Need some dry hopping advice

[Hoppus_Poppatopolis]

I have a batch of pale ale which is a week and a half in the fermenter. I plan to leave it there for four weeks.
A friend of mine gave me some fresh hops from his vine which I'd like to use to dry hop this brew.
I've never dry hopped so I'm curious about when I should add them.

Or should I put them in the keg at kegging time?

 

[MikeSteele]

The general rule of thumb seems to be 2 weeks max. After that you risk getting the vegetal flavors out of it. There are different schools of though. Tasty McDole on Brewing Network would recommend about a week as fermentation begins to slow. Matt B of Firestone Walker has described their method, where after fermentation they cool it down to about 55, dry hop in high volume for about 3 days, then remove. I personally just add in the hops about a week before bottling.

 

[Calder]

Thought I would bump this thread for you. I've never tried to dry hop with fresh hops. Not sure how that works or if there are any issues.

 

[mitchar19]

From my experience I have noticed a much greater hop aroma by allowing the beer to complete fermentation. Then rack the beer off of the yeast cake into a secondary at room temperature. Then pour in loose hop pellets into the secondary and let it sit around 68 degrees or so for a week. Add some Co2 to your secondary to avoid oxidation though.

 

[itzkramer]

ill agree with mitch. wait till fermentation is completely done, then rack to a secondary and add your hops for 1-2 weeks.

after messing around with different dry hop techniques, i started doing my dry hop secondary in a bucket. its a complete pain in the ass to try to get whole leaf hops in and out of a carboy without making a complete mess of things. i just get a muslin bag and put the hops and a sanitized weight in the bag. you'll never get a baggie of hops out of a carboy without having to cut it open.

i also dry hop in the keg as well. i use the stainless tea balls from midwest, 1/2oz of hops per ball. just ziptie them to the tube about 3/4 of the way down. ive left them in for 5 weeks before and it tatses fine(i used cascade hops).

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I may be dry hopping a little different then most people here, I simply throw the hops in the keg, prime the beer, let it carbonate for 1-2 weeks, and hook it up in the kegerator. I leave the hops in the keg till the beer is gone. This way I get a continuous hop flavor and aroma till the very last drop

Thought I would bump this thread for you. I've never tried to dry hop with fresh hops. Not sure how that works or if there are any issues.

Dry hopping with wet hops is AWESOME. This is the main reason I keep my hop garden. The difference in taste is similar to when you use fresh basil or dry basil in your cooking. With fresh you get much more vibrant, more "alive" flavors and aromas.

 

[Hoppus_Poppatopolis]

Thanks for all the good advice. The only secondary I have is a carboy and that sounds like a problem. I suppose I could use my bottling bucket though.

Dry hopping in the keg sounds intriguing.
Scooby: do you put the hops in a weighted bag or just toss them in?

 

[Scooby_Brew]

I don't use a weight, just a hop bag. But it couldn't hurt I guess.

 

[itzkramer]

Some people here say storing beer in a bottling bucket is no good. Some leaks have been reported at the spigot.

Also, if you don't contain your hops in the keg it can lead to line blockage and foaming. I had a rouge hop leaf get stuck in my OUT post and it foamed a bit more than normal.

 

[Jayman931]

I am currently dry-hopping a Double IPA....I let mine ferment until my FG was reached...then let the yeast do its thing for a week. I am dry hopping for a week (Bottle Day Tomorrow)....I am dry-hopping in my primary....why change? Rack and bottle tomorrow

 

[hatfieldenator]

I usually just rack to a secondary and then add dry hops in muslin bags. It usually works well. I haven't tried the weight yet to get them to sink. Today, I'm trying a new technique. I just tossed fresh, whole hops in the primary after the primary fermentation is complete. I haven't decided if I'm going to rack to a secondary for clarity purposes or just rack to a keg, but either way I plan on wrapping the racking cane with a muslin bag to prevent hops from clogging it up. If I do transfer to a secondary I'll likely add another round of dry hops at that point and probably do a cold crash in the fridge before kegging.

I'm hoping to get better hops utilization by not using a bag, but we'll see...Looks good though! And the smell is amazing!

 

[Hoppus_Poppatopolis]

I can almost smell that just by looking at it!

I'm leaning towards muslin bag and marbles in the keg to see what happens. I have the bag and I can steal the marbles from my kids when they're not looking.

 

[dnslater]

If you don't have a secondary, dry hop in the primary. Works for me. Many here do this.

 

[Hoppus_Poppatopolis]

Irene made the decision for me. I had the hops in the freezer with the intention of putting them in the keg this weekend. Since we lost power and they thawed, I decided to put them into the primary rather than re-freeze them.

I'll keg this weekend and am looking forward to the results!