Help!

[guymandude]

Hi I'm brewing an IPA, it's called Hurricane. The kit came with two bags of hops, which I know what to do with, and a little bag of hop pellets. I don't know when to add them. It says 'dry hop Cascade 8.3% alpha 1oz' on it. I'm trying to do this tonoght, any feedback?

 

[Yooper]

Hi I'm brewing an IPA, it's called Hurricane. The kit came with two bags of hops, which I know what to do with, and a little bag of hop pellets. I don't know when to add them. It says 'dry hop Cascade 8.3% alpha 1oz' on it. I'm trying to do this tonoght, any feedback?

The hops for the dryhop addition go in at the end of fermentation, just before bottling. Say, in a couple of weeks.

Does that help?

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Pretty much what Yooper said. A dry hop is a hop addition after fermentation. I go primary for three weeks then keg/bottle. When I dry hop, it's in the last week or two (depending on the style). An IPA I'll do for the last 10 - 14 days. An American pale maybe a week or less. The longer in there, the more flavor (the amount of hops matters too).

Why it's called a "dry" hop beats the s**t out of me... they totally get wet.

 

[JLeuck64]

Dry hop... is an oxymoron LOL!

 

[mrgrimm101]

Pretty much what Yooper said. A dry hop is a hop addition after fermentation. I go primary for three weeks then keg/bottle. When I dry hop, it's in the last week or two (depending on the style). An IPA I'll do for the last 10 - 14 days. An American pale maybe a week or less. The longer in there, the more flavor (the amount of hops matters too).

Why it's called a "dry" hop beats the s**t out of me... they totally get wet.

I always figured it is a dry hop because it doesn't go in the boil. It is an odd term.

I'm not so sure that the longer the dry hop time the better. I cannot find the article now (go figure) but I've read lots of interviews with head brewers from various breweries and a lot of them agree that around 4-5 days is optimal, and after which point the hop oils don't impart much, if any, more aroma. I've always read that after a couple weeks the hops will impart a grassy aroma. That being said, I used to dry hop for around 7-10 days and now I do about 5 before I cold crash.

 

[beernbourbon]

Marshall does a great comparison here:

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

on on that very topic. Based on what I was reading, he seems to be excited about doing another exbeeriment on a longer dry hop to see about that supposed 'grassy' taste. I found it interesting that the taster that mentioned the grassy taste only did so after being told it was a longer dry hop. Preconceived notion, maybe?

 

[guymandude]

That's awesome, thanks you guys. It's in the primary at 20 degrees and holding... I't stays there for 3 weeks, then into the secondary?

 

[Wild1z]

That's 68f for those in the US. Sounds like you got a handle on it. Hurricane sounds like an awesome IPA. Let us know how it turns out.

On the timing, that will depend on how your yeast did converting the sugar. I wouldn't move it unless it's below say 1.02. That's just me though. I've gotten to the point where I don't even do secondaries much anymore. You can read up on that further and decide that for yourself, but at least take a reading and see where you are at. That's my two pints worth of information.[emoji6]