Pale ale dry hopping question, how much is too much?

[Nyrkki]

I brewed an APA last weekend and I was wondering how much cascade I should dry hop it with. Here's the recepie:

Batch size: 20 liters
OG:1.056
IBU: 46
Color:18
FG: 1.012?

Frementables:
4 kg pale malt (73%)
1 kg vienna (18%)
250g crystal 20 (5%)
250 g cara-munich (5%)

Hops:
20 g Northernbrewer (10,4) @ 60 min
25 g Cascade (7,7%) @ 15 min
25 g Cascade (7,7%) @ 10 min
25 g Cascade (7,7%) @ 5 min
50 g Cascade (7,7%) @ 1 min

Yeast: S-05

My original plan was to use 75 g cascade which is around 2,6 oz to dry hop this. Now I'm wondering whether that is a bit too much. Would 50 g (1,7 oz.) be more than enough since I'm using only one hop variety? I'm also a bit worried about the hops soaking all too much beer. I thought about dry hopping in a bucket and lifting the hopbag above the beer so that the juices would gently drop back to the beer without the risk of oxidation. The only problem is that if I want to lift the bag I will have to lock it between the lid and the container, and that might expose the beer to all sorts of nasty kitters. I've heared that some people squees hopbags, but that might result in oxdiation don't you think?

BTW this beer will be consumed realtively quickly, since my GF just graduated and most of this batch is devoted to the graduation party.

 

[nberna19]

I once used 2 oz of dry hops in a pale ale and it turned out to be too resinous for my taste. Now I usually go with 1 oz for a pale ale and 1.5 oz for an IPA and am pleased with the results.

As for absorption I wouldn't worry much at all about that. Just toss your hops in a sanitized hop bag and sanitize some type of weight (e.g. marbles, stainless washers, etc.) to fully submerge the hops and you're good to go

 

[Nyrkki]

Thanks for the quick reply!
Earlier I just threw my hops in the container without a bag or a weight. As a result half of the hops never submerged. This time I'm planing to put them in a bag with a weight as you suggested.

 

[mtyquinn]

I don't think you need to squeeze the hop bag, especially if you are using a good amount. I've always used sanitized fishing line to suspend my hop sack and never had any problems. Your dry hopping in beer so your risk for contamination has gone down considerably.

 

[nberna19]

Forgot to add that whatever weight(s) you use, make sure they weigh more than the total weight of the hops you are adding. Seems fairly obvious but I know of some who have overlooked this simple practice

 

[Nyrkki]

Well that seems quite obvoius, but sometimes people make quite obvious mistakes. I know that I do. I'll be sure to use the fishing line to suspend the bag above the beer.