Only burst dry hopping?

[Lacasse93]

I do not consider myself a good hazy ipa brewer. I have made good ones but never have the same feel as some of the big hazy producers out there and it typically breaks down to the fact that my hop aroma is never as aggressive or punchy right when you pour a glass. My hop schedules typically involve a fair amount for a hop stand, some high krausen dry hop, and one more hop addition in the secondary. Typically right around 2 ounces per gallon.

I have been reading a lot about how many hop aromas are actually present in lower quantities over time. I also read how active yeast "scrubs out" aromas in the fermentation process. Can someone with more experience in the style tell me the drawbacks to one massive dry hop burst say two days before bottling/kegging? So if I am brewing 5 gallons and am sticking with the 2 oz per gallon, would doing 10 oz of hops at the very end of the fermentation process provide that massive hop bomb aroma I am looking for? Thanks in advance.

 

[Coookies58]

I by no means am an experienced NEIPA brewer. I don’t like the style. However, you mention that you do your second dry hop in secondary. Does this mean you transfer to another vessel for secondary and then dry hop? If this is the case you may be looking at an oxidation issue from the transfer exposure. Oxidation will definitely impact your aroma.
Cant say that is the totality of the problem, but could be a major factor.

 

[Rob2010SS]

I do not consider myself a good hazy ipa brewer. I have made good ones but never have the same feel as some of the big hazy producers out there and it typically breaks down to the fact that my hop aroma is never as aggressive or punchy right when you pour a glass. My hop schedules typically involve a fair amount for a hop stand, some high krausen dry hop, and one more hop addition in the secondary. Typically right around 2 ounces per gallon.

I have been reading a lot about how many hop aromas are actually present in lower quantities over time. I also read how active yeast "scrubs out" aromas in the fermentation process. Can someone with more experience in the style tell me the drawbacks to one massive dry hop burst say two days before bottling/kegging? So if I am brewing 5 gallons and am sticking with the 2 oz per gallon, would doing 10 oz of hops at the very end of the fermentation process provide that massive hop bomb aroma I am looking for? Thanks in advance.

A lot of people have gone to this method of dry hopping post fermentation, right before kegging/bottling, including myself.

My process, taken from others in the Northeast IPA thread, is to let fermentation finish out completely with no dry hopping, perform a soft crash at 50F for a couple of days to drop most of the yeast, raise temp back up to ~60F and perform first dry hop 4 days prior to final cold crash and then the 2nd one 2 days before final cold crash.

There are some that have gone to one massive dry hop addition. I have not tried it yet but I plan to.

I think the camps are still pretty evenly split between active fermentation dry hop vs no active fermentation dry hop. After my last couple of hazys, I'm in the camp of no active fermentation dry hopping. Still working on figuring out whether I prefer 2 DH or just 1 massive DH.

 

[Lacasse93]

I by no means am an experienced NEIPA brewer. I don’t like the style. However, you mention that you do your second dry hop in secondary. Does this mean you transfer to another vessel for secondary and then dry hop? If this is the case you may be looking at an oxidation issue from the transfer exposure. Oxidation will definitely impact your aroma.
Cant say that is the totality of the problem, but could be a major factor.

yes so I transfer to another vessel and immediately add the dry hop charge before closing up the vessel. I’ve never experienced the final beer to be oxidized. That being said I’m not transferring under pressure so it could be a possibility?

 

[Coookies58]

Even if the whole brew doesn’t take on the cardboard like oxidation flavor, I would think oxygen would attack the very volatile aroma compounds quickly. This is a guess, but I like many others have completely eliminated secondaries to combat oxygen exposure.

 

[Kickass]

I transfer to another vessel and immediately add the dry hop charge before closing up the vessel.

Problem solved.

...or at least one of them, based only from what you’ve shared. There are likely other points of O2 ingress.

If me, I’d eliminate this step. No good to come of it.