-hopping with half the amounts of pellets that I used to, for 2-4x longer than I used to (1-2 weeks rather than 3-4 days). It's cheaper, of course...but I'm also getting better, "juicier" hop flavor, no difference in aroma I can detect (probably other aspects of my process could use improvement there anyway), a lot less "green" or "tea-like" astringency (what I think many think of as the "grassy" thing), and that astringency goes away or "drops out" far faster now in the keg (days rather than weeks).

(I have not keg-hopped since making this change, but I'm going to cut those amounts in half, too.)

 

[libirm]

DRY HOP LENGTH: LONG VS. SHORT | EXBEERIMENT RESULTS!

http://brulosophy.com/2015/10/26/dry-hop-length-long-vs-short-exbeeriment-results/

Interesting