Noob_Brewer
Well-Known Member
I currently use about a pound of hops, though I have to bag the dry hops (for my process), so I need to be on the high end for quantities. I go back and forth for the total quantities, though. On the one hand, there are brewers on this forum who make really good beer (I've had some) that use more like 12 ounces total (and even less).
On the other hand, I keep seeing homebrew recipes shared by top breweries that have 20+ ounces of hops for a 5 gallon batch. On the other other hand, I believe the research that suggests that dry hop extraction maxes out around 1.5 ounces per gallon or so. I have not really seen the same research for hot side, but it IS the case that most folks are putting more hops into the cold side than hot for this style...
As for hot side, there are certainly a lot of brewers and breweries that skip the boil completely and just add hops at flameout or a few minutes after -- and that is all. There is also research that suggests that some good citrus flavors can be extracted around 200. But of course, at those temps you also get more bitterness and lose some hop oils, so it doesn't make a ton of sense to me to add everything at those high temps, unless you are not adding much hops to the wp. But some people really aren't adding that much, and putting a ton into the cold side, which I do think is compelling.
Personally, currently, I think it makes sense to do a small bittering charge (.5 ounces) at 15 mins (or do a FWH), then another at 200, and then do a nice whirlpool at 175 for 30 minutes or so. I am not sure about doing one below that; I currently do add a small charge at 160, just to hedge my bets. At the end of the day, I feel like the whirlpool is very important for both flavor and aroma, but I am still not sure what that means for ratios of hot side to cold side. 25-75? 40-60? I'm currently going with 40-60.
For cold side, I currently believe in doing a small dry hop charge (almost always Citra) toward the end of fermentation (at about 1.030, which is usually Day 3.5). Then doing a big one 48 hours before bottling. I think Janish's recent article in favor of cold and short is compelling, so I did my most recent final DH at 58 degrees for 48 hours.
My goal, of course, is maximum aroma/flavor and minimum hop burn. My latest is just one week old, but already drinking a lot better than my previous ones. So I think the short and cold final dry hop strategy seems to be a winner in my book...
Good stuff SRJ! Thanks for posting. Just for some context so I know where you are coming from, I have a couple questions. By one "large dose 48hrs before bottling" what is your quantity of the dose and batch size in your fermenter when you add this charge? Also, Im assuming you have dry hopped warmer too (65 degrees?). Just curious on what your own sensory analysis is comparing the warm vs cold dry hop temps. Ive read Janish's book several times now making the case for short cold dry hopping, but others (I think @day_trippr and @jturman35) reported the short cold method being described as more muted flavor/aroma compared to warmer temps. SO curious on what you have perceived as the differences too. Thanks!
EDIT: FYI, I just kegged my first beer I ever brewed, and I double dry hopped warm (3oz at each dry hop @ 68 degrees) after soft crashing to 57 degrees with no active fermentation dry hopping. Additionally, I used 0.5oz FWH and then 6 ounces total (3 @ 5 minutes left in boil and 3oz in whirlpool). So I used 12.5oz total. The 6oz in fermenter had about 5.75gallons of wort in the fermonster so thats about just over 1.0oz per gallon for me. Im at day 3 of keg carbing. Aroma is solid, flavor is solid too. I'll see how this pans out after about another week for the beer to carb and condition and report back.
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